Couples who buy vacation homes almost always underestimate the covered outdoor space and overestimate everything else. The Fenton is built around that reality: a covered patio that pulls living outside, an open floor plan that keeps the whole thing easy to move through, and a modern layout that stays low-maintenance so the weekend actually stays a weekend.
Specifications
- Sq. Ft.: 1,296
- Bedrooms: 2
- Bathrooms: 2.5
Floor Plan – Main Floor
Two bedrooms flank a central foyer, with an open kitchen, dining, and great room across the front.
Dark Board-and-Batten Exterior Built for People Who Hate Beige
Charcoal vertical siding and a matching metal roof give this single-story home a moody, unified exterior that commits to its palette and doesn’t apologize for it. The oversized garage door with transom windows keeps the facade from reading as a bunker.
The Psychology Behind This: Dark exteriors tend to read as sheltered rather than imposing, which is a big part of why they appeal to buyers seeking retreat over spectacle. When the wall tone and roof tone are this close to each other, the eye stops parsing the structure and just settles into it — which is exactly the feeling a vacation home should open with.
Warm Wood and Pale Walls Make Open-Plan Living Feel Like a Long Weekend
Fluted dining table pedestal and salmon sofa anchor a room that earns its calm.
Ask Yourself: Vacation homes work hardest when they don’t try too hard. If you can picture yourself sitting in this room on a Tuesday morning with coffee and no agenda, it’s doing its job. Ask yourself whether your primary home gives you that same feeling, or whether you’ve been quietly saving it for somewhere else.
Marble Island, Warm Pendants, and Barstools That Actually Look Comfortable
A gas cooktop sits centered on the island while wood-capped pendants pull the eye down from tall ceilings — grounding a space that could easily feel cavernous.
- Herringbone tile backsplash adds pattern without demanding attention
- White refrigerator and pale cabinets keep the palette cohesive without matching too hard
- Barstool upholstery echoes the cabinet tone, so nothing fights for dominance
Gallery Wall Above a Sectional That Looks Like It Came From a Boutique Hotel
Landscape paintings in muted gold and cream tones cluster above a caramel sectional, pulling the room’s warm neutrals together without matching too precisely. The live-edge coffee table on hairpin legs is doing real work here. Tall windows flood the left wall with daylight, making the whole space feel less decorated and more inhabited.
Why the Gallery Wall Placement Works So Well Here
Hanging art above a sectional on an uninterrupted wall sounds like a simple call, but the staggered arrangement avoids the rigid symmetry that makes gallery walls feel like conference rooms. Frames vary in size and orientation rather than following a grid, which gives them an accumulated-over-time quality that no shopping cart can replicate. That sense of casual accumulation is exactly what vacation spaces need to feel personal rather than staged.
Warm Neutrals and Wall Sconces That Make Bedtime Feel Like Checking Into Somewhere Nice
Sconces mounted at reading height do a lot of quiet work here. The upholstered headboard keeps the wall from feeling bare without competing with the pastoral painting above it, and layered bedding in soft greens and grays looks lived-in rather than staged. The fluted nightstand on the right earns its spot.
Designer’s Secret: Hanging sconces instead of table lamps frees up the entire nightstand surface, which matters more than people expect until they’ve actually stayed somewhere that does it. It also locks the light position so both readers get equal coverage without negotiating lamp placement every night.
Floating Shelves Above the Toilet That Actually Earn Their Keep
Walnut shelves display reed diffusers, folded towels, and a small framed print. Vertical tile behind them gives the wall texture without competing — restrained enough that it reads as intentional rather than busy.
Did You Know: Floating shelves above a toilet are one of the most efficient storage moves in a small bathroom, pulling vertical space into service that would otherwise sit empty. Open shelving also keeps things visible, so nothing gets buried the way it does behind a cabinet door. Limit the display to three or four items and the shelves read as decor; push past that and they just look like overflow.
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Exterior rendering shows a modern home with a steel roof and a three-car garage. The floor plan below reveals three bedrooms, a rec room, a rear covered porch, and an open kitchen-living layout across one level.
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