Designer Erica Harrison finds the story and drama in a tired cabin.
This article first appeared in Traverse Northern Michigan. Find this story and more when you explore our magazine library. Want Traverse delivered to your door or inbox monthly? View our print subscription and digital subscription options.
The owners of an old cabin on a private lake in Northern Michigan had coaxed it about as far as it could go when they hired Erica Harrison, principal designer at the Detroit-based firm Hudson & Sterling, to give it a top-to-bottom overhaul. What had begun as a country schoolhouse in the 1950s had been added on to in the 1970s. Though the building itself was structurally sound, it had sunk as much as 11 inches into the ground and needed new wiring, plumbing and septic. It also possessed the shag carpeting, linoleum and mundane appliances true to the era in which it was built.
But Harrison has a sixth sense for finding buried beauty and, in this case, the beauty she saw was in the wood. “These old cabins were always built with the most amazing wood,” she says. The aged pine paneling on the interior was in such good shape, in fact, that Harrison determined it wouldn’t need more than a coat of tungsten oil to bring out its beautiful cordovan and red hues. And that was enough to make the designer see the potential drama in the old cabin.
Photo by Nick Johnson
Dramatic and storied styles are firmly in her wheelhouse—Harrison spent a decade staging rooms for Ralph Lauren. “I was basically his storyteller,” she explains. “I would create a world that he would walk into, where his imagination could create a design—of Chamonix in 1920, or it might be the Sedona of the 1940s or Santa Fe, 1910. I would create the aesthetic, the mood and the feeling of the time period using lighting, furniture, clothing, books and even the plaster on the walls to create the concept.”
So, after addressing all the building’s structural, electrical and plumbing needs, Harrison turned her focus to weaving a story from color, fabric, tiles, furniture and myriad other details. The story Harrison chose for this structure was a rustic but-sophisticated Northwoods hunting cabin. “The [original] aesthetics of this little cabin were just so bad that I really wanted to make it feel elevated and elegant; less like a country home, more lodge-like. Both styles are elegant, both are beautiful—I just wanted to give this cabin that Up North feeling of being very cozy,” she says.
Tiny as it is, the cabin exemplifies Harrison’s signature style—a style that is fundamentally more about ambiance than decor. With its carefully curated details, the home manages to feel as warm and rustic as a shot of fine bourbon after a cold tramp in the woods.
Photo by Nick Johnson
An antler chandelier hangs over an antique oak table original to the home—Harrison found it with a plastic cover glued to it and had it refinished. The chairs are made from hickory and covered in black-and-white gingham that echoes the Americana feel Harrison wanted in the cabin—a sentiment she credits to her years working with Ralph Lauren.
“His style is always a play of history,” she says, describing the blend of ginghams and Native motifs, fine velvets and bird and floral fabrics she used in the home. The flooring is ceramic river stone that Harrison chose for its organic looks as well as its durability.
The old kitchen was gutted and reconfigured. Harrison painted and replaced the hardware on the Ikea cabinetry which completely covers the refrigerator.
The stove is by ILVE, an appliance line she likes for its quality, style and affordability. The bench under the window is made from a live-edge slab of wood from Pond Hill Farm in Harbor Springs.
Photo by Nick Johnson
“It might be my Ralph Lauren background, but I just love green and hunting cabins,” Harrison says. “Using green [indoors] really lets the greens outside the window shine, as well as the crystal-clear blue water from the lake. That’s why we chose not to put curtains on the living room windows.”
Harrison adds that green offers a historical feel to the building; she chose Sherwin-Williams Basil for the walls and Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore for the trim.
Note the coffee table retrofit from an antique pheasant cage. The map on the wall is of the estate where the cabin is located. Harrison found it in the back of a garage on the property and had it cleaned up.
Photo by Nick Johnson