Longing for closer family ties, a Washington man returns home and makes his place on Idaho's Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Sky Smick hadn't wandered too far from home after college. Aside from a few years in Colorado, he was never more than a long day's drive from his hometown of Saint John, Wash. Still, years of moving around left him feeling a bit disconnected.

By the early 1990s, he was ready to go home. He missed the rolling hills, lakes, and farm country in Eastern Washington, and he wanted his two children, then toddlers, to grow up knowing his family and friends. Relocating his family and business was not an option, though. Instead, Sky and his wife, Lisa, sought a seasonal cure for his homesickness. They set out to find a summer retreat near his parents in Saint John. Their search eventually led them across the state line to a 1,200-square-foot cabin on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho.

“It was basic, nice but only a short drive to my parents,” Sky says. “It fit our needs at the time, but after a few years, we outgrew it. We hated the idea of leaving the lake or the cabin, but we needed more space, something more year-round.” Fortunately, without looking too hard or far, the Smicks stumbled upon exactly what they needed—a 1/2-acre lakefront plot on a neighboring bay, just a few miles from the cabin. Soon enough, the couple found themselves upgrading from their cabin to a custom-built, 6,000-square-foot house.

“We don't live an extravagant lifestyle, and we were concerned that it would be too much,” Sky says. “We really put an emphasis on making it cozy, closing down the scale a bit, not making it a cathedral. We were apprehensive about how it was going to turn out.” To see the Smicks' home today is to see a place that manages the balance beautifully, conveying intimacy while still being impressive. The virtues of timber home construction—the unpretentious but striking timbers, the dominant earth tones, the sense of timeless and honest construction—all contribute to the home's hospitable character.
Sky and Lisa plan to retire here when their two teenage children go off to college in a few years, but for now, the lake home is a summer escape from their residence in Vancouver, Wash...

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