Snow Lake 1
When researching ideas for renovations, the Wesberrys discovered a cottage on Pinterest that included a porch, which inspired them to add their own.
Snow Lake Project. Designer: John Catmur
In 2016, Memphis-based couple Dr. Jess and Mary Lee Wesberry purchased a lake house on the banks of Snow Lake. Perhaps one of Mississippi’s best-kept secrets, the area is located about an hour outside the hustle and bustle of Memphis in Benton County.
“We found out about the lake through some friends of mine,” says Mary Lee. “Our friend, who lived next door to this little house, had heard that the owners were thinking of selling the property. So we approached the owners, and we bought it directly from them.”
The Wesberrys lived in the fishing cabin for a year before they decided they’d try to update the exterior. “We loved our location and the view,” says Mary Lee. “We loved everything except for how the house looked. It was a bit rustic. We knew we needed to do something, but we needed a catastrophe to push us into it.”
During Thanksgiving break in 2017, the Wesberrys took a trip to their vacation home to talk to someone about working on their dock. But when they arrived, Mary Lee was greeted by flooding in the bottom floor of their house.
“When I stepped downstairs, my foot went underwater,” says Mary Lee. “I think what happened is we’d repaired the water line from the street to the house, and the plumbing in the house was old and fishing cabin quality. The increased pressure must have popped something off. I thought, do we fix it and sell it? Or do we bite the bullet and really turn it into something we want it to be?”
Snow Lake 2
While the Wesberrys called the original design "rustic," they chose a white, sage-y undertone after speaking with an adviser.
The Wesberrys decided to put their best feet forward and use this setback as a catalyst to do a full remodel on the house. And they knew just who to call: father-and-son duo John and Eric Catmur of Catmur Development Company.
“We knew John so well, because he had done renovations on our house in Kirby Woods in 2014,” says Jess. “He did such remarkable work on our porch on that house, so we decided to enlist his help.”
Sticking to the original footprint of the house, draftsman Phillip Henning drew up some layouts and schemes of the Wesberrys’ prospective remodel, and Mary Lee and Jess dreamed up exterior and interior designs. Once a plan was hammered out, Eric Catmur led a team of subcontractors to get to work.
“I saw this little cottage on Pinterest,” says Mary Lee. “I thought, it’s exactly the same shape as what I have, which is basically a box, and we can add a porch.”
To put this design into fruition, the team had to rethink the facade of the house. In the front, a pair of mismatched windows and a door were replaced with two sets of French doors, and a covered porch was added. Then, in the back, an upper deck was added to an existing lakeview screened-in porch, and another set of French doors was installed to connect the upper floor of the house to the new deck. Above the entire house, a tin roof replaced the old, shingled roof.
Snow Lake 3
The redesigned porch offers a great view of Snow Lake, a serene area just an hour from Memphis.
With the doorways now in different locations, the builders had to remodel the kitchen to allow for walking space. This involved taking out the center island, oven, and oven hood and moving them to the wall. To make the space more comfortable for guests entering the house through the top floor, a pantry in the kitchen was converted to a full bath.
Both bathrooms got new vanities, which were repurposed from antique dressers found at Mary Lee’s parents’ house. “One of the chests had a marble top already,” says Mary Lee. “So the Catmurs were able to easily turn them into vanities.”
“We’re really thrilled with the way it turned out,” says Mary Lee. “Aesthetically, it’s a different place, but functionally, it’s really the same footprint.”
The Wesberrys also wanted to lighten up the place without it standing out too much, so they went with an off-white color for the exterior and interior of the house. “We happened to run into a woman who is an excellent adviser on how to pick colors,” says Jess. “We told her we wanted our house to be white, and she recommended that we use ‘lake colors,’ which have blue or green undertones. She said that it would look better than the dark white we wanted to use. We chose a white with a sage-y undertone.”
Numerous updates were added to the house, including environmentally friendly options like an on-demand water heater and LED lights. Other updates included a new HVAC system, dishwasher, washer, dryer, and hardwood flooring.
The renovation was completed by March of 2019, and the Wesberrys couldn’t have been happier with the result. “We’re really thrilled with the way it turned out,” says Mary Lee. “Aesthetically, it’s a different place, but functionally, it’s really the same footprint.”
The Wesberrys offer up some advice to anyone looking to remodel their homes: “Have a vision and direction, and stick to it; live in the house for awhile before pursuing renovations; get a good contractor; and, most importantly, location is everything,” says Mary Lee.
