Rivah

Rebirth of an old river cabin … at home on vacation

By Carrie Belt

For Richmond-area boomer and interior designer Kim Schoenadel, designing a dream vacation home started with her vividly colored Blenko glass collection from Milton, West Virginia. “I always wanted to be able to feature the glass,” says Schoenadel. “I love it with the light on it.” Thus, Schoenadel designed backlit shelves that would fit into the staircase of her arts-and-crafts-style Lanexa river home. From there, the design of the rest of the house began.

Schoenadel and her husband, Steve Thacker, bought the home on the Chickahominy in 2000 when it was just a single-room fishing cabin built in the 1940s by the previous owner’s father. The couple turned the home into a 3,500-square-foot, three bedroom haven that features ample entertainment space and an outdoor living space, complete with fireplace. “We spend the majority of our time [in the outdoor room], even in the winter,” says Schoenadel. “We have sound piped out there and can even watch sporting events.”

Except for fall weekends when the couple’s two sons, aged 17 and 18, play school football, the family spends every possible weekend at the river house. While Schoenadel and her husband plan to relocate to the river permanently after their sons head off for college, they do not foresee the house becoming their retirement home anytime soon. “I won’t retire,” says Schoenadel, CEO/president of KSA, a commercial interior design firm. “I have offices in Richmond and Hampton Roads, so the house is a central location and I can work from my home.”

Carrie Belt is a Richmond-based writer. Her company, Carrie Belt and Associates, specializes in providing quality writing for print and digital media.