The 20 Most-Liked Homes on Our Instagram in 2023

Five years ago, when a father and son set out on an evening canoe ride on Wood Lake in Northern Wisconsin, they paddled by a site for sale that sparked an idea. What if they built a vacation rental along the tree-lined river to allow others to experience the landscape? After nearly two years of surveying the county property map, the McPheeters found the perfect place to break ground for the first of a series of rental properties across a 140-acre plot of rural land, now known as Nordlys Lodging Co. As fans of Pacific Northwest architecture, the family dreamed of nestling microstructures within the landscape, but they worried about the aesthetic’s ability to withstand harsh winters. Fortunately, they found architect David Wagner, a Washington native and principal of Sala Architects, who was "able to adapt the aesthetic to our much more demanding climate," says Jeff McPheeters. Now complete, the Metal Lark Tower is a two-story, 820-square-foot cabin on a sloping hillside, resting against a dividing line of trees. "It’s interesting to experience the ‘aha’ moment of walking in and having it all open up the meadow and the lake," says the architect. "There is a certain poetry of that particular spot."