Watermarks of the Heart: From Farmland to Farmhouse Modern in St. Michaels

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A classic Chesapeake lifestyle would not be complete without a few annual road trips to the many, varied towns that dot the shoreline of the Bay and beyond, including the bigger destinations of Ocean City and Rehoboth. 

Staci and Erick Lang can certainly attest to embracing such a lifestyle and racking up those miles along the way while raising their twins Megan and Jordan.

“After we married, we lived in Rockville, but we would come to the Eastern Shore to visit the towns and do some touring, but we also went to the beaches over there quite a bit,” Erick explains. 

The Backstory

Each of these trips left watermarks on the family’s collective heart, fostering their life-long love of the water and instilling that in their kids. And over the years, the couple would develop a framework and wish list for what their lives might look like once those kids had grown, and their own careers in education no longer rooted them to the bustling Rockville suburb.

Years later, their excursions brought the couple to Chestertown after their daughter, Megan, expressed interest in attending Washington College. That trip would go down in their travel journals as a complete success as Megan was soon sold on the college and the couple was totally enamored by the quaint cobblestones and river vibes of the town. The trip provided the inspiration to explore further, because they were now convinced that if they were to plant some new roots any place else, that place would have to provide a tranquil water view and unlimited access. 

Having a daughter in school on the Eastern Shore provided them with the opportunities over several years to conduct thorough research. So, with every trip, they covered a bit more Eastern Shore territory, heading east and then a tad south.  

“We started out looking in the Grasonville-Stevensville area, but we kind of kept working our way south,” Staci says. 

And by the time their daughter was ready to graduate from Washington College, they were ready to take the plunge into their next adventure in home ownership, having discovered a new, small subdivision planned on the periphery of St. Michaels.

The Location

The development would come to be known as San Domingo Cove and a person they met there helped them put the modern farmhouse spin on the new home of their dreams that would, indeed, have the much-anticipated view of the water they’d been hoping for.

“I like the idea of the small town St. Michaels, but yet 15 minutes away, you can get pretty much anything you need [in Easton],” Staci adds.

The day the Langs stopped to check out the model home on the 109-acre subdivision, they were surprised to learn, and then even meet, the owner of the home next to the model, who happened to be the builder of many of the San Domingo Cove properties, Brent Paquin of Paquin Design Build in Stevensville. The Langs would not only see the model that day, they also received a personal tour of Paquin’s own home.

“He came right over to us—and this was on a Sunday, too, not even a workday,” Staci says of the impromptu tour. “He was very open and fun to talk to; explaining that he had some design features in his own home he would like us to see.”

The meeting had the Langs walking away with one of the 16, two-acre lots and much confidence in their new builder, who obviously thought enough of the location to want to build his own home there.  

The Plans

At that time, the development was just beginning to take shape, but Paquin had some exciting, existing home plans that he told the Langs he could tweak to meet whatever the homeowners’ hearts desired. The one that most closely aligned with their new-home goals was the “Hatton” plan, named for Hatton Garden Farms, the originator of the 109-acre tract of land. 

The tweaks would provide the Langs with 3,500 square-feet of heated living space, according to Paquin, and would address the following goals: Advantageous views of the water along San Domingo Creek; a judicious, open floorplan for entertaining (something their home in Rockville lacked); two, open-air porches; a modern, classic farmhouse feel throughout; and four bedrooms, each with its own en suite bath, including two primary suites with one located on the main  floor. 

The Finished Product: Inside & Out

“The big goal with all the homes in that community, was to maximize the water views,” Paquin explains. “So, we stacked the waterfront side of the home with as much glass as we could get in there.”

To accomplish this, the Langs chose the plan option that removed some bedrooms from the second-story layout. This enabled the ceiling-to-the-sky effect in the great room. The homeowners are absolutely thrilled with the visual impact this area provides, as you wouldn’t necessarily expect it from the inviting, yet unassuming entry. 

“You are fooled when you come in and see the one-story entry, and then all of a sudden, you’re in this huge two-story area, and it all connects—living, dining room, and kitchen,” Erick says.

The discriminating black and white décor scheme throughout the home begins at the entry, where not only first glimpses of San Domingo Creek can be seen through the glass front door panel, but also of the home’s enhanced architectural aspects of design. This includes its black and stainless cable rail system staircase that leads to a stunning overlook effect from the residence’s second floor.

“When you’re up there, there’s a door for each bedroom. So, essentially when you walk out of each bedroom, you look out to those windows for a high-level view down the creek,” Erick says.

Other areas of the home that the Langs take particular pride in, include their custom-designed kitchen with rustic wood beams, first-floor powder room with water-pump style faucet, three guest bedrooms, each with its own bath, and the home’s cherished front and back porches. 

“We love to have guests come to stay, and we felt it very important that each one feels they have their own personal space when they’re staying with us,” Staci says of their accommodations.

And despite the many options for outdoor living these days, the Langs chose to keep these spaces simple and accommodating, as well.

“We did not want the porches screened in; we preferred them to have an open-air effect, and we use them and the pool a lot—even when we don’t have guests over,” Staci says.

Erick adds that the patio area surrounding the pool was specifically designed to provide an unobstructed view of the water from the inside out. “When you’re looking out to the water, you don’t have patio furniture in the way of the view.”

Each living space is detailed to reflect every aspect of how the family lives and what they enjoy, right down to the essential mudroom that the family also uses often when returning from their waterfront adventures in paddleboarding, boating, and kayaking.

For a brief period after the home was finished in 2018, the Langs were content to use it primarily as a weekend and vacation retreat, but that situation did not last long. Erick confirms that they have wrestled away those last suburban roots from the ground in Rockville. 

San Domingo Cove is now home to 16 distinctive private homes and a 60-acre environmental conservation area rich in wildlife and opportunities like walking trails to enjoy its unique natural resources.

Paquin’s Perspective on Design > Next-Level Farmhouse Vibes

While getting the nuts and bolts of what made the Lang’s home design such a winner, we also posed some forward-looking design industry questions to Brent Paquin about what he is seeing and hearing from clients about their most recent wish lists.

Based on that information, he says farmhouse style remains extremely popular, but clients are asking for the design to be streamlined. 

“A little bit of a younger generation is coming into a financial place [in their lives] where they feel comfortable designing and building their homes, and I think, a lot of that is bringing a little more of the modern aspects in,” Paquin explains. 

“What happens with this creeping further into the modern is [an emphasis on the] less decorative and more of an easy, straight-lined, less-is-more-approach to design.”

The Details

Impeccable interiors make this house a home. Here are some of homeowner, Staci’s notes on the subject.   

In the Dining Room: Our dining set was custom-made by a craftsman in Thurmont, Maryland. This was one of the cases where we did lots of looking before we made a decision. Interestingly, he took the front porch spindles/columns from an old house that had been torn down and used them for the legs. The top is made from walnut. We wanted the bench on one side and the chairs on the other. We met with him and described the (farmhouse) style that we wanted, the length, etc., and he delivered!

On the Floor: The floors are from Castle Combe Artisans and the color is Rookwood. They are oak. We were looking for something rustic and it took us months of searching to find these floors. (Which we actually did during a trip to South Carolina). Ultimately, we found them locally at Chesapeake Family Flooring in Chestertown. 

Suspended from the Ceiling: The chandelier is Elk Lighting’s 8-Light, 1-Tier Chandelier from The Natural Rope Collection, Model:63043-8. The lantern pendants over the kitchen island, in the hall, and in the stairway are Generation Lighting’s, “Labette” 3-Light, 10” Wide Pendant from the Sea Gull Collection, Model:5140603-12.

On the Countertops: To personalize the home, Staci says she added final touches of tobacco baskets with barn-cured leaves from her family’s farm in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia, to countertops and shelves. The kitchen countertops were crafted of Calacatta Laza Quartz. 

On the Wall: The barn door, purchased at 84 Lumber is made of Knotty Pine Alder Wood. Style: KA-181, V-Groove. 

"Every time we went on vacation, or anywhere we visited—we went to college in Barnville, Virginia (they have a furniture market down there), or Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head—we gathered ideas from each. Many of them are coastal areas, so we were able to get ideas for how to decorate on the water." —— Staci Lang