Charles de Lisle
Age: 50
Occupation: Designer
Location: Sonoma County, Calif.
Favorite Room: After looking for land in the area for 20 years, Mr. de Lisle and his partner, Ralph Dennis, who live mostly in Mill Valley, Calif., bought a kit house on six acres. The living room of their weekend retreat is, like the rest of the house, designed for laid-back living. “No electricity, no cell reception,” Mr. de Lisle said. “We liked the humble nature of everything here.”
No electricity or Wi-Fi — are you tweaking out?
It takes a bit to decompress. It’s usually a half-day exhale. We put in solar. But the house is not connected to the grid. It was built by a survivalist.
This room has more wood than a sauna. Was that your design or the survivalist’s?
It came like that. Solid cedar logs were keyed like a log cabin. You nail the stacks together and cut the windows. That’s the house. It feels more cabinlike and treehouse-like, which I love.
The house itself, we just modified the ugly bits. Took down the creepy burgundy curtains, threw out the entire kitchen. We decided to not put back a full kitchen, to live more like we’re camping. The kitchen is just a metal sink we got delivered. We put a curtain in front of it.
Aside from the Flos and Joe Colombo lighting, the furniture is pretty basic, too.
Growing up in Massachusetts, I would go to summer houses on the Cape, on the Vineyard, and they were super-casual crash pads. It wasn’t about the furniture. It was about where it was. We inherited a couple of bookcases that were in the house. The furniture was stuff we had in storage, lighting that I collect. It feels really comfortable.
Mr. de Lisle uses binoculars to see deer and turkeys that gather in the meadow. CreditJason Henry for The New York Times
Why the binoculars?
The house is very private. You drive along a 150-year-old apple orchard and come through the woods into a meadow. We have a lot of deer and turkey that hang out in the yard. Coyotes hang out down the valley. You can see across the whole meadow with those.
The great thing is it’s not that far from civilization. Drive 15 minutes down the road and there’s coffee, amazing roadside grocery stores, everything is local and organic. It feels three hours from the city, but it’s not. That’s what’s magical about this spot.
