This Lake Keowee cottage tells a unique story with modern lines, cozy accents, and global decor.
In 2020, many shifts transformed the way we live our lives. Time spent in quarantine encouraged many to seek solace in nature and retreat. This led Devin and Vanessa Burnett to the realization that the waterfront property they’d purchased for a future second home on the shores of Lake Keowee couldn’t wait any longer. Instead of beginning with a full-sized lake home, the couple envisioned a guest home, ready to be used and enjoyed with their children sooner rather than later.
They immediately called Tom Markalunas of the Markalunas Architecture Group, the same architect who planned their Asheville family home. Devin shares, “We loved using Tom for both our homes. He’s a master of using space; nothing is wasted and everything is very livable.” They knew they were in the best hands with Markalunas’ plans.
However, the Burnetts’ lake retreat would be very different design-wise than their Asheville residence. Drawing inspiration from their time on safari in South Africa (Devin’s home country), as well as lake cottages in Minnesota, the family gravitated toward sleek, soaring windows, wooden beams, and exposed concrete. The effect is modern and a little against the grain.
Vanessa admits she’s always had a little rebel inside of her, pushing against norms and longing for something set apart. Devin agrees: “We wanted to know that when we were here, it wasn’t like our house back in town. Every sense of what this place is needed to be different, to shake us out of our day-to-day lives.”
Carving out Space in Lake Keowee Cottage
For their lake house, standing at just over 1,200 square feet, space was of utmost importance. The family needed a retreat big enough for the kids to bring friends, but without losing sight of future plans for a main house build on the property. Windows bump out, creating cozy nooks: one for a dining area, another a daybed, cleverly adding more light and places to read or play cards, giving everyone a space to be together without feeling crowded or in the way. The bunkroom was fitted with extra-long beds, making it an ideal spot for older kids and growing teenagers to sleep.
The ceiling is built on an angle, with the lowest point starting at the front entrance, then soaring to its highest elevation facing East toward the waterline. Half of the view is a screened-in porch; the other, an entirely glassed-in wall of the master bedroom. Though the drama of the ceiling first gave Vanessa pause, it is now one of her favorite elements. “It looked like it was just too tall, especially compared to the length and width [of the home]. I was worried we had gone too far. It’s incredibly dramatic—at night, we can still see the landscape all around us. The moon lights up the lake and spills inside. It’s really beautiful.”
The timetable was incredibly tight, and in the midst of shipping delays and a housing boom igniting the market, nothing short of a miracle was needed to get the family on the lake by summer of 2021. Builder Jason Bergeron of Bergeron Custom Homes had a sliver of time to make their lake dreams a reality. “It was September 2020 was when we decided to pursue the build. The market was super hot,” Devin says. “Jason only does three to five projects at a time. But he bought into the vision, liked the idea of doing a modern house; [he] cleared the lot in January, and we were in the house by July.”
The biggest challenge for Bergeron was the exposed concrete work, which then became his favorite part of the home. “Concrete walls are not uncommon in residential construction, but they’re typically only structural and not ornamental as well,” he says. “I ended up meeting and working with a guy named Judah Haas with Alchemy Concrete, which proved to be a godsend.” Alchemy handled the footings, the foundation, the poured walls, and the concrete flooring.
With such a large amount of glass and concrete, a space could feel cold and unwelcoming. Instead, the Burnetts’ home is cozy, warm, and cabin-like. The interior design tells the story of their life together using pieces from their global travels. “A lot of our furniture has traveled quite a lot,” Vanessa says, from destinations including China, Taiwan, and South Africa. Furnishings were reupholstered and repainted to serve a new use for the Burnetts’ summertime lake retreat. These personal touches tell the family’s shared history while making space for new lake house memories to come.
Photography by Aaron Hogsed.
