Expert Advice: 13 Perfect Details for the Summer House from Hotelier Ray Pirkle of Camptown

This last week of August, we’re revisiting summery stories from the archives, like this one:

Ray Pirkle is a full-time host in upstate New York: he co-owns Hudson’s Rivertown Lodge and the cabin colony Camptown in Leeds, both of which have made several Remodelista appearances. With his business partner, Kim Bucci, Ray runs the boutique hotel group Ramshackle Properties and Ramshackle Studio, their creative firm. The two are not only designers but exhaustive testers of everything that goes into their rooms.

As hoteliers, Ray and Kim think constantly about ways to comfort and delight their guests. As business people, they consider the look and functionality of every detail, and also the wearability and value. A while back I talked to Ray at Rivertown about 9 Favorite Natural Materials Designed to Take a Beating. Today, we’re resuming the discussion at Camptown with a focus on summer guest quarters and the ingredients—from in-your-face to invisible—that make them wonderful.

Photography by Lawrence Braun (@lwrncbrn), unless noted, courtesy of Camptown.

1. Standing-Seam Metal Roofs

Above: Camptown was an 8o-year-old rustic resort that Ray and Kim reinvented. The cabins received high-style upgrades starting with black standing-seam metal roofs, the hands-down favorite of architects in the Remodelista Architect & Designer Directory. An undeniable investment, they’re made to last, come in a slew of colors, and add a modern element to the property. They also don’t absorb heat and “these aren’t at all noisy in the rain,” adds Ray.

The uniformity of the roofs enabled Ray and Kim to paint their 26 cabins in a range of color combinations, no two exactly alike (they used Benjamin Moore exterior paints matched to Farrow & Ball-inspired shades). “We looked at the grounds and flowers and put together color boards. We wanted our choices to accentuate the landscape.”

Above: One summer as a teen, Ray worked for his brother’s construction company as a roofer, a job that gave him an appreciation for materials and labor. His standing seam metal advice: “Look for matte, have the seams as far apart as possible, place matching snow catchers above doors, and be sure to match your stove flue to the roof color.” Camptown’s roofs were supplied and installed by Powell & Sons of Germantown, NY.

2. A Place to Perch

Above: As a recent guest, I can attest to the fact that canvas swings make the porches at Camptown especially inviting.”They’re the perfect way to relax while reading,” says Ray. “We get them from Penobscot Bay Porch Swings, a mom and pop operation (well, mom) out of Brunswick Maine.”

Note the surprise blue floor: it’s the reverse of traditional porches with sky ceilings. (See also: The Case for Blue Floors.) Photograph by Chris Mottalini.

3. The Guest Essentials

Above: The guest room basics according to Ray: “You need to have a place to hang your coat on arrival [such as this painted Shaker-style Peg Shelf], a closet, drawers, reading chair and light, bedside lights with switches that you can access from bed, and a plug within arm’s reach from bed. It’s also nice to have a table that’s not too small (that’s 36 inches for us), so it can be used by two people for dining or work.”

At Camptown, the rooms also have curated book selections, Marshall bluetooth speakers, and individually heat/cooling units.

4. A Camp Kitchen

Above: Camptown cabins come with thoughtfully designed camp kitchens. There’s a retro fridge, a two-burner stove with a kettle, tableware stowed in a plate rack from Woodchuck (which Ray discovered on Remodelista), and an easy-to-reach metal trashcan and other essentials behind the sink curtain.  (There’s also communal pantry stocked with supplies and places to barbecue).

For cabinet curtains, Ray advises going with a double-sided linen flat panel or loose pleats “for cleanliness (tight pleats catch dust) and ease of use.”

Above: Camptown’s fridges are from iilo’s Retro-Mod Series. The cement tiles are by Clé (the pattern is an Erica Tanov design)—Ray says he loves the matte look and variety of cement tiles, with a caveat: “if they’re not finished properly—everyone says they know how to do it—they show everything. We’ve had to shave and refinish these. But when done right, there’s no issue.”

5. Some Favorite Furniture

Above: Ray and Kim’s bed frame of choice is the Distrikt Platform Bed because it has built-in side tables. It’s paired here with a Serena & Lily Flynn Sconce.

Other of their midcentury go-tos include the Case Study Bentwood Daybed—”it comes in great fabrics and finishes and is so good as a sofa replacement”—and Borge Mogensen’s Canvas Chair in white oak—”hardwearing and easy to keep clean” (see both in the living room below).

6. How to Make the Most of a Tight Bedroom

Above: Ray and Kim installed their first built-in beds at Rivertown Lodge, which is just 15 minutes away. “Built-ins are the perfect way to gain more space,” says Ray, “they’re cozy and integrated, like a ship’s cabin.” In Camptown’s main lodge, shown here, the guest rooms were awkwardly shaped. They now have queen-sized built-ins with storage drawers, and TVs tucked out of sight at the foot of the beds.

7. Best Mattresses and Bedding

“Hotel mattresses these days are often pillowy soft,” says Ray. Some love them but most people need a little structure.” His pick? The Bear Natural Mattress of organic cotton and natural latex—”Bear is a young eco company and the mattress was originally custom made for us but is newly available.”

Ray’s best bets for bedding: Frette sheets (““I don’t think there’s anything better out there, and the company has a well-priced commercial line”), Saatva Down Alternative Pillows (“guest pillows have to have a certain amount of density but not too much”), and a Simple Linen Quilt or year-round goose down duvet with a Linen Duvet Cover from Hawkins NYC supplemented with a blanket, such as a Welsh wool design by Melin Tregwynt.

8. Bedroom Curtain Essentials

As a guest at Camptown, one of the especially pleasing details were the bedroom’s curtains that opened and shut smoothly thanks to a hidden hanging wand. Ray said they’re custom-made by Ella of Ella’s Window Fashion in Chester, NJ, which supplied the linen (“she’s a magician and they have an amazing fabric library”).

Ray’s bedroom curtain specs are nonnegotiable: “a guest room always needs a sheer—not shiny or polyester, beautiful linen with stitching, so there’s always natural light. You also need blackout shades because a lot of people can’t sleep if there’s even the tiniest bit of light. We use less fabric than most people—we like the layers to be flat panels when closed, not gathered like a petticoat.”

9. Underfoot

Above: In addition to painted wood floors and encaustic tiles, the cabins have Forbo’s eco-friendly Marmoleum flooring (it’s made of flaxseed and linseed oil and is naturally antibacterial). Shown here in navy, one of many color choices, Marmoleum feels good underfoot and is hard to distinguish from a painted surface. It’s easy to clean, but Ray cautions, can show scratches. He layers the linoleum with handwoven wool throw rugs from Birch Lane.

Also note the cover Ramshackle designed to camouflage the air conditioner in the corner: it’s a cherry frame backed with acoustic fabric.

10. Great-Value Brass Bridge Faucet

Above: The bathroom’s bridge faucets in unlacquered brass were sourced from Watermark of Brooklyn—”not to be confused with Waterworks,” says Ray. “Watermark is insanely less expensive and just as beautiful.” The Watermark 8-Inch Commercial-Style Faucet with Lever Handles is $225.

By the way, Ray swears by the towels from Brooklinen: “we looked all over; they’re extra thick and soft—and resilient over many washes.”

12. The Right Light Switches

Above: “Every light switch should be on a dimmer if possible,” says Ray, who sources Camptown’s from Forbes & Lomax in unlacquered brass with toggle switches for the “utilitarian lights.” As for bulbs, Ray says “Tala makes the most beautiful LED bulbs, we use them everywhere.”

13. A Vintage Touch

Each of the cabins is decorated with a few antiques: a pressed flower stem in the entry, a wooded landscape painting hanging over the kitchen table, a framed sampler next to the bed. Ray and Kim handpick these from auctions and junk shops in the vicinity. They’re about celebrating craftsmanship and avoiding conformity, says Ray: “There’s such a balance between old and new; it’s all a tension you’re creating that makes a space interesting.”

14. What Smells So Good?

As a guest with a heightened sense of smell, I noticed that Camptown’s crisp bedding and bathroom soap were ever-so-slightly fragrant—in an intoxicatingly good way. “We’re not scent people, but we want things to smell very clean,” Ray explains. Towards that end, the hand soap in our quarters was Bergamot Rosemary from Hudson Naturals (each cabin gets its own array of toiletries) and Ray reveals that the linens are washed with a half-and-half mix of Caldrea’s Basil Blue Sage Laundry Detergent and unscented detergent from Seventh Generation. I’ve adopted all for use at home, souvenirs of a perfect weekend away.

Go to The New Catskills Boutique Hotel with Cabins to read more about Camptown. See A Hotel with a Sense of Place and 9 Hard-Wearing Material Recommendations for a look at Rivertown Lodge (and here’s its rental house in Hudson, NY). Stay tuned: Ray and Kim have four new upstate projects in the works.

More Expert Advice for summer and beyond:

• 23 Genius, Reversible, Budget-Friendly Hacks to Transform a Rental Apartment
• The Sand-Free Cottage: 8 Ways to Keep the Beach at Bay
• A Visit with Tricia Rose of Rough Linen, the Original Coastal Grandma

N.B.: This story originally ran on July 31, 2024 and has been updated.