Camping It Up
Author:Anh-Minh LeIn Idaho, a home deeply tied to its landscape also nods to California and the joys of summer
Set on .75 acres overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho, a wood-clad dwelling serves as an idyllic summer getaway for interior designer Jon de la Cruz’s clients. With a tight timeline and budget, his familiarity with the homeowners was key to the project’s success: He had designed the family’s main residence in the Bay Area and sought to bring a similar sensibility to their vacation property while also foregrounding its exquisite surroundings.
“There are several things that I always consider: where the house is located; what the house looks like, including its history and architecture; and who the family is and what they want to do in the house,” says the founder of San Francisco- based firm DLC-ID. “So I tried to bring a lot of California into this house without making it feel like a UFO sitting in the middle of Idaho.” Hence, in addition to local finds and visual references to the site, custom furniture fabricated in the Bay Area and pieces by California designers such as John Dickinson and Palecek made their way into the rooms.
Photos by Douglas Friedman.
The house itself was completed in 2013 by its previous owner, who was also the builder. Since its 3,800 square feet were in solid shape, de la Cruz describes the undertaking as “a cake waiting for its decoration. Our job was to come in and frost it. So our touch was very light—paint, wallpaper, carpets and furniture.” Walls were given coats of Classic Gray, an off-white by Benjamin Moore. Existing casework was retained; in the kitchen and primary bathroom, the cabinets and vanity were simply updated with Macaubas quartzite countertops. To further save time and money, he kept about 20 percent of the furniture that came with the house, in some cases layering in new accessories for a fresh look.
In the kitchen, de la Cruz replaced the appliances with the exact ones that the family has back home. “They know how everything works,” he explains. “It’s muscle memory.” And the living room is anchored by the same custom sectional that can be found in their Bay Area abode. Rather than upholstering it in a solid fabric, this time around he chose a striped Pierre Frey textile reminiscent of Pendleton blankets. “It felt like summer camp,” de la Cruz says. Also reflecting that aesthetic is the garage, which has been converted to a gym. Flor carpet squares in three colors form a red gingham, evoking a picnic tablecloth.
Photos by Douglas Friedman.
Because of the scale of the house—there are bedroom ceilings that soar 14 feet—de la Cruz “developed a four-poster language.” In the primary bedroom, for example, “we created a little bit of architecture with the canopy bed, to make it feel more intimate and nest-like,” he elaborates. The walls are lined in a birch-tree motif that nods to the views. “We wanted to bring that inside without looking too matchy-matchy,” he says. “So the black-and-white Schumacher wallpaper was perfect.” Another perk: The pattern allows the clients’ art collection to pop and hides nail holes when works, like an Antonio Murado painting from Santa Monica’s Von Lintel Gallery, are rotated in and out.
Photos by Douglas Friedman.
To “infuse a local vocabulary,” de la Cruz and his team procured accessories and knickknacks from thrift shops and antiques dealers in the vicinity. While site visits for projects beyond the Bay Area are part of his professional duties, the interior designer endeavors to set aside time to enjoy the locale as well. “I’m a wanderlust at heart,” he shares. “To be able to travel and make it my work is just the most rewarding thing.”
