There’s something about the end of summer that makes me look at the lake a little differently. The mornings start getting cooler, the sun disappears a little earlier, and the lake that was buzzing with boats, swimmers, paddleboards and jet skis just a few weeks ago begins to quiet down. There are still some great lake days ahead, but you can definitely feel the season beginning to change.
For those of us who live on a lake, or spend most of our summers around one, this is also a great time to look back. Every summer seems to teach us something new about our lake, our property and, sometimes, ourselves. As I often tell people, “You really don’t know how you’re going to use a lake house until you’ve lived through a full summer in it.” The things you thought were going to matter when you bought the house aren’t always the things that end up mattering most.
After more than 20 years of selling lakefront homes, I’ve seen this play out over and over again. Buyers naturally focus on bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, kitchens and finishes. Those things matter, of course, but once summer arrives, something funny happens. Everyone heads outside. Breakfast moves to the deck. The kids disappear down to the dock. Lunch happens on the boat. Friends gather around the firepit at night. That beautiful formal dining room that seemed so important when you bought the house might go untouched for weeks.
That’s one of the great lessons of lakefront living.
You may discover that you don’t necessarily need more house. You need more ways to enjoy the lake.
A great deck, screened porch, patio, dock or lakeside sitting area can completely change the way you use your property. Maybe this summer you realized that your deck is a little too small when everyone comes over. Maybe you found yourself constantly dragging chairs down to the water because that’s where everyone wanted to sit. Perhaps you discovered that the best view on the entire property isn’t from inside the house at all. It’s from a little spot near the shoreline where you ended up having your morning coffee every day.
I’ve always believed that “the best lake homes aren’t necessarily the biggest or most expensive. They’re the ones that make it easy to enjoy the reason you bought the property in the first place: the lake.”
Your dock is a perfect example. Before owning a lake house, people often think of the dock simply as the place where the boat goes. After a summer on the lake, you realize it’s practically another room of the house. It becomes the place for morning coffee, afternoon swimming, fishing with the kids and sitting with your feet in the water at the end of the day. Some of the best conversations of the entire summer probably happened sitting on that dock.
And your lake may have pointed out a few things that need improvement along the way. Maybe you need a bigger dock, a better ladder, more seating, a boat lift or a place to store the kayaks and paddleboards. Maybe you realized you need better lighting between the house and the waterfront. These are exactly the kinds of things worth thinking about now because the frustrations are still fresh in your mind. By next May, you’ll probably forget half of them.
The same goes for the rest of the property. If everyone tracked wet feet through the kitchen all summer, maybe an outdoor shower or better path from the lake would make life easier. If life jackets, tubes, floats and water skis took over the garage, maybe some dedicated lakeside storage is the answer. If the afternoon sun made your deck almost unusable, perhaps an awning, pergola or additional shade should be on the winter project list. If mosquitoes sent everyone inside just when the evening was getting good, maybe that screened porch you’ve talked about for years finally moves to the top of the list.
Question to ask
One of the best questions you can ask yourself at the end of summer isn’t, “What would make my lake house look better?” Instead, ask, “What would make next summer easier and more enjoyable?” There’s a big difference. The best lake house improvements are often the ones that remove little obstacles between you and the water.
You also probably learned a lot more about your lake this summer than you realize. Every season teaches you something. You figure out which areas get shallow when the water level drops in August. You learn which cove stays calm when the wind picks up. You discover where everyone gathers on a Saturday afternoon and where you can go when you want the lake almost entirely to yourself. You find a favorite fishing spot, the best place to watch the sunset or the perfect route for an evening cruise.
None of that information is going to show up in a real estate listing. It comes from living there.
Over time, those little discoveries are what turn “the lake” into “our lake.” You know its personality. You know what it looks like first thing in the morning when the water is perfectly flat. You know what direction the wind usually comes from. You know which weekends are crazy and which weekday evenings feel like you have the entire place to yourself. That knowledge becomes part of the experience of owning lakefront property.
But there’s another lesson many of us probably learn every summer: we didn’t use the lake enough.
Memorial Day arrives and it feels like you have forever. There will be plenty of weekends for boating, plenty of nights for sunset cruises and plenty of time to invite friends over. Then suddenly Labor Day is here and you’re wondering where the summer went.
Life has a funny way of sneaking into lake life. Work needs to get done. The lawn needs to be mowed. There are errands, projects and obligations. Pretty soon, the boat has been sitting at the dock for two weeks because everyone has been “too busy.”
I think that might be one of the most important things the lake teaches us. “You can own the greatest lake house in the world, but you still have to make the time to enjoy it.” Sometimes the lawn can wait. Sometimes the project can wait. Sometimes a Tuesday night boat ride is more important.
And when you look back at the summer, it probably isn’t the big, planned events that you remember most anyway. Sure, the Fourth of July fireworks, family gatherings and big weekends are great, but some of the best lake memories happen when absolutely nothing special was supposed to happen.
It’s having coffee on the dock before anyone else wakes up. It’s watching a child catch their first fish. It’s teaching someone to waterski. It’s taking an unplanned sunset cruise because the water looked too perfect not to go. It’s sitting around the fire after everyone else has gone home or watching a summer thunderstorm roll across the lake from the porch.
Those ordinary moments are a huge part of what makes lakefront living so special.
Before summer completely disappears, I think every lake homeowner should take 15 minutes and walk their property from the water back toward the house. Look around and think about this past summer while it’s still fresh in your mind. What worked? What drove you crazy? Where did everyone naturally gather? What part of the property did you barely use? What did you wish you had? And most importantly, what would make next summer even better?
Write those things down. Some may turn into major winter or spring projects, while others could be incredibly simple. A few new chairs on the dock, better outdoor lighting, a kayak rack, a firepit, a better place for wet towels or even a family promise to take the boat out every Wednesday night might make a bigger difference than an expensive renovation.
And remember, just because Labor Day has passed doesn’t mean lake season is over. In fact, some of my favorite days on the water happen in September. The crowds thin out, the evenings get cooler and the lake takes on a completely different personality. There are still sunsets to chase, fish to catch and plenty of opportunities to squeeze in another boat ride.
Final Thoughts
So before you start thinking too much about winter covers, dock removal and closing up the lake house, give yourself a few more lake days.
Because after another summer of living the lake life, maybe the biggest lesson is also the simplest one: Owning a lake house isn’t really about the property you own. It’s about what you do with the time you get to spend there.
Posted by Scott Freerksen “The Lake Guy”