The Orono Artisan is a craftsman-inspired residence that Lake Street Design Co. developed for clients who came to the project with a rare clarity of vision: they wanted a home where every surface, every joint, every material choice would reflect the care of the person who made it. It was an invitation that our team accepted wholeheartedly, and the result is one of the most detail-rich projects in our portfolio.
The architecture takes its cues from the great craftsman houses of the early twentieth century, wide front porches, exposed rafter tails, built-in cabinetry that wraps the living spaces, but interprets them through a contemporary lens that strips away historical pastiche while preserving the essential warmth of the tradition. The result is a home that reads as both rooted and current, at home in Orono's wooded landscape without feeling frozen in time.
Inside, Lake Street Design Co. commissioned custom millwork from a small Minnesota studio that specializes in hand-finished furniture and architectural woodwork. The built-in bookshelves flanking the living room fireplace, the breakfast nook with its integral bench storage, the kitchen's upper cabinetry with its hand-forged iron hardware, each piece was made by hand and shows it, with a quality of surface and joinery that no factory product can replicate.
Materials throughout the home carry the same philosophy: handmade tile from a Wisconsin ceramicist in the primary bath, a plaster finish applied by a single artisan over two weeks, reclaimed heart pine floors sourced from a demolished mill building in the South. The Orono Artisan is slow design in the best sense, a home that took time to build and will take time to fully know, revealing new details and textures at every encounter.
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