Lake Tahoe Vacation Home - Lake Tahoe Interior Design

Built in the late 1970’s this idyllic Lake Tahoe shores home remained largely unchanged until our clients purchased it in 2014. Their goal was to create a kid-friendly vacation home interior with lots of room for family and friends – for generations to come.

LMBI designer Quinn Morgan began the home’s structural transformation by re-architecting a large room once used as a combination exercise and photography studio, into an expansive, communal sleeping area with accommodations for up to 10 people.

Inspired by railway sleeping cars, the double-decker double-sized bunk beds are cozy, comfortable and private, with well-appointed interiors including reading lights and book nooks. A comfy window seat doubles as day bed, and converts to a trundle bed when needed. Deep drawers provide plenty of storage space.

On the hunt for the perfect soft furnishings, we found a collection of vintage pillows with antique linen covers from the Alameda Point Antiques Fair. This happy find delighted our client who loved their relaxed, cozy and organic feel. Luxuriously heavy, these plush goose down pillows elevated similar textures found throughout the room, including the linen privacy curtains, and bean-bag chair. The neutral tones worked well with a subdued palette, with an unexpected pop of pumpkin orange.

With all those people in the house, we had to get creative with the bathrooms and washrooms – again to accommodate lots of people (mostly kids) washing up and brushing teeth. Poaching space from the former exercise room, we designed a timeless, black and white bathroom using subway, and penny round tiles. The custom mirror above a large trough sink provides a shelf for toiletries and two cut outs for old-fashioned Mason jars – to hold a fistful of toothbrushes.

A second floor laundry room was enlivened with concrete tiles printed with a bold monochromatic pattern. It was the one area where we went a little “busy” to offset the calm, neutral palette throughout the house.

For the master suite bathroom, a reconfigured floor plan “borrowed” space from the original master bath. Once an awkward, narrow room, the expansion created the space for a sublimely simple en suite bathroom tiled in eco-friendly porcelain. We further “enlarged” the room with mirrors, bringing in more natural light – and magnificent views of the lake.

The upstairs rooms open onto a second floor landing, envisioned as a gathering space – part office, part reading room, part hangout area, providing a communal location for family and visitors to plan the day’s activities. Custom, built-in book shelves house games, vintage first edition classics (also found at the Alameda Antiques Fair), family mementos and objet d’art.

The living and family rooms are relaxed yet tailored, with a combination of custom and retail furnishings – again designed to accommodate large gatherings of friends and family.

A custom designed reclaimed wood coffee table surrounded by sofas from Design Within Reach (which convert to sleepers), enlivened with nubby kilim pillows to provide texture and color.

In the game room – we took a more masculine approach with a darker tone to the walls and a rustically modern pool table. A wine cellar customized with sliding glass and steel doors, houses the owners’ collection of premier crus. The framed album covers were a birthday gift from husband to wife, commemorating her favorite music.