Cabin Classic

A cedar-shake roof, cypress board-and-batten siding and stacked stones make this home—designed by architect Greg Busch and interior designer Meridy King—look in harmony with the wooded landscape.

A rearfirepit takes advantage of the lakeside location.

Comfort rules in the living room with upholstery in outdoor fabrics and leather.

Busch was influenced by English architect Edwin Lutyens.

French oak floors and rustic accents add warmth and a feeling of age.

The use of reclaimed wood continues in the kitchen with the cabinet fronts. “It’s a marriage of old and new,” says Beni Borza of Kingdom Woodworks.

The table in the sitting nook, made by furniture maker Brad King, was designed to be a conversation piece with its unique base.

Brad King also created the large dining room table, made from an old oak tree on the property.

For a guest bedroom, King chose a muted gray wash for the wood walls, giving the room a seamless look along with the other soft shades of blue and green.

For the master bathroom, individually placed split rocks form the floor.

At first glance, the wall at the master bedroom entrance looks like tiles, but it is actually the ends of varying wood pieces of barn wood.

A guest room shows off pattern play between the bed spreads and the indoor-outdoor rug.

While the home’s rustic atmosphere is present in this bath via corrugated metal wainscoting, it is tempered by a mosaic tile floor.

“One of the client’s requests was room to sleep a lot of people, so built-in bunk beds were a natural choice for one of the five bedrooms,” says Busch.

River wood wraps around the sides of this copper sink for a unique touch.

When an Atlanta family had outgrown their simple North Georgia cottage and it was time for a teardown, they knew they still wanted the style of the new home to reflect its natural setting.

“They wanted the house to look like it belonged, and they desired a rustic cabin attitude but with a sophisticated execution,” says architect Greg Busch. Influenced by the work of acclaimed English architect Edwin Lutyens, Busch used high-end, natural materials with an emphasis on craftsmanship.

Embracing another Lutyens principle, the cedar-shake roof, cypress board-and-batten siding and stacked stones make the home look in harmony with the wooded landscape. Old-growth trees that had to be felled during the process were milled and worked into the design, as were logs retrieved from the lake itself. “There’s no Sheetrock in the entire home,” says Busch. “It’s all varieties of wood, with plaster only in the master bedroom.”

All that wood could read monotonous, but interior designer Meridy King, who collaborated with Busch from the start, added varying stains and washes to keep it dynamic. Even the kitchen backsplash is made of individual pieces of petrified wood, which, along with cabinet fronts in reclaimed oak, gives the space a layer of age and interest.

Having designed the family’s Atlanta home, Meridy knew their lifestyle and needs. Accordingly, everything in the home speaks to the owners’ desire for “authenticity, comfort and durability, with nothing too fussy or fragile,” she says. “They also wanted some color and nothing to do with the white trend. They have a very active, athletic family, so we kept that in mind with our design decisions.”

In addition to sparks of color, varying textures flow throughout—for example, the powder room, joined with pretty terra-cotta tiles in green and off white for the floor. Capacious barstools, outdoor fabrics and put-your-feet-up options speak to a relaxed lakeside atmosphere.

Nothing about the interiors is predictable, due in part to the custom furniture by Brad King (no relation to Meridy). “There was a magnificent white oak tree that had to be removed, and I started to think about how I could bring this tree back to life,” explains Brad. The oak metamorphosed into structural beams, powder room walls and even the dining room table inlaid with a nautical star design in the center. “I liked the idea of a white oak compass to guide you back to the lake.” That is, of course, assuming you ever want to leave.

INTERIOR DESIGN MERIDY KING, Meridy King Interiors (404) 252-3377; meridyking.com. ARCHITECT Greg Busch, Greg Busch Architects (404) 252-8073; gregbusch.com. KITCHEN DESIGNER Cynthia Ziegler, Cynthia Ziegler, Inc. (404) 313-1823; cynthiaziegler.com