Photo by Chad Holder
Center of Attention
Instead of the expected island, homeowner Todd Pearsall opted for a large family dining table in his cabin kitchen. It’s the place where meals are shared and puzzles are mastered. “I cook more when we’re here,” Pearsall adds. “We’re always in such a hurry at home to get from one thing to the next, but you have time to hang out here.”
The fish weren’t biting, 8-year-old Ruby announces as she walks in the screened porch, pole and tackle box in hand. Oscar, one of three family dogs, follows close behind, tail wagging. Ruby’s dad suggests she try again later as the second grader heads to her bedroom.
“We don’t do screen time here,” says Todd Pearsall, owner of Filament Lighting & Home in Edina. “We do nature. I want to be focused on being outside and with each other, family, and friends.”
As a result, Ruby has developed a love for fishing, even if cabin culture is new for both her and Pearsall. Atop a hill overlooking Lake Francis in South Haven, the new cabin formed from years dreaming and months designing and building. “Before she passed away, my mom and I always talked about building a cabin together for our family to go to. I promised her in the last week of her life that that’s one thing I would do in her honor,” Pearsall says. Working with architectural designer Will Spencer, Pearsall created a modern Scandinavian-inspired getaway that has the nostalgic vibe of a 1950s cabin. Cedar ceilings are at a standard 8-foot-tall height in the entry and in the kitchen but give way to a vaulted great room that reaches 15 feet at its peak. “It’s the Frank Lloyd Wright idea of compression and release,” Spencer says.
“It started out as a true A-frame, but as the construction design came along, we turned it into a modified A-frame,” Pearsall adds. The open plan combines the gathering areas—kitchen, dining, great room, and porch—with views out to the lake. An expanse of sliding doors is often open to the porch, allowing the breeze and sounds of nature to fill the cabin.
Rustic yet refined materials create the cozy lodge look. Black-stained red oak kitchen cabinets feature elk-horn pulls. Granite countertops in a “leathered” finish (from Affordable Granite & Cabinetry) juxtapose with a Chinese elm wood tabletop on a steel X base from Ciel Loft & Home. A pair of metal pendants from Filament hang above the table. “I wondered if they looked too industrial until someone commented that the patterning looks like plaid and I was sold,” Pearsall says. In the family room, a sleek wood-burning stove generates enough heat for the entire main level.
Although the structure is new, most everything inside is familiar. Framed Native American pieces are a nod to Ruby’s Ojibwe heritage, a church pew in the entry used to be on Pearsall’s mother’s porch, a steamer trunk belonged to his great-grandfather. “Everything in here has a story,” Pearsall says. Open shelves display his grandmother’s wedding dishes alongside the “instant” collection of handmade ceramic mugs that Pearsall found on Etsy.
In the months to come, Pearsall says he looks forward to planting the landscape, but he’s in no rush. The hour-and-fifteen-minute, door-to-door drive from Edina means frequent weekend visits, beyond long holidays and vacations. “Ruby takes the bus home from school on Fridays, and I have the car packed and ready to go,” Pearsall says. A new family tradition already firmly in place.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Nesting Instincts
Next to the refrigerator, Pearsall sneaked in a small work area to catch up on emails and stay connected with his Edina store. Open shelves display his collections, including his mother’s Isabel Bloom dove sculpture.
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Photo by Chad Holder
On the Waterfront
The great room looks out to the screen porch and Lake Francis beyond. The house sits on a hill with steps leading eight feet down to Pearsall’s dock. “Originally I wanted to be closer to the water, but now this is like being in a little birdhouse,” he says. The coffee table is a centuries-old bed from India from Bjorling & Grant in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Refined Rustic
Handcrafted touches convey an always-been-here vibe throughout the new cabin, including elk-horn pulls on the kitchen cabinets. The black-painted built-ins match the cabin’s exterior and are a handsome combo with granite countertops with a “leathered” finish.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Family Ties
“I have many collectibles that I’ve acquired that are an homage to Ruby’s heritage,” Pearsall says of the framed headress in one area of the great room. The French Canadian steamer trunk once belonged to Pearsall’s great-grandfather. The metal floor lamp and wood side table next to it are from Pearsall’s store, Filament Lighting & Home.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Family Ties
Pearsall’s daughter, Ruby, was gifted this circa ’50s Native American regalia that now hangs in the hallway between the two bedrooms in their cabin.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Treasure Hunt
In the entry Pearsall placed the church pew his mother gave him when he left for college beneath a framed tatanka photograph by Jack Spencer, from Douglas Flanders & Associates, in Minneapolis.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Treasure Hunt
Artifacts and the iron lamp are from Filament.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Warming Trend
Heated 12-inch-square concrete tiles mimic the look of terrazzo in the bathroom. Instead of a standard backsplash here and in the kitchen, Pearsall left the wood exposed, sans the four-inch countertop ledge. “I didn’t want this to be fancy but wanted it to feel earthy,” he says.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Warming Trend
“I wanted the fireplace to be Scandinavian in feeling, so I found this stove,” Pearsall says. He found the vintage ’60s hand-carved rocker in Austin, Texas.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Rooted in History
Pearsall’s mother owned a salon called Judy’s Magic Mirror. He framed one of her shop’s combs, and it hangs on the bathroom wall.
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Photo by Chad Holder
Taking Shape
“The cabin is like a telescope so the views open up at the lake side,” says architectural designer Will Spencer. The exterior (and kitchen cabinets) are stained deco black from Hirshfield’s. The metal roof is low maintenance and “sounds great in the rain,” Spencer adds.
Architecture: Will Spencer, Will Spencer Studio, 612-695-1043, willspencerstudio.com
