Rocky Shorelines Inspire The Palette Of This Wisconsin Home

"Some houses just feel good when you’re in them. And some are beautiful but don’t feel good,” says interior designer Elizabeth Krueger. Overlooking Geneva Lake, this particular Wisconsin escape manages to achieve both in a way that seems effortless. “This one is beautiful, and it feels good,” she continues.

The homeowners—“the loveliest people,” remarks Krueger—began construction with architect Michael Abraham and builder Tim Fischer when the wife, who had been making finish selections herself, decided she needed to bring in a creative partner. “She has incredible taste, but she reached a point where she realized this was too hard to do without the guidance of a designer,” Krueger shares.

With a blended family, the couple envisioned a summer home that could flex seamlessly, entertaining upward of 25 guests for seasonal fêtes. At roughly 12,000 square feet, it’s now both a summer retreat and a weekend refuge, with gardens by Mariani Landscape and Geneva Lake itself as the shimmering forefront. “It was important for us to be able to glimpse the lake when you first walk in and as you go through the house,” recalls project architect Bernie Bartelli.

The entry sets the tone for the rest of the abode with bold architectural elements. “There’s this fireplace and a stair and then the front door and a walkway,” Krueger explains. She furnished the space with a live-edge center table and fuzzy orb ottomans for an impactful first impression. Above, a swagging, ombre glass pendant—“like a friendship bracelet, but all done out of fine rope,” she describes—stamps the welcome with a touch of the celestial.

Double-sided, the entry fireplace also serves as a moment of architectural theater in the adjacent great room. Clad in locally sourced Wisconsin basswood buff stone and a pocket of limestone, it ascends a full 20 feet to the ceiling. “It’s fabulous,” raves Krueger, who worked with senior designer Janelle Kando. “You can walk through it.” The stone anchors the two-story space, wrapping not only the firebox but also the portal to the foyer, lending the sensation of an evolved house with a storied history. “There’s an element here of ‘Was this the original structure, and then we built onto it?’ ” she says.

Together, the designer and the homeowner landed on finishes that feel timeless but not timid, including Bluette quartzite and dark bronze. “She was really fun to work with because she had been noodling on a bunch of ideas and was looking for a collaborative partner who was going to push her,” Krueger says. And she did push. “We wanted it to look and be comfortable but not feel like everything else,” she adds. “There is a hint of leaning into darker wood tones, like a modified Ralph Lauren palette.”

Texture, as earthy as the quartzite and dolomite stones edging the lake, reigns in this waterside perch. Chunky layered rugs and tactile upholstery soften the soaring architecture, as do light fixtures in various unexpected finishes, from ebonized oak to rope. “There’s something about it that bridges the gap between lake house cottage and a massive form, but it still feels intimate,” Krueger says. She also relied on wooden beams to bring the eye down to human height. Spaces feel warm and welcoming, the designer notes, “if they are filled appropriately and there’s still room to breathe.”

The program for the kitchen, designed with Laura O’Brien of O’Brien Harris, required two cook spaces and two islands. The prep space was originally walled off, but the client made the visionary move to open it. “ ‘I don’t want to be in the back kitchen when there are 15 people inside the main kitchen,’ ” Krueger recalls the homeowner saying. “ ‘How can we make this something to be enjoyed by everybody?’ ” At the main kitchen island, a quintet of rounded, shearling-back stools bring a jolly note to the rigor of the architecture, counteracting all the right angles. “It’s sophisticated and polished with this little hit of funk that’s repeated throughout the whole house,” Krueger says. “And that gives it personality.”

The designer credits her collaboration with the homeowner for the final effect. “When somebody trusts you and the process, the end result is that much better,” Krueger says. “We want it to look like you—so you’re reflected in the home—but better.”