Why I Started Lakehouse Goods: Appalachian Wildlife Art as Tapestries and Puzzles
Lakehouse Goods
Lakehouse Goods began with the animals and the places that hold them.
A red fox in muscadine vines. A rabbit tucked into rhododendron. A wildcat scanning the gorge. A black bear moving through the forest. A screech owl in a hollow tree.
These first pieces are not just animal artwork to me. They are about animals inside the cover they choose: leaves, flowers, vines, bark, moss, stone, water, shade, and the small details that make a place feel alive.
Why I made these
A softer way to live with the artwork.
The habitat matters as much as the animal. The plants are not filler. The setting is not background. It is part of the story.
I wanted Lakehouse Goods to feel Appalachian in a way that is independent, personal, and lived-in. Not generic mountain decor. Not a tourist version of the place. These hills have always been part of my life: the woods, the water, the flowers, the animals, the covered porches, the old rooms, the quiet corners. I wanted the work to come from that kind of beauty.
Lakehouse Goods is an extension of Lakehouse Portrait Co., not a smaller or lesser version of it. The artwork is still the center. Canvas and fine art prints are still important. Goods are simply another way to live with the artwork: a tapestry that can soften a wall and move slightly with the air, or a puzzle that lets someone spend time with the leaves, fur, flowers, vines, bark, water, and shadows piece by piece.
Together, these pieces are about wildlife inside the places they belong. Not animals separated from their world, but animals held by it.
Tapestries and puzzles
Tapestries for walls, puzzles for tables.
I have loved tapestries for a long time. When our kids were little and we camped a lot in the summer, I would hang the same tapestries wherever we were staying. After a while, they became part of the feeling of home. The place could change, but the fabric, color, and softness made it feel like we had brought a little room with us. Home was wherever we were together.
That is one reason tapestries made sense for Lakehouse Goods. They are soft, lightweight, and easy to move. They can make a dorm room, apartment, bedroom, cabin, studio, rental, or covered porch feel warmer without needing a frame, glass, or a permanent setup. They are not formal or fussy. They just bring color, atmosphere, and comfort to a wall.
Puzzles made sense for a different reason. This artwork is full of things to notice: a rabbit’s eye beneath rhododendron blooms, muscadine grapes around a fox, ferns and flowers around a bear, a wildcat watching from high above the gorge, an owl tucked into the hollow of a tree. The animal is important, but so is everything around it. A puzzle gives someone time with the whole image, piece by piece.
The first five pieces
Each launch piece begins with cover, shelter, or a place to perch.
Red Fox in the Muscadine Vines
A red fox rests inside muscadine leaves, grape clusters, curling vines, oak leaves, and late-season color. The fox glows against teal greens and purple fruit, but the thicket still does most of the holding.
Rabbit in the Rhododendron
An Eastern cottontail rests beneath pale rhododendron blooms, ferns, moss, and woodland leaves. Its fur, the cream flowers, and the fern shadows make the shelter feel soft without turning the rabbit into a pose.
Wildcat Over the Gorge
A wildcat scans the gorge from a rocky Appalachian overlook, surrounded by mountain laurel, sandstone, lichen, leaf litter, and morning color. It feels alert, but not staged. The ridge has a life of its own.
Black Bear Forest
A black bear moves through layered forest color, with pale rhododendron, ferns, fungi, leaves, and warm woodland growth around it. The bear is the dark shape you find first, then the forest keeps unfolding around it.
Eastern Screech Owl
An Eastern Screech Owl sits inside a hollow tree, surrounded by bark, oak leaves, moss, and shelf fungi. The hollow does the framing; the owl feels still and watchful inside it.
That is what I want Lakehouse Goods to be: artwork for people who love woodland cover, Appalachian plants, animals in their chosen shelter, rooms that feel lived in, and pieces that keep revealing leaves, stones, fur, flowers, vines, bark, water, and shadow.
I will keep adding to the collection gradually, but these first pieces feel like the right beginning.
You can see the first Lakehouse Goods pieces in the Lakehouse Goods shop, browse wall tapestries, browse art puzzles, or visit the Lakehouse gift guide if you are choosing something for someone else.
