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Former decorator shrinks dream to create backyard retreat in Falls
By Mary Beth Breckenridge
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Oct 04, 2008
CUYAHOGA FALLS: For years, Jim Pesce dreamed of owning a cabin like the one his father had on Lake Milton.
Finally he has it — albeit a scaled-down version in his own backyard.
Pesce, an interior designer who spent 30 years with the former Marvin Interiors, bought a playhouse this summer from a house in Southwest Akron and had it moved to a corner of his small city lot. He's decorated the tiny cottage as a private retreat, with an easy chair, a desk and a sleeping loft — just in case anyone gets a notion to camp out there.
''It's like the house on the lake — and there's the lake,'' he said, pointing to a koi pond a few steps away.
Pesce's cabin obsession goes back to his childhood, when his family would spend time at the fishing cottage his father built in 1954. Some 10 years later, the property was claimed to make way for the construction of Interstate 76. His father built another cottage, but the lure of that original lodge never left him.
In recent years, Pesce scaled down his dream from a cabin on a lake to a guesthouse in the backyard. And this summer, his partner, Tim Parkinson, spotted a possibility when he was attending a house sale on Diagonal Road.
Pesce paid $600 for the building, which apparently had been used as a potting shed but was packed with bags of leaves, rocks, aluminum chairs, gardening tools and all sorts of castoffs. Then he hired neighbor Travis Strausser and his brother, Zak, to disconnect the house from its concrete base, move it on a flatbed truck and reposition it on a 16-foot-long deck they built. The deck serves as both a base and a front porch.
The move had its setbacks. Pesce had to have the place treated for ants, some of the shingles had to be replaced and the rotting steps to the loft were removed. Before the front door was reattached, a raccoon moved in — a problem solved by a smoke bomb. ''He was out within seconds,'' Pesce said with a smile.
Pesce figures the shingled, storybook-style cottage was built in the 1920s or '30s. It's a whimsical house, with an exaggerated roof peak, crooked windows and a comically kinked chimney that Pesce made out of pipe and a funnel.
Creative decorating
Its diminutive footprint — 6 by 7 feet — posed something of a decorating challenge, but Pesce outfitted it to represent everything a full-size cottage might need.
There's a compact spinet desk flanked by a couple of antique gaming chairs, a shelf that represents a mantel over an electric heating stove and an old bung from a keg mounted over a basin in one corner like a kitchen faucet. Pesce slipcovered a rocking lawn chair and fashioned an extended back for it out of plywood ''so if I take a nap, I won't get whiplash.''
Red-and-white checks, reminiscent of the oilcloth his mother favored, cover windowsills and other surfaces. Old aprons hang from hooks beside the windows like makeshift curtains. All sorts of knickknacks perch on windowsills and wall niches — family photos, ceramic animals, miniature twig chairs, old bottles.
Here and there are references to his dad's cottage: an oil lamp from the cabin, a photo of his father taken there, a fishing pole leaning against the wall behind a seat, just like the rods that always stood behind his dad's chair.
The small loft has been outfitted with a sleeping bag, pillows, wicker hampers and even a small chest of drawers for a nightstand. Pesce cleverly rigged up a small coat rack on a pulley that raises it to the ceiling, so coats can be stored out of the way.
Noticeably missing, however, are the accouterments of a busy life. ''No clock. Certainly no phone,'' he said. Even the CD player is disguised with a homemade fabric cover.
It's a place where Pesce can relax, sketch and perhaps entertain friends — well, as many as will fit into the tight quarters.
It's a getaway just steps from home.
Mary Beth Breckenridge is the Beacon Journal home writer. She can be reached at 330-996-3756, or at mbrecken@thebeaconjournal.com via e-mail.
CUYAHOGA FALLS: For years, Jim Pesce dreamed of owning a cabin like the one his father had on Lake Milton.
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Comments
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Posted 10:48 AM, 10/04/2008
I wonder if he needed a building permit or other permissions to do this.
It would be way more cool to buy a house that has a still functional nuclear bomb shelter from the 50's or 60's buried 20 feet underground in the back yard.
Duck and cover!
When the turmoils of modern life overwhelm me, I'd have my own little private space to hide in.
