Kristin Dach and her family had looked for a property at Choctaw Lake for years when the opportunity finally surfaced during a 4th of July party. Original plans were as simple as one addition to the existing structure; but who ever sticks to original plans? After running into lake level water issues the plans transformed into moving the site of the house further up a hill and starting from square one. The planned layout of the home with an addition was still the route the family wanted to go. “We went a little larger than originally planned you could say. It’s amazing how wanting to add a library can result in adding 2,000 square feet to the house,” Kristin says.
Designer details
With a larger, very open lake house on her hands, Kristin knew she would need help with interior design plans; enter Donna Rosenthal, interior designer and Allied Member ASID. “Donna has just been absolutely invaluable to me,” Kristin says. “I had a lot of ideas when it came to the house. I’m just not the person to make them happen and Donna is.”
One challenge for Rosenthal, and one that she welcomed was the sheer size of the house. Many elements had to be custom made such as doors and furniture to get the look everyone was trying to achieve. Rosenthal and Kristin’s design concept was a transitional look. “It’s not contemporary and it’s not traditional, it’s right in the middle,” Rosenthal says. “Kristin likes transitional with a bit of European flavor to it.”
European touches can definitely be found in the kitchen which has always been a favorite room for Kristin. “Growing up for me, the kitchen has always been the heart of the house,” she says. Kristin and her family are not formal diners and are always up for entertaining. Her inspiration for the kitchen table came from The Last Supper, due to the fact that she didn’t want a lot of width to the table but she wanted it to seat a lot of people. The table is custom and seats 12 easily.
Bigger and better
Rosenthal knew that Kristin along with her husband, their son and daughter, two dogs and two cats wanted a house they could all really live in, not just a show house. Kristin would come to Rosenthal with ideas that Rosenthal would then take to the next level. “She showed me a photo of bedroom furniture that she liked and we went off of it but we ended up making the headboard three times the size and redesigned the other furniture to fit the scale of the room better,” Rosenthal says.
In the master bedroom Kristin says she was looking for a romantic sanctuary, but she didn’t want the room too feminine, and above all else no opportunity for clutter. “The room is big, but we’re both clutter freaks and I wanted no storage in there,” Kristin says. “Other than the night stand drawers and a place to hold the remote under the TV, there is no reason to change your clothes in there or leave anything in there. I really wanted it to be designed to be beautiful and to be for sleeping and that’s exactly what we got.”
Kristin is thrilled with the draperies, which cast a warm amber glow and she says all the romance comes in through the chandelier. “I was amazed when I put it up,” Kristin says. “My husband even thinks it’s cool. When I saw it, it just screamed ‘put me in your bedroom.’”
Clutter-free living is a theme that Kristin tries to maintain throughout the lakefront home. “There is not an enormous number of rooms here, but they are all very large, which gave us a lot of flexibility when choosing details,” Kristin says. The size of the great room allows for four bright orange couches to be positioned in a half circle.
Off of the great room, or rather above it, is a piano loft that Kristin just loves. “It felt foolish not to use that space and provide additional seating,” she says. Kristin had always wanted a piano and it wasn’t until they put one in the house that her husband realized she could really play it! The loft also allows guests fantastic views from both sides: the lake on one and gorgeous views from the front of the house on the other.
Perhaps the room that is the most intimate and special to Kristin is the library. “It’s almost like all of my books finally have a home,” she says. The room is only designed for two people and doesn’t have a lot of seating so it’s clear that the space is not a hang out, but rather a personal space for Kristin, which was lacking in her previous home.
Artistic expression
Kristin is an absolute lover of art and has expressed her taste throughout the home. “I’m a firm believer that art buys you,” she says. “People ask how you know what’s good and what artists to buy and I say, if it speaks to something inside of you then it’s the right piece to buy.” Kristin has chosen very special pieces to display in her home from artists such as David Hostetler and Mark Yale Harris.
The home has a very comfortable flow when it comes to design; something Kristin was hoping to achieve with Rosenthal. According to Rosenthal, Kristin let her express herself and gave her a lot of free reign, which many clients have a hard time doing. Working on Kristin’s house became such a part of Rosenthal’s life that she takes away more than just the satisfaction of doing a superb job. “When you work on something so long, it becomes a part of you,” Rosenthal says. “Because we worked so closely together, we’ve developed a great friendship.”
article resources
Designer: Donna Rosenthal, Allied ASID, owner Bella Casa LLC; Architect: Dan Keiser; General Contractor: Cornerstone Remodeling Inc.; Other key suppliers and contractors: A Muse Gallery, American Artisans Woodworking LLC, Classico Tile & Marble, Country Classic Hardwood Floors, Ellis Kitchen & Bath Studio, Reipenhoff Landscape Ltd.
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