Art lovers Marilyn and Bill Van Sant weren't driven to include a fabulous trophy kitchen or an extravagant owners' suite in their newly built retirement home in Bayfield, Wis. The couple were most excited about creating spaces for their treasured collections: a gallery for their Impressionist oil paintings, rooms for their Oriental rugs and alcoves for their books, amassed during travels over the past three decades.
"We built the house for our paintings," said Bill. "Every piece of art has a story."
And, of course, the home's design also needed to maximize sweeping views of nature's ultimate work of art — Lake Superior and Madeline Island to the east.
The couple also requested that Dan Nepp and Tom Van De Weghe, of TEA2 Architects in Minneapolis, come up with a plan that would showcase age-old craftsmanship inside and out — from hand-chiseled stone to finely detailed woodwork.
Today the Van Sants' new cedar-shingled retreat looks as if it might have been sitting on the bluff overlooking the vast blue water for the past century.
"I wanted a home that embraces you when you walk in," said Marilyn. "And glows like a candle at night."
On summer trips going back to the 1980s, the Van Sants had been charmed by Bayfield's timeless setting and small-town personality. Marilyn soon became involved in the Bayfield Heritage Association, and in 2002, the couple left their house in Eden Prairie, and bought and renovated an old Victorian, making the Lake Superior getaway their permanent home.
"We were balancing the lifestyle in the city and up here in Bayfield," said Bill, a semiretired corporate executive. "The lake won."
