Catskills Home by Kimberly Peck

[photos by Torkil Stavdal via Kimberly Peck & Houzz]

By the time Labor Day weekend rolls around, I'm always aching for a country getaway. It's a sudden realization that happens every year: Crap! Where did the summer go? Then it's a mad rush to spend the few remaining days of excessive heat and sunshine by a body of water somewhere, preferably surrounded by  trees and nature and all the good things I've overlooked all summer long.

This home in the Catskills, featured on Houzz, would be just the place to spend a lazy week before autumn sets in. Days by a remote lake somewhere and nights roasting marshmallows over a fire, plus enough rustic modern charm to keep a city girl like me happy.

The house, which serves as a weekend getaway for one very lucky NYC couple, was designed by architect Kimberly Peck. Restoring the timber frame of a 19th century barn and raising it on site, Peck surrounded the house with structural insulation panels. She then added a poured a concrete foundation, radiant heating and fiberglass windows to update the structure and make it energy efficient.

And the modern interiors are the perfect match for the structural updates - shiny Ikea cabinetry and subway tile in the kitchen, polished concrete floors throughout, and plenty of mid century furniture chosen by the client.

Where would you like to spend the last days of summer?