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Jon de la Cruz, of San Francisco–based AD Pro Directory firm DLC-ID, had known his latest clients for years. In fact, they were his very first; after leaving his job at Ken Fulk in 2015, de la Cruz built them a collection of houses: their primary home in the Bay Area, another coastal California dwelling, a residence for their parents, and an island retreat. Yet the wife, who had been reared lakeside in the Midwest, craved a waterfront hideaway evocative of what she had grown up with. She found one astride north Lake Tahoe, on the California side, and, wanting to stay nearby during the redesign process, then found a second one: a 2,800-square-foot cabin with a split-log façade that, as de la Cruz tells it, was “the runt of the litter.” garden wall lamps
The designer himself “fell in love with this small one” and its quirks, including what he laughingly calls the “1970s wood-paneling smell.” At his urging, the homeowners ended up selling the first property and overhauling the second. A traditional Lake Tahoe cabin—a seven-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath lakefront residence that sits on the north side of the lake and comprises a carriage house—the family’s new getaway demanded restoration on all fronts, and fast. “We did a lot of upgrading, and we did it one building season. In Tahoe, we couldn’t do anything in the winter,” de la Cruz says.
The family, which includes two parents who work in the tech industry and their two grammar-school-age children, is “very unpretentious,” shares the designer. “They live in these houses, and they use them. They need to work, and they just so happen to let me make it stylish.” While the foursome is what de la Cruz calls “a ski family,” they also wanted to make the most of the property in the summer. Despite the region’s wintry reputation, the designer aimed at an aesthetic that would weather all temperatures and avoid feeling overly thematic. “I wanted to not fall into the trap of making it feel like a winter lodge, but also keep it all-season.”
Benjamin Moore’s Philipsburg Blue on the kitchen cabinetry mimics the blue of Lake Tahoe. The handmade-tile backsplash was selected to provide “texture, but also make it not all period-correct,” de la Cruz says. “This is not a museum.” The designer implemented reclaimed teak floors from IndoTeak and created the custom dining table to complement the dining chairs, which are original to the house but were restored and reupholstered in Moore & Giles leather and Schumacher’s Fauna in Carbon. The dining area is set against a backdrop of the home’s original knotty pine walls.
De la Cruz set about making improvements to the kitchen and upgrading all bathrooms, while winsome decorative features dating back to the home’s circa-1950 origins (like the living room’s imposing rock fireplace and original wood-paneling-clad walls) served as reminders to remain authentic to the home’s early days. “When taken with the task of furnishing, I wanted to embrace all those things, lean into them, and highlight them,” he explains. The colors, for instance, he says, are intentionally bold. “Because it’s their second home—they’re not there every day—I leaned into color. Most people want a nice, clean white kitchen. We got the opportunity to play with color and texture,” he says, citing custom-made plates by California company Jered’s Pottery in a “wishing-well blue” ombré as an example. It’s a hue de la Cruz plucked, seemingly, right from the family’s own view of the lake. He also scoured nearby shops on sourcing expeditions in the name of decorative veracity, finding, on one of those trips, a wry squirrel portrait that now presides over the powder room: “When I do local houses like this for clients, I like to go to the local thrift stores to make sure it has that flavor.”
One lake-facing bedroom sings with different layers, a facet that the homeowners appreciate “now that they see it together, and how we found a plaid that really worked with the floral,” says de la Cruz, who initially shared the concept—floral-themed Gaia wall covering by House of Hackney juxtaposed with a plaid curtain from Kravet—via a Powerpoint deck over Zoom that, he felt, didn’t at first convince the owners. “But it magically works, even though you wouldn’t normally think on paper that it would.” And the old stick furniture, which came part and parcel with the house purchase and which the homeowners expected him to toss, evokes the thought for visitors: “Yeah, I’m in Lake Tahoe—that’s exactly where I am.”
The approach of bolstering the home’s surviving midcentury spirit is one that worked, from the seemingly incongruent but ultimately chic pattern play in the guest room to a tiny, enchanting powder room under the staircase—walls clad with William Morris Blackthorne by House of Hackney wall covering—that calls to mind Harry Potter. “I wanted it to look like it had been remodeled over time, not that we just came in and swept in and did it all at once,” de la Cruz says of the cabin. “It’s like a snapshot of the evolution of Tahoe.”
In the living room, original wood paneling hearkens back to the cabin’s 1950s origins. The faux-bois McCoy area rug from Stark Carpet offers a fun counterpoint to the wood on the walls, while a pair of vintage plaid lounge chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar hold court at center. The antique game table hails from Abtique Art Exchange in San Francisco. The vintage ottoman is from Obsolete, and the vintage coffee table is from Nickey Kehoe. De la Cruz’s firm crafted the custom sofa and settee, which is covered in a William Morris-Sanderson velvet and trimmed with Samuel & Sons Chainette fringe.
The designer took cues from Mother Nature on color selection. “The sunrise is very golden and beautiful. Blue and yellow pop up a lot, [as well as] the color of the trees.” Les Ateliers Zelij tile provides a bold blue backsplash in the kitchen, where vintage milk-glass barber shop pendants hover above the kitchen island, with Grothouse’s crosscut end grain white oak countertops atop. De la Cruz collaborated with Jered’s Pottery on custom glazes inspired by the blues of Lake Tahoe and the daily sunrise, as viewed from the kitchen window.
“The family loves to cook and loves to be together,” says de la Cruz of the dictum to craft a client-friendly kitchen. The shades are rendered in Torridon in Silver Grey by GP&J Baker, while integrated appliances are by Sub-Zero and Wolf, and the plaid runner is from Swedish rug brand Pappelina.
Outside, the Arbor furniture suite from Janus et Cie sits alongside Made Goods end tables. A collection of outdoor fabrics from Jim Thompson, Rebecca Atwood, Holland & Sherry, and Jasper are featured.
In the lake-facing primary suite, Mansour’s hand-knotted Water area rug and a set of vintage bronze faux-bois table lamps echo the lakeside locale without being overtly contextual. Sister Parish Kinnicutt Stripe wall covering; a custom coverlet in Vreeland, also by Sister Parish; and a nightstand from Lawson Fenning play well with a skirted desk chair and tufted bench from Nickey Kehoe and a Roman shade featuring Hodsoll Mackenzie’s Barchester Plaid from Hewn SF to perfect the setting.
“We wanted him to feel like he was in a treehouse,” says de la Cruz of designing the son’s bedroom. Walls covered in Scalamandre’s Pine in Green provide a textured background for a twig Amish rocking chair, Lawson Fenning cabinet, and DLC-ID custom bed in Pindler Check fabric in the mountainside room. The Roman shade fabric is from Mark Alexander - Romo Group, while the bear footstool was sourced from Scully & Scully. The designer fitted the two lamps, which came with the house, with new shades and new wiring.
Gaia Wallpaper by House of Hackney adorns the walls. The curtain fabric is from Kravet, and the curtain trim is from Samuel & Sons. The designer sourced the vintage desk chair and desk from Obsolete in Culver City. Completing the scene are a Stark Carpet area rug, vintage brass table lamps, Pendleton bed blanket, needlepoint pillow from Scully & Scully, and skirted table fabric by Pindler.
For the daughter’s lakeside bedroom, located in the loft above the living room, a forest-animal theme clicked, with a bunny-motif lamp shade and a bunny bedside stool. But de la Cruz also “didn’t want to go too crazy because I knew in four to five years we’d [update it], so I only made the soft goods.” The Roman shade, which sits above the picture window with its view of the lake beyond, features Sanderson’s Clemence fabric, replete with wildflowers and forest animals.
In the daughter’s bathroom, a fanciful forest motif continues, with Schumacher’s arboreal Pandora wall covering in Peacock taking the lead. Sconces are by Visual Comfort, and the plumbing fitting is by Waterworks.
“That split-log face of the house was everywhere, and that was why we loved the house,” enthuses the designer. “But when it came time to fix the house, a lot of it was not able to be saved.” The siding pictured, however, is original and was preserved.
The carriage house, set in front of the main residence, is home to two bedrooms sitting above the garage, as well as a “tiny, tiny bathroom with a little stand-up shower.” Originally conceived as a work-from-home space for the husband, the space was pivoted when the homeowner realized he preferred working from the main house. De la Cruz updated the guest-friendly space with “good linens and pillows,” including Pendleton’s Eco-Wise wool plaid blanket, and throw pillows from Coral & Tusk.
“This is the tiniest room, and the photo is being very generous,” laughs de la Cruz. There was “no room for a cabinet, just a cute little vintage French table [which we] set under the sink.” A thrift shop find—a vintage squirrel painting—provides a tongue-in-cheek contrast to the polished vintage Louis XVI–style gueridon and House of Hackney wall covering. The short glass rod light is by Thomas O’Brien for Visual Comfort.
In one of two guest bedrooms in the carriage house, a custom headboard covered in Lee Jofa’s Arley Print in Ivy is the focal point. Visual Comfort’s classic swing arm wall lamp sits to the right, above the Scumacher gingham table skirt. One of de la Cruz’s challenges was “finding or building furniture that would fit our timeline. We tried to collect things locally and work with a lot of workrooms that would do custom work nearby.” Ultimately, around 75% of the sourcing was done in the Bay Area, and the remainder was local to Tahoe.
Pierre Frey’s Salzburg wall covering in Snow sets the tone for a cozy nook. The custom sleeper sofa is covered in Castel Cheyenne in Brick, graced with a needlepoint pillow from Scully & Scully and gingham pillows from Schumacher. The E. F. Chapman sconce is by Visual Comfort.
“The footprint of the deck stayed,” says de la Cruz, who did, however, change out the wood. “The old wood was destroyed, and it was time for new.”
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