Just Listed in the Poconos: New Construction Rustic in Lake Naomi

This very recently built house at 1314 Pine Cone Rd., Pocono Pines, PA 18350 at once fits in and parts company with Lake Naomi’s dominant contemporary style. On the inside, it departs from it even more. | Photos: John Petriment via the Pocono Mountains Association of Realtors and Lake Naomi Property Group

One can find houses in a variety of architectural styles in the Poconos, as anyone who has been following our weekly second-house feature should have figured out by now. But the dominant style by far among Poconos houses is contemporary.

That’s especially true in Lake Naomi, one of the premier resort communities in the region. This makes sense because the community dates to the early 1960s.

Families love Lake Naomi because the community offers a full complement of facilities and activities for young and old. But not everyone who loves Lake Naomi is a fan of contemporary architecture. Philip Falzarano falls into that camp.

Falzarano is a member of the third generation of the family that runs Williamstown-based South Jersey Waterproofing and Structural Repair. That in turn means he knows his way around construction projects. And he’s following in his parents’ footsteps not only at the company but in building this Lake Naomi new construction rustic house for sale.

He and his wife loved to travel to various East Coast and Caribbean vacation destinations after they married eight years ago. But the onset of the COVID pandemic led the couple to rein in their roaming. They were already familiar with the Poconos from frequent stays at hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns, but with a son and a daughter now part of the mix, they decided they needed a place of their own.

They looked at several communities before settling on Lake Naomi. “I did know I wanted to be in a community because I like amenities,” says Falzarano.

But he also wanted his vacation home to look less contemporary and more country. So he set about designing his own second home, contracting with local builder Pocono Dream Home to produce it.

On the outside, it bears a strong resemblance to the modern Craftsman house featured here a month and a half ago. But where that one was faced entirely in wood, this one combines wood and stone.

In that and most other respects, this house resembles that huge Craftsman in Milford, N.J., featured here in January. The main differences: The house is smaller, it sits on a much smaller lot, and its price is in line with high-end Poconos second homes rather than New Jersey mansions.

Staircase and powder room in foyer

As with that house, the National Park lodge vibe runs strong in this one. To get the look, Falzarano personally sourced all of the decorative elements in the house, starting with the log banisters on the staircase just inside the front door and going on from there.

Living room

It has all the design elements of one of those rustic park lodges: beamed ceilings, deer-antler chandeliers and lamps, solid knotty pine doors, window frames and kitchen cabinets, the list goes on.

Dining room

“I wanted wood, wood, wood everywhere,” Falzarano says. And he got it: A live-edge top on the dining table. Log frames on the chairs at both dining tables. Even a knotty pine chimney on the kitchen range vent hood.

Kitchen and breakfast room

Kitchen sink

The bronze farmhouse sink in the kitchen also boasts a bas-relief mountain sculpture on its front. It was custom-made by craftspeople in Mexico.

Main floor, view from dining room

So this house clearly channels the Teddy Roosevelt era, just like that mansion in Milford does. And yet it’s actually more modern than that place. That’s because it has a totally open-plan main floor that makes entertaining easy.

Bonus room

It also has four bedrooms and two bonus rooms. One of the bonus rooms, on the main floor, currently functions as a playroom for the kids.

Primary bedroom

The upstairs bedrooms are as rustic as the main floor, even though the primary bedroom has a more traditional Colonial-style crown molding in its tray ceiling.

Primary bathroom

But when Falzarano said he wanted “wood, wood everywhere,” he meant it. Take a look at the primary bathroom.

Primary bathroom vanities (left), shower and tub (right)

The only things not made of wood there are the custom copper soaking tub, the copper face basins on the dual vanities and the pebble-tile floors and accents around the tub and shower. Even the shower stall is lined with wood.

Basement media lounge

The all-wood, all-the-time decor even carries into the more recently finished basement rec room with its wagon-wheel chandelier in the media lounge and bourbon-barrel tables.

Basement bar

Its dry bar is also made from bourbon barrels.

In offering this Lake Naomi new construction rustic house for sale, Falzarano is also following in his parents’s footsteps: They made a habit of building vacation homes for themselves, selling them after a while, then building new ones in places they liked.

Exterior rear and patio

Until this one sells, however, this will remain his Pocono dream home. Fortunately for you, if and when you buy it, you will also get just about everything you see in these pictures along with it. Which makes this a perfect second home for anyone who wants a whiff of the Mountain West in the Poconos.

And what will Falzarano do once he sells it? Well, his parents now live in Naples, Florida. And, he says, “I have a thing for Disney” — he specifically cited Disney’s Wilderness Lodge as a source of inspiration for this house.

Guess he’s going to Disney World.

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 4

BATHS: 4 full, 1 half

SQUARE FEET: 3,469

SALE PRICE: $1,200,000

OTHER STUFF: While Tobyhanna Township maintains the roads, the Pocono Pines Community Association provides most of the other basic services in Lake Naomi, and an $860 annual homeowners association fee, payable in monthly installments of $71 and change, pays for those. To use all those nice facilities that drew Falzarano here, however, your household must join the Lake Naomi Club.  A $4,500 application fee is due upon applying along with a $5,500 initial capital projects contribution that may be paid in installments over five years. Annual club dues for 2023 are $4,975 for a family, $4,390 for a couple and $3,340 for a single individual.

1314 Pine Cone Rd., Pocono Pines, PA 18340 [John J. Putriment | Lake Naomi Property Group]