Project 16 — Mahogany-paneled library and study, lakefront site

The Study

A single richly detailed room: floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on a rolling ladder, a carved stone fireplace, and a wall of divided-light windows looking straight out over the lake — built as a close study in materials, lighting, and furnishing rather than a full residence.

Single room study Coffered wood ceiling Floor-to-ceiling library shelving Carved stone fireplace Wet bar Lakefront glazing

The Study

Bookshelves, a rolling ladder, and a wet bar wrap a coffered-ceiling room anchored by a stone fireplace and a wall of lake-facing glass

Study seating around the fireplace with lake view — Fireplace seating & lake view

Study fireplace with library shelving and wet bar — Fireplace, shelving & bar

Study desk with globe and lake view through windows — Desk, ladder & lake view

Study library wall and wet bar — Library wall & wet bar

Notes on the design

The Study is a smaller exercise than most of the projects here — one room, studied closely rather than a full house laid out room by room. Mahogany paneling, a coffered ceiling, and a carved stone fireplace set a formal, clubby tone, while floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and a rolling library ladder along two walls make the room feel built around reading and working rather than display. A wet bar tucked into the shelving keeps the room self-sufficient for evening use without ever competing with the books.

The other wall is almost entirely glass — a bank of divided-light windows and a garden door that trade the room's dark, layered materials for an open view straight across the lake to the tree line and mountains beyond. It's a deliberate contrast: a dense, wood-lined interior that could sit comfortably in an old hunting lodge, paired with the kind of glazing that only makes sense on a modern lakefront site.