This Renovated Michigan Lake Cabin Feels Like Summer Camp for Grown-Ups
A couple turns their 800-square-foot lake home into a nostalgia-rich retreat where vintage collections and quirks of the cottage whisper stories all their own.
Good fences make good neighbors, so the proverb goes. But when you live in a small town where property lines are about as defined as a lakeshore, the lack of boundaries can be a blessing. That’s what Abby and Joe Albers learned when they renovated their 800-square-foot cabin in Pentwater, Michigan. “You meet a lot of people who stop by and want to chat when you’re outside sawing on a Saturday afternoon,” Abby says. “We’ve been adopted by the village grandparents, and one of our neighbors, if she sees we’re in town, leaves us homemade blueberry scones on our outdoor table. It’s just that kind of place.”
Sage advice and colorful stories passed on by these neighbors regarding the circa-1800s lake cabin helped the couple piece together its history. “According to the rumor mill, our house was the barn/shed to these larger Victorians around it,” Abby says. Joe was already familiar with the village, having spent childhood summers camping in Pentwater’s Mears State Park, when the couple began looking for a small escape within a two-hour drive of their home in Allegan. After spotting the listing 10 years ago, they jumped at the chance to make it their own. “We bought this property thinking it was only a cosmetic fixer-upper, but we ended up taking everything down to the studs,” says Abby. “We evicted lots of critters from the attic and made some amazing discoveries along the way: Partly through the renovation, we found out this home is actually a barn and another structure pushed together.”
Abby, who co-owns vintage home shop The Found Cottage, couldn’t wait to outfit the rooms to feel reminiscent of summer camp. Retro collections she had set aside for years—vintage suitcases, paint-by-number art, and plaid patterns on anything and everything—are right at home in the quaint quarters.
Keep reading to take a tour of Abby and Joe's happy cabin retreat.
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