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This particular cottage had been quaint since its construction in 1930 but its charm trended more toward rustic, chalet-style mountain cabin (Poconos or Catskills, not Alps or Pyrenees). When the owners decided to expand the chocolate-brown, wooden chalet part of the house, supported structurally by genuine log cabin construction, they hired a local architect who drew up designs to raise the roof and create a true second floor to accommodate a master bedroom and bathroom suite for the owners, who longed for more space and functionality in their older home.

While the original architects designed a roof elevation, they missed a golden opportunity to elevate the appeal of the house, inside and out. When the construction crew showed up at the site, Interior Designer Becky Wein knew this was her last chance to express her doubts about the design’s aesthetic direction, mostly its failure to match the European charm of the village and the lakeshore’s original homes. She called architect John Toates from John Toates Architecture and Design in Devon, PA, who has 20 years of experience in traditional and historically accurate home design bracing him for the challenge.

After meeting with the owners and reviewing the previous drawings, John got permission to “reinterpret” the design. “I spent two weeks basically correcting aesthetic and logistical problems while also creating a more sophisticated Tudor style for the expansion that would fit better with the rest of the house and the community,” he says. He made the roof pitch less steep to create more interior space, re-drew the seemingly random window shapes to be more traditional and consistent with each other, deleted incongruous colonial columns flanking the front door, reconfigured the layout of the bathroom, and generally cobbled together some cohesion from the disparate elements of the original design.

The end result is a gorgeous brick and timber Tudor expansion with historically accurate brickwork, which John says is very easy to do badly if you don’t have the historic training. A new master bedroom and bathroom are sleek and spacious in subtle grey and white tones. In the renovated great room, some of the original log walls and rafters, as well as the stone chimney, carry on the cozy cabin appeal, but a new white wall and staircase leading to the expanded second floor add a touch of sophistication and “lightness” to what once dark and heavy.