O
verlooking the Manchester valley,
with the summit of Green Peak
providing a quintessential
backdrop from behind, sits a home that for
more than two years, John Baker and Scott
DuFresne of Northshire Construction
worked alongside their client to bring to
life. The realized vision has created
this modern marvel in elegant Dorset.
The home’s owner was born and raised in
the Manchester area, but now spends a
significant amount of time in New York
City. The influence of Manhattan’s sleek
and modern style is clear in the final
product. Even with the home’s modern
style, there still exists the undeniable
coziness and comfort often associated with
Vermont. This reimagined log cabin is a
unique blend of styles not found in many
other places.
There was no chief architect on the build.
In fact, the only part of the home that an
architect was contracted for was the
foundation; everything from there on up
was a collaborative effort between the
homeowner, Baker, and DuFresne. It
80 VERMONT MAGAZINE
wasn’t without trial and error, but the
immensely evident creativity and master
craftwork speaks for itself. Baker says that
on projects like this one, he enjoys working
directly with the client because “it’s much
more rewarding to envision the end prod-
uct alongside the persons who are actually
going to live in the home.”
All of the individually laid wood boards
are a sight to behold; every piece is a
perfect fit. The home has no interior trim,
something that Baker points out as one
of the most challenging and distinctive
elements of the design. The customiza-
tion doesn’t end there. All of the building
materials were meticulously chosen, from
the cedar walls to the white oak floors,
to the recessed LED track lighting on the
ceiling. The lights alone took many rounds
of experimentation to get the desired color,
tone, intensity, and feel.
There was no interior designer on the
project either. As a labor of love, the
homeowner selected everything from the
tiling, light fixtures, and furniture to the
blackened steel bathroom vanities. The
backsplash in the kitchen matches the
pendant lights above the island, and the
custom cushions in the lounge nooks are
the same as those on the sofa and chairs in
the living room. While much of the home’s
interior is cedar, white oak and blackened
steel were chosen for the stair risers and
black walnut for the lower kitchen
cabinets, along with the interior of the
mudroom leading from the garage.
Most important, function has not been
lost for the sake of design. Those same
lounge nook cushions lift up with the help
of awning-style cabinet closures, revealing
storage underneath. The bedroom walls
blend seamlessly with push-to-open closet
doors. In order to create that hidden look,
Northshire Construction cut the same
pieces of wood to carry through along the
walls and over the closet doors.
Each of the three bedrooms in the home
feature large windows that let in warm,
natural light. The floor-to-ceiling window
design in the living space was
professionally engineered to include as
much window-surface area as possible