Custom home builders often see shifts in how people want to live before they become widely adopted. From working pantries to integrated outdoor spaces and home automation, many of today’s most popular features started in thoughtfully designed homes. So when Lake Country Builders’ second-generation owner Patrick Jacobson started hearing from empty-nester clients that they wanted manageable single-family homes, he took it to heart. “These are active people who aren’t interested in a townhome or condominium,” says Jacobson. “They want to live in an established neighborhood with a private yard.”
Photography by Bo Carlock/Spacecrafting
In 2024, the now 50-year-old firm had the unique opportunity to build a house when a couple who had toured a Lake Country project offered Jacobson a special piece of land next to their Minnetonka home. “The homeowners didn’t want someone to come in, overwhelm the lot with a giant house and block their lake view,” explains Lake Country Vice President and Director of Operations Rob Aldecocea.
The property had several appealing features. In addition to being in a highly desirable neighborhood, the site had a lake view and was sloped on one side, making it well-suited to a partial walkout — ideal for guests or as a future caregiver space. Jacobson, Aldecocea and Director of Architecture and Design Ryan Smolik translated decades’ of insight from empty-nester clients into a 3,577-square-foot home designed to live effortlessly today and adapt for tomorrow. This meant three-foot-wide hallways and doorways, zero-threshold showers, and a vertical stack of space spanning levels for a future elevator (and until then, closets).
There are also less obvious features, such as pre-wiring the house for washlets (smart toilets) and installing automated heating, cooling, lighting and window treatments — all of which can be controlled from the homeowners’ phone or a central panel. “Retrofitting a house with these features can be challenging and expensive, so we try to do proactive thinking on the front end,” says Jacobson.
The team further challenged themselves to design a home that would fit into — and maybe even uplift — the neighborhood. Smolik kept his modern cottage design to one story with sophisticated details, including a modified hip roof, deep overhangs and an integrated brick stoop. And even though there was an existing driveway at the front of the lot, Smolik moved it to the side, knowing a grassy expanse sets a prettier stage than a swath of concrete.
Shortly after they broke ground, Lake Country Builders brought O’Hara Interiors on, recognizing that the firm’s timeless approach would be a good fit. CEO and Creative Director Kate O’Hara understood immediately what they were trying to accomplish. “This was about simplifying, not downgrading or compromising,” she says.
The main level is arranged around a central living room and kitchen, which is connected to the backyard patio via expansive Marvin Scenic doors. The layout maximizes entertaining space and seamlessly expands the home’s footprint in warmer months. Wood ceiling beams in the living room help create a sense of intimacy and differentiate that space from the kitchen.
A few private rooms branch off from the central gathering space and help the home live more richly by offering varying experiences within the single level. One such room is an office placed between the front entry and dining room, with doors on both sides.
“You often see bedrooms that double as an office, usually tucked back in the house,” Aldecocea says. “Our team came up with this cool idea instead: a pocket of space in front that can be open or closed for work or a quiet place to read.” Another offshoot of the central gathering space is the kitchen-adjacent dining room that has three walls, a vaulted hip ceiling and large windows offering a peek at the lake. Designed with the kitchen-proximity of a breakfast nook but the sense of enclosure of a formal dining room, the sunny room serves multiple purposes.
O’Hara gets the room’s appeal: “My mother [O’Hara Interiors founder Martha O’Hara] turned every dining room in every one of our houses into an office for herself,” she says. “She liked to spread out and never wanted to be too far from the action.” Anchored by a brass chandelier and a soft oval table, it’s a space that invites use. There’s also a four-season porch off the back of the house for quiet time or socializing, with another set of Marvin Scenic doors that opens to a central patio and provides an outdoor shortcut to the living room.
Throughout the home, Senior Designer Gabby Laboy employed a mix of warm wood tones and creamy white walls to create soothing backdrops for things like the shimmery Taj Mahal quartzite in the kitchen, the checkerboard porch floor, and the splashes of springy blues and greens in paintings from local artists like Allison Johanson.
Not long into construction, a couple who wanted to be closer to their children and grandchildren purchased the home. Aldecocea wasn’t surprised that it sold quickly. “Far from cookie-cutter, this custom home was designed with intention, making everyday living feel effortless and enjoyable, all within a sought-after neighborhood,” he says. “Opportunities like this don’t come around often.”
Project Partners
Builder: Lake Country Builders
Interior designer: OʼHara Interiors
Artist: Allison Johansson
