Home Design

The owners of this home on the east shoreline of Clear Lake wanted their home to be highly efficient and, commendably, to have a minimal impact on the lake. The entire home is conditioned with radiant hot water floor heat and high velocity air conditioning. The gorgeous landscaping conceals the substantial underground drainage system that prevents most of the property's surface water from reaching the lake. The preliminary home design was provided by architect Mike Christoffersen with revisions and final plans completed by Lynn. The subsurface engineering was provided by Foresight Consulting in Ft. Wayne.

The building of this year round lake home was preceded by construction of an unattached garage, with art studio, across the street. This allowed the owners to store their belongings from the existing cottage as well as providing them a place to stay short term throughout the construction of the new lake home.

This two-story home was built for a growing family in the Angola area. With substantial input form the owners, Lynn designed this eclectic beauty using a mix of a lake home plan previously constructed and incorporating many of the owner’s ideas that are found in year-round residences. A combination of brick and thin veneer natural stone was used for the majority of the exterior with the remainder of the outside being fiber-cement siding. The very beautiful 27 acre lake can be viewed from the kitchen, nook, great room, master bedroom and screened porch. There are also views of the lake from the exercise room and game room located in the lower level walk-out.

Due to extensive water damage to their existing cottage the owners of this property decided that it was not sensible to repair the home and building a new cottage was a better approach. Unfortunately, the town’s new ordinances precluded positioning the home close to the location of the existing structure. They were allowed however, to keep the original foundation in place and rebuild on the established location. Using the parameters of the existing foundation, Lynn was able to design a home with an exterior that does not resemble the old home in anyway and with a totally new floor plan that better fit the owner’s requirements for lake home living that the existing plan never offered.  This home was featured in the November/December 2011 issue of Northern Indiana Lakes Magazine.

The owners of this home were interested in a rural setting yet liked the benefits of subdivision living. They were able to have the best of both words by finding a partially developed lot in a small subdivision in northern Allen County. With large lots and relatively few homes, this suited their requirements nicely. Along with the owners, Lynn designed this two-story home to compliment this beautiful country setting. We were invited back by the owners to construct an unattached garage / man-cave using the same exterior materials that were used on the main residence.