We believe in homes with names, outdoor showers, and docks with flags so your friends have a landmark to find your house. We believe in knowing the homes entrance from your car is a portal to lake life, and that the entrance from the lake is the real front door.
We believe that lake homes are different than city homes and can provide the peace of reprieve. We believe in packing up at 4 o’clock and leaving by 5 o’clock to not waste a lake day. We believe in taking 20 pounds of work to the lake and never getting to it, and setting our kids free to roam on land and water, unsupervised.
We can see the blurred lines between inside and outside and let the sun and time of year orient us where to be. We know what time the sun sets and can tell you the date within a week by its position in the sky. Our dining rooms are outside, and we carry a weekends worth of meals to the dock, just because it is a better view down there. We know Football Saturdays in September are wake free and the most beautiful of the year. We have beach fires in the fall to clean the shore and the get the best view of the game on the TV. We believe in designing the house to fit the site as opposed to changing the site to fit the house.
We believe in large protecting roofs to create low maintenance machines of lake living. We believe in “boat-up” anything; from restaurants to rope swings to church or to unannounced dock visits with people who are at least 2 degrees of separation. We believe in 3 bedroom homes that can sleep 20 during that one weekend a year. We believe in buying local produce, carrying the gatherings a little farther from the car to the house, and cooking with friends.
We believe in life like it was when we were growing up. We believe in low property taxes and short driver’s license lines. We know our neighbors, and we let them park in our spare slip when the monster storm blows through. We live large on the screened porch and in small bedrooms that are only for sleeping unless we are sleeping on the porch. We accept friend’s dogs and kids to watch over until they return. We grow our own herbs because they don’t have them at the local market. We cook on Big Eggs and know BBQ is a noun. We believe in lake life and the value the regenerative properties of peace, family and friends with a FRESHWATER VIEW.
Bryan Jones, Principal Jones Pierce Inc. An Atlanta based Architectural firm specializing in custom home transformations and custom retirement homes in fun places. www.jonespierce.com
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