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A 1970s A-frame in Pennsylvania became dramatically more welcoming when its owners removed the mirrored surfaces that made the primary bathroom feel like a “hall of horrors.” MacKenzie Chung Fegan, Margaret Singer and Max Freeman kept the cabin’s summer-camp character while opening the bathroom, adding a skylight and replacing dated finishes throughout the house.
The renovation, documented by Architectural Digest on April 11, 2022, is a useful before-and-after study in light, visual openness, durable natural materials and carefully chosen color. It is a design profile rather than a construction manual, so the story does not establish building-code details, current rental availability or exact retail products.
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The cabin, the owners and the problem they needed to solve
A getaway with a practical second purpose
Fegan, Singer and Freeman bought the 1970s cabin in summer 2020. Their plan from the beginning was to use it as a personal getaway and make it available to paying guests to help offset ownership costs. The 2022 feature does not confirm that the property is currently bookable, so its guest status should not be treated as a present-day listing.
They approached the project as an effort to make the house feel turnkey without erasing its informal, nostalgic spirit. That balance shaped nearly every decision: retain the compact A-frame architecture and camp-like warmth, but remove finishes that made the rooms dark, cramped or uncomfortable.
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Why the primary bathroom earned its nickname
Every wall in the primary bathroom was mirrored, as was the ceiling. A separate water closet was walled off, and a drop ceiling interrupted the room’s dramatic roofline. Fegan described the result plainly: “It was a hall of horrors,” adding that she felt seasick in the room.
The peak above that bathroom rises nearly 20 feet, according to Architectural Digest (2022). Instead of decorating around the mirrors, the owners removed the enclosing elements, opened the water-closet area and took out the drop ceiling. A skylight then brought daylight into the tall volume. Singer’s reaction to the finished space was the opposite of Fegan’s first impression: “It feels luxurious.”
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| Area | Before | After | Design effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primary bathroom | Mirrors on every wall and the ceiling; enclosed water closet; drop ceiling | Mirrors removed, water closet opened, drop ceiling removed and skylight added | More daylight, visual height and openness beneath the nearly 20-foot peak |
| Downstairs bathroom | Laura Ashley-esque wallpaper | Simple pine planks, Bluestone tile and a custom carved Bluestone sink | A calmer, more tactile room tied to the surrounding woods |
| Kitchen | U-shaped layout with the oven oriented differently | U-shaped footprint retained; oven turned to face outward; Moroccan-tile backsplash and Bluestone counters added | Better outward orientation while preserving the existing working shape |
| Primary bedroom | Not detailed in the feature | Minimalist pine built-in cabinet system designed by Singer | Storage that follows the cabin’s simple material language |
| Sunroom | Not detailed in the feature | Custom marigold leather sofas | A strong, warm color anchor with a relaxed vintage sensibility |
How the mirrored bathroom became the visual centerpiece
Removing reflection instead of adding more decoration
The primary bathroom’s makeover depended on subtraction. Taking out the wall and ceiling mirrors eliminated the repeated reflections that had made the room disorienting. Opening the water closet removed another visual barrier, while removing the drop ceiling allowed the room to acknowledge the A-frame’s full height.
This is the central lesson of the project for anyone planning a cabin bathroom makeover: a room can feel larger when its boundaries become legible. The feature does not provide structural drawings, dimensions beyond the nearly 20-foot peak, or installation specifications for the skylight. It shows the design result, not a code-compliance recipe.
Using daylight to change the experience
The new skylight was introduced specifically to bring light into the tall bathroom. In the published account, the combination of daylight and the opened volume changed the room from an enclosed, unsettling enclosure into one the owners considered luxurious. No daylight measurements, glazing specifications or performance tests are reported, so those details cannot be generalized to another building.
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Preserving the A-frame’s drama
Many renovations flatten unusual rooflines with dropped ceilings or visual partitions. Here, removing the drop ceiling made the A-frame peak part of the room’s experience. The decision connects the bathroom to the cabin’s architecture rather than treating it as a conventional low-ceilinged box.
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The downstairs bathroom: pine, stone and a one-off sink
Replacing patterned wallpaper with simple boards
The downstairs bathroom had Laura Ashley-esque wallpaper. The owners stripped it away and finished the walls with simple pine planks. That change reduced the visual busyness and introduced a material associated with the surrounding woodland and the cabin’s original character.
“Pine wall planks” describes the material category used in the project, but the feature does not name a manufacturer, board dimensions, species grade or finish. A current product sold under that search term should not be represented as the installation shown in the article.
Sourcing Bluestone close to home
Bluestone tile came from nearby Gustin Stone. The same stone became the starting point for a custom sink, giving the bathroom continuity between floor or wall surfaces and the main fixture. Gustin Stone is identified as the local source in the feature; the story does not establish referral terms, current inventory or a formal design service.
Carving a 500-pound boulder into a 200-pound basin
Singer imagined a sink carved from a Bluestone boulder. The quarry owners agreed to attempt one even though, according to the story, they had not made a sink before. The initial stone weighed 500 pounds. After several heavy deliveries and successive reductions, the finished sink weighed 200 pounds, figures reported by Architectural Digest in 2022.
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The process was not finished when the stone looked right. Once water was turned on, it failed to drain, so the makers made additional tweaks. That episode is an important practical detail: a sculptural basin has to function as plumbing, not merely as a piece of stonework. The article does not specify the drain design, slope, sealant, supports or installation method.
A custom vanity completes the composition
Brooklyn woodworker Ry Scruggs made the sink’s custom vanity. Pairing a heavy, irregular stone basin with a purpose-built wood base allowed the fixture to read as part of the room rather than as an after-market object. No dimensions, wood species or finish schedule are provided.
The kitchen: keeping the footprint, changing the orientation
U-shaped planning without a total rebuild
The kitchen retained its U-shaped arrangement. Instead of demolishing that working footprint, the owners changed the oven’s orientation so it faced outward. The feature presents this as a functional adjustment that improved how the appliance addressed the room while preserving much of the existing plan.
Moroccan tile and unexpectedly green Bluestone
Oxblood and baby-blue Moroccan tiles from Mosaic House form the backsplash. Their saturated colors add a handcrafted note against the cabin’s wood. Bluestone counters were another major addition, although the slabs arrived greener than Singer expected. That variation became part of the finished palette rather than something hidden or replaced in the account.
Charred existing cabinets
Singer kept the wood cabinets and charred them with a blowtorch in a shou sugi ban-inspired treatment. The feature describes the owners’ process; it does not establish that torch-finishing is suitable for every cabinet species, adhesive, coating, ventilation setup or residential code condition. Anyone considering a similar appearance needs a qualified assessment of the existing cabinetry and fire-safety requirements before using heat.
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Bedrooms and the sunroom: custom work mixed with vintage finds
Minimalist pine storage
For the primary bedroom, Singer designed a minimalist built-in cabinet system in pine. The built-ins continue the straightforward wood language established in the bathrooms, but the article does not provide a drawing, hardware list or installation sequence.
Marigold leather sofas made for the sunroom
The sunroom’s matching marigold sofas were custom-designed by Singer with maker Ryan Cheresson. They were upholstered in leather supplied by Brit Kleinman of AVO. Their color supplies one of the project’s clearest links to camp nostalgia while remaining more deliberate than a collection of unrelated vintage pieces.
Vintage Jens Risom and Milo Baughman pieces
The owners found Jens Risom chairs on eBay and Milo Baughman cabinets on Facebook Marketplace. These are reported sourcing stories, not endorsements of particular listings or guarantees that comparable pieces are available now. The feature identifies no exact retail models for the custom sofas, chairs or cabinets.
What the renovation gets right from a painting and surface-design perspective
Light is treated as a material
The primary bathroom’s transformation did not rely on a brighter paint color. It removed mirrored surfaces, opened partitions and introduced a skylight so daylight could work across the room’s height. In a cabin, that kind of spatial change can matter more than adding another finish to an already busy wall.
Texture replaces visual noise
Pine planks, Bluestone and leather provide tactile variation without competing patterns in every direction. The downstairs bathroom moves from ornate wallpaper to boards and stone; the kitchen balances colorful Moroccan tile with the natural variation of Bluestone and existing wood.
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Color is concentrated rather than scattered
Marigold leather, oxblood tile and baby-blue tile are memorable because they appear as intentional accents within a restrained material palette. The article does not publish a full paint schedule or color codes, so these hues should be understood as descriptions of selected furnishings and tile, not as a complete house-wide paint specification.
Irregularity becomes part of the story
The greener-than-expected counters and the hand-carved sink were not perfectly predictable outcomes. Instead of forcing every material to look uniform, the owners incorporated variation into the cabin’s character. That approach is particularly visible in natural stone, where quarry color and veining can differ from an initial expectation.
What a reader should—and should not—copy
Ideas that translate well
- Remove a visually oppressive finish before layering on new decoration.
- Use the existing architecture—in this case, the A-frame peak—as a design asset.
- Repeat a local material, such as Bluestone, in more than one room for continuity.
- Combine one or two strong colors with quieter wood and stone surfaces.
- Allow enough time for custom fabrication and functional corrections, as the sink’s drainage problem demonstrated.
Details that require professional evaluation
- A skylight affects the roof and waterproofing; the feature does not explain engineering, flashing or permit requirements.
- Removing a ceiling or opening a water closet can involve structure, ventilation, moisture control and code questions that are not covered in the article.
- Heavy stone fixtures need verified support, safe handling and plumbing coordination. The 200-pound finished sink is a project detail, not a recommended load for another vanity.
- Blowtorch treatments on cabinetry involve fire, smoke and finish hazards. The published account is not a safety procedure.
The guest experience and the limits of the 2022 account
Fegan said, “You’re only two and a half hours from New York, but our first few guests have remarked that it feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere—hopefully in a good way.” That was her statement in the 2022 feature, not a current travel-time guarantee for every origin or season.
The story establishes the owners’ intention to host guests and describes the completed rooms, but it does not identify a current cabin listing, booking calendar, nightly rate or operating status. Anyone planning a Pennsylvania A-frame cabin stay would need to verify those details independently.
Why this “Hall of Horrors” makeover matters
The project succeeds because it solves an experiential problem rather than chasing a single decorative style. The primary bathroom felt physically unpleasant; the renovation addressed reflection, enclosure and missing daylight. The downstairs bath needed calmer surfaces; pine and Bluestone supplied them. The kitchen needed a more useful orientation; the oven moved while the U-shaped plan remained. Furniture and color then reinforced the cabin’s relaxed identity.
Architectural Digest’s 2022 report is best read as a record of one property’s choices: a nearly 20-foot bathroom peak, a 500-pound stone reduced to a 200-pound sink, local Bluestone, Moroccan tile, pine, charred cabinetry and custom vintage furnishings. It offers a clear design narrative, but not a universal specification or a promise that the same interventions will suit another A-frame.
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