BODEN HOUSE Stone Lake Wisconsin
PROJECT
BODEN CABIN
For nearly a century, one family has spent summers on the same sandy stretch of Lac Courte Oreilles, a crystal-clear lake in northern Wisconsin. When the chance came to buy an untouched, low-slung 1960s cabin along the shore, the next generation took it, determined to write their own chapter into a hundred years of tradition. The renovation — architecture by Susan Nackers Ludwig of LNA Design, interiors by Prospect Refuge Studio — reimagines the midcentury structure as a sophisticated summer camp: plain-sawn white oak paneling in place of the expected log cabin look, plaid and checkerboard patterns at every turn, and furniture built to survive a house full of kids, dogs, and wet swimsuits.
Project Type: Whole-Home Renovation & Furnishings
Location: Lac Courte Oreilles, Wisconsin
Services: Interior Design, Furnishings, Procurement, Styling (Architecture: Susan Nackers Ludwig, LNA Design)
The Brief: Renovate a 1960s lakeside cabin into a refined, kid-proof summer retreat — happy and energetic without tipping into juvenile, earthy and grounded without losing the joy.
“The finished retreat feels like a sophisticated
summer camp, all plain-sawn white oak paneling,
bright artworks, and plaid and checkerboard
patterns everywhere you look. Striking just
the right balance between fun-loving
and funhouse was a delicate task.”
READ MORE AT ELLE DECOR
CONCEPt
BODEN
The name comes from a single image: an old ad from the British clothing brand Boden, all wild hair, bright swimsuits, and kids fresh out of the lake. "I need this vibe in physical form," Sass remembers thinking. That image became the north star for the entire house...glowy, sunny, and completely unafraid of color, but never so loud that it lost its footing.
Every room finds its own register within that world. The entry trades the expected log-cabin look for refined white oak paneling and a checkerboard rug, a nod to the Northwoods aesthetic without the rustic cliché. The powder room goes fully "plaid city" check on check on check, worked out tile-by-tile with a local Minneapolis ceramicist. The great room stays light and open but is furnished "fun, chunky, and hardy. Nothing that feels breakable," while the screened porch turns moody and cocoon-like by comparison, described as glowing "like a little geode" once the sun goes down. A pair of the client's grandmother's water skis hangs there as art, tying the house's new chapter back to the family's long history at the lake.
Throughout, new work by Minnesota artists including a piece by Sičáŋǧu Lakota artist Dyani White Hawk in the dining room sits alongside decades-old family heirlooms in the bunkroom, and the whole house resolves into a single, considered idea: a home built for the exact rhythm of a lake summer, repeated year after year.
Image: "Girls One Shoulder Ray Swimsuit in Rainbow," a Mini Boden campaign photograph produced by the brand's in-house creative team.
