Reader Rehab: Cabin Color That Takes Its Cue from the Landscape - Remodelista
Sarah Sherman Samuel, designer, stylist, and creative director of Smitten Studio, leads a busy life in LA. So to escape it all, the Michigan native and her husband, Rupert, bought a midcentury cabin right on the shores of Lake Michigan. When they first purchased it, Sarah and Rupert’s cabin sported an exterior (below) of brick red with brown shingles, which competed with the surrounding woodland environs. The first thing they did was to add fiber cement siding to the exterior, which echoed classic mid-century designs with horizontal lines that hug the landscape. The cabin “before”–even in fall, the jarring red/brown exterior clashes with the landscape. For the exterior colors, Sarah and Rupert paired Behr’s cracked pepper with an vivid accent of mossy green. Unlike her LA home, which is quite colorful, Sarah wanted her lakeside retreat to have a clean, zen feel. Once inside, Sarah transformed the interior into a tranquil oasis of soft grays and warm woods, with an application of Dutch Boy‘s Whisper Gray (walls) and Gargoyle Shadow (door). Here you can see that the interior palette also takes its cue from the setting. By doing the work themselves, Sarah estimates they cut the cost of the project in half. Inside, the minimal palette allows the landscape to take center stage. Cole & Son’s Woods wallpaper in the new bedroom also has a woodsy feel. Opposite the master bed, a pair of bunks with moss-like evergreen velvet curtains.