Story by Roland Sweet
Photos by Brad Simmons
Styling by J. Woestemeyer
Once Lou and Joyce Imbrogno decided they wanted to build a vacation home, the last thing on their mind was getting it done in a hurry. They took plenty of time to do it right. It turned out so well, in fact, that their second home became their primary residence.
The couple's story began nearly 20 years ago, when they set a goal of finding a suitable piece of land. First, it had to be within a two-hour drive of their home in suburban Connecticut. Second, it had to have access to water. "We went through a process where we identified all the lakes within 120 miles of our house, then we narrowed that down to the lakes that had available property for sale," Lou says.
Their quest turned up two acres in the Hudson River valley that featured 600 feet of frontage on a small lake. The Imbrognos bought the land in 1985 but didn't build on it until 1993. In the meantime, they did plenty of research. At first they wavered between a masonry house, which was low maintenance but too cold, and a cedar home, which they ultimately decided was not rustic enough for their woodsy setting.
They bought a lot of magazines and looked for ideas. In 1992 they started coming up to the lake more often. About that time, they met Victor Luccio, a builder representing Alta Log Homes, which produces precut log-home packages.
Victor showed the couple several homes he had built. They liked the workmanship, but what really got their attention was the fact that Alta could modify its standard plans to suit the couple's wishes. "A big concern of ours was designing a house to optimize our view of the lake," Lou says, "plus we already had a big house, so we didn't want another one. We wanted something that was real open, got a lot of sun and felt homey. We're surrounded by all these woods, so we thought, why not logs?"
The stumbling block was the size of the Eastern white pine logs. The Imbrognos wanted wide-diameter logs, but the biggest Alta made was a 5- by-7-inch log. About that time, however, the company introduced its 7-by-7- inch Frontier log, which appealed to the Imbrognos.
Alta's designers were able to accommodate all the Imbrognos' wishes, making such extensive modifications to the standard plan they started with that it is safe to call the result a custom design. The 50-by-28-foot home is built on two levels with a loft for the master suite. The layout is completely open with no hallways and the only walls separate the bedrooms and baths.
The basic configuration is an A frame, but with the A and the roof turned toward the lake so the length of the house faces it. The couple added a second roof peak with a two-story, 14-by- 14-foot sun room at the other end. To take advantage of the view, they specified windows that went as low to the floor as they could and as high up the wall as they could. The crowning triangle windows were custom-made. The basement level, which opens to the lake, has log siding that duplicates the look of the full-log walls right down to the overlapping corners.
The Imbrognos enjoy almost as much room outdoors as inside. A 12-foot- wide deck runs along the whole side of the house facing the lake. Under the long deck is a patio. A front deck is under the peak over the front entrance. The Imbrognos used cedar decking "because we didn't want our dogs to be fooling around with pressure-treated wood."
Lou also designed a three-story 30-by-30-foot log garage that mimics the house. One level holds boats, the other cars and the third a hobby room. A cobblestone driveway leads to the garage and front door of the house.
Joyce took charge of furnishing the home, using mainly late- 19th and 20th- century oak antiques and family heirlooms. "This area is great for antiquing," Lou notes, "so we've picked up a lot of pieces around here."
One of his prized finds is a 120-year-old pool table, which is the cornerstone of the downstairs game room. Having worked for the Pepsi Cola company for more than 30 years, Lou has amassed quite a collection of Pepsi memorabilia, which adds an informal touch to the house.
Lou handled all the landscaping. Besides plantings, he focused on the water, building a 14-by-14-foot dock and a flagstone walkway leading the 50 feet from the house to the water. "The outside is spectacular," he points out.
He adds that the house gets a lot of radiant heat off the lake, even in winter. In the summer, they use air conditioning for about six weeks.
Reflecting on how well the home turned out, Lou says the key was proper planning-not just the overall design but such details as adequate storage.
Having traveled extensively, Lou and Joyce accumulated many mementos to display in their home, but even more treasures that need to be tucked out of the way. By making sure they have a place for everything, plus allowing for future acquisitions, they don't worry about running out of room.
Initially Lou and Joyce wanted a house close enough so they didn't have a hard drive getting there Friday and coming home Sunday night. "But within five months of us starting to come up here, I found myself waiting until Monday morning, then driving straight to work," Lou admits. "Then we started coming here every weekend."
Shortly after the home was built, Lou was reassigned to Georgia, so the couple sold their Connecticut home. Joyce moved to the lake and Lou commuted on weekends. More recently Lou was transferred overseas, where he works five months a year, leaving the other seven to spend at the log home working out of a converted bedroom with a view of the lake.
They plan to keep the same schedule when Lou retires. "We won't spend the winters up here," he says. "As warm as it is, we want to play golf."
About the only regret Lou and Joyce have is that they waited so long after buying the land to build their log home. "The hold-up was trying to decide whether we really wanted a second place," Lou recalls. "But once we built it, we couldn't believe how our personas changed on the drive up. We became so much more relaxed. We also always worried that once we moved whether the kids would come visit. Now we can't keep them.