Converting a Mancave into a Lake House in Northern Indiana

Click on the main image above to bring up a complete gallery of images.  Photos by Tom Fitzsimmons Photography

The client designed and built a simple two-story lake house for himself in 2007. It was his mancave for duck hunting equipment, gear, and trophies. At the time he hired us to dress up the exteriors with window and trim design ideas. They had a house elsewhere in town and decided in 2012 to downsize and build a 4,000 square foot house on the adjacent south lot. We did studies to include what they wanted and the new house came in around 6,000 square feet. The clients decided to change course and renovate, add onto, and convert this man cave into their permanent home, and build a smaller man cave style house on the south lot.

Large cathedral windows faced the lake to the west creating a strong afternoon heat load. We provided a covered porch here to greatly reduce sunlight, and replacing a tall window with a shorter one to allow for the canopy. A one-story addition along the south end of the house was designed to create a prominent front entrance, a ground-level master bedroom suite, and a large kitchen and dining room, with a covered octagonal dining patio facing the lake. The client likes interesting roofs and the interface of the addition with the original two-story mass did not disappoint!

We also hired Planned Environments Associates to assist with the landscaping and beautiful stone retaining wall