The 5-foot-wide door, painted cherry red, is a generous welcome to Jeff and Jill Murphy’s home on Lake Pulaski in Buffalo. The low-slung house, stained black otherwise, recedes into its natural setting, enveloped by towering oak and pine trees. But once the front door (designed by Jeff, built by Cambek) swings open into the glass breezeway, French casement windows on the other side reveal sweeping views of the water some 50 feet below. “The breezeway brings in so much light, and it’s also good for those Minnesota goodbyes that never seem to end,” Jeff says.
For the Murphys, lake life is more than a summer getaway. In fact, Lake Pulaski has been home for as long as they can remember: The couple grew up on opposite sides of the lake, then they raised their now-grown three daughters in a house about a mile down the shoreline. The empty nesters’ new home includes enough rooms for their daughters to visit, and the family gathers for weekend fun here and down at the two boathouses by the lake.
Situated on the edge of a bluff, “the house’s configuration was driven by the property line, so it’s parallel with the lakeshore,” says Jeff, residential designer at Murphy and Co., the architectural design company he and Jill founded 20 years ago. When they started designing the house, Jeff says, they considered their new stage in life. “With three girls in college, it was just going to be us, so we didn’t want it to be a big house,” he says. “And we set up the downstairs for them when they come back to visit.”
“The first thing I do when I come home is walk right out onto the porch balcony and look at the lake.”
—Sarah Murphy, Jeff and Jill’s youngest daughter
Their aesthetic inspiration comes from the couple’s combined heritage—Irish (Jeff) and Scandinavian (Jill). “We liked the idea of our house being casual because that’s how Jeff and I are,” Jill says. “We wanted it to be cozy and comfortable, but there are lots of cool details.”
Materials such as reclaimed wood from Manomin Resawn Timbers and rugged stone from Hedberg form the angled ceilings and doorways and rustic walls and walkways. Entire walls of windows provide panoramic lake views and usher in light.
Throughout the three-acre property, outbuildings—including a motor barn that doubles as entertaining space and two boathouses, plus a stone outdoor fireplace and an expansive dock at the shoreline—provide other spots for the family and friends to gather. Nowadays, when their children and their friends visit, the activities are as varied and ongoing as summer camp, from three-wheeling and wakeboarding to hiking and bonfires. “We call it Camp Murf,” Jill says. It might be time for an official T-shirt.
Architecture: Murphy & Co. Design, 235 E. Lake St., Wayzata, 612-470-5511, murphycodesign.com
Contractor: Campbell Construction, 4452 Pleason Ave. NW, Annandale, 763-238-7896
May 31, 2023
6:30 AM