In the pursuit of perfection, it’s only natural to fall short of that most lofty goal no matter how energized the effort. This is true in our lives and in our appearances, but it’s most obvious in our houses. Perfection comes at a great monetary cost, and if you’ve ever built a home, as I am doing now, you know that corners must be cut in order to make the level of perfection commensurate with the budget. I’m cutting corners now, I am, but I’m trying to trim those corners ever so delicately so that when the project is done there will be a few noticeable cuts but mostly the corners will look just as they should.
High end homes, homes so much greater than the structure that I’m building today which may or may not become my lasting home, these sorts of homes aim much higher but they too typically won’t measure up well against perfection. We’ve all been in these sorts of homes before. Homes with great big fancy facades that project perfection, but inside the home has laminate floors and ivy wallpaper borders in every room. Or homes with the most majestic kitchen, replete with Woodmode cabinetry and Rohl faucets, only to be anchored on a leading wall by a Kitchenaide range. Kitchenaide is fine, but we’re looking for perfection, not adequacy.
And so this search for perfection leads us back to the stony gates of the South Shore Club. After all, if architectural perfection is the aim we might as well drive to where we have the greatest chance of discovering it. The home today, the home up there and down there and the home that I aim to sell this spring might be as close to perfection as we can find. The home is richly adorned with wood and copper and stone, but it isn’t heavy as some homes that dose large on the wood are apt to become. The home is light and airy, while still masculine and warm. It’s a lakeside palace, but there’s nothing ostentatious about it. It’s a lake house, a beautiful, perhaps perfect, lake house.
The Orren Pickell design and build is spacious without being cavernous, the rooms each purposed and appropriate without allowing for the dead space that accompanies rooms that are too large, and too open. The great room is spacious and the ceiling clad in wood and beams, a massive stone fireplace fills the East wall of this room, yet the room still feels warm and comfortable enough for two people to have a conversation without fearing the echos. The kitchen is wonderfully appointed, with the fancies that are expected and some that aren’t. The vacationing epicurean will look for hours and find nothing to complain about.
The back library, used perhaps as this or maybe an office, is full of books on sailing and boating, and there’s probably not a better place to spend a winter afternoon that right there, on that couch, reading one of those books, thinking about the next great voyage or recounting the last one. And unlike some landlocked subdivision dweller, there is sailing to be had here, a lake to be viewed right outside those windows, a spot here where the dreams can be stoked in the winter and then exercised in the summer. There are porches here, delightful covered ones and a large screened one, owning a terrific lakeview. The South Shore Club has a lot of things, but porches aren’t as common here as you might think. No worries, this version of perfection has you covered. And screened.
Downstairs the elaborate staircase you’ll find a large wet bar with adjacent wine room, full size, lake facing windows, and a cozy family room with fireplace for summer movie nights and winter football games. The home is fully automated, with an impressive assortment of Lutron and Crestron systems, leaving the vacationing technofile with plenty to tinker with but nothing to wish for. Upstairs there are bedrooms, plenty of them, all of them pleasant with adjoining baths but one showcase- the master suite. Filling the lakeside end of the house this master has vaulted ceilings, a sitting room, and wide water views.
As with everything in the South Shore Club, the fleet of boats are available at your disposal, the tennis court mostly empty waiting for you and your racquet, and the swimming pool as lavish as most any resort pool anywhere. All of these amenities are included in your monthly fees, and when broken down the taxes and association fees leave an owner paying an annual carry that is so far less than a similar home with private lakefrontage would have. The house falls nicely in the expected and proven sales range for the SSC ($1.75MM- $3.575MM), and the $2.875MM price tag would prove to be a number that this home likely could not be replicated for. It’s here, it’s turn key, and it’s ready for the first best summer of the rest of your life.