Northern Home & Cottage: April/May 2024

northern home & cottage

FOR THE WAY YOU LIVE UP NORTH

“Window walls and white oak floors deliver that sense of calm the family craves.”

MINDFUL MODERN ON ELK LAKE

COASTAL REDO FOR A GLEN ARBOR COTTAGE

GOOD ENERGY

By LUCINDA HAHN

Photos by JACQUELINE SOUTHBY

A DARK AND DATED RANCH GIVES WAY TO AN AIRY AND MODERN HOME WHERE THE WATERFRONT VIEWS TAKE CENTER STAGE.

When the pandemic prompted Tim Hibbard and Susan Masserang to ditch San Francisco for a more relaxed life in Michigan, their summer home on Elk Lake waited with open arms. The oak-strewn site felt like terra firma—solid ground to grow old on.

They’d enjoyed the home for years, and Masserang, who grew up in Elk Rapids, had family nearby. But aesthetically, the squat, 1960s-era ranch was a quantum leap backward from the California-contemporary, architect-designed bungalow they’d left behind. It

also came with a leaky basement, rotting timbers and windows that needed to be replaced. What’s more, their two sons, now teenagers, had outgrown the small second bedroom. And the dining room had a wall that blocked views over the backyard and Elk Lake. (“Why, just, why?” architecturally minded Hibbard would find himself grumping during mealtimes.)

The to-do list went on and on. “It was like, do we try to fix it all? Or just open up the design and rethink it?” Hibbard says. “We realized that we needed to make it the house we wanted it to be.”

Enter Ray Kendra, principal architect at Traverse City–based Environment Architects, a firm with a design-forward point-of-view that the couple shared. The trio agreed that the existing home would be demolished; using the original foundation, they would build something with the clean lines and open, airy spaces that modern homes are known for. “We wanted it to feel very calm,” Masserang explains. Also on the wish list: a separate guesthouse/office for Hibbard, who works from home as a mechanical engineer.

To create the guest/office space, the team had to work within local zoning

Open or closed, the glass walls allow for stunning views from the kitchen and dining area, straight through the seasons room to the oak trees, lawn and lake. And in summer, when all the doors are open, “You can basically enjoy outdoor living all the way back at the kitchen sink,” Kendra says.

On sunny days, the walkway’s solar panels—plus those on the guesthouse roof—make more energy than they use and return the excess back to the grid. “That’s important to us,” says Masserang. “Part of why we love being here is the nature and the lakes, and we want to do all we can to be good stewards of those resources.”

regulations, which dictated that any new structures had to be attached to the home. So, Kendra came up with a creative solution: a walkway, built using free-span steel beams topped by a roof made of solar panels, that connects the house to the guesthouse. Now, Hibbard repairs each day to his separate office, which doubles as a guest bedroom thanks to a folding wall that hides a bed.

That was just the beginning of turning a very average Michigan ranch into a modern gem. Hibbard envisioned a sort of “glass box” on the lake side of the house, and he used his engineering background to work closely with Kendra and the builders, creating what they now call the “seasons room.” Its front and back walls are made of vast sliding doors that can be opened or left shut.

Next up: A second floor was added for the boys’ bedrooms. Kendra put the new story over only part of the house to keep the facade from appearing too imposing, which would be out of place among the small-ish homes of the neighborhood. This also had the advantage of allowing a higher ceiling in the kitchen/dining room, where Kendra added a long, horizontal clerestory window. “It picks up the beauty of the trees and leaves, and becomes like a piece of art.”

Allowing nature in, plus the use of consistent materials throughout— white oak floors, custom cabinetry with low-profile hardware—deliver that sense of calm the family craved. “We’ve had people come in and remark, ‘Wow, this house has really good energy,’” Kendra says. “It’s nice that others feel that, not just us.”

Top priority, of course: The water views needed to be maximized. “We wanted to see the lake all the time, and celebrate it,” Masserang says.

“Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.”

Frank Gehry

Contractor, Framing & Siding, Millwork & Trim, Painting

Bluewater Homes of Northern Michigan

Paint Supplier (C2 Paint)

Northwood Paint & Supply

Concrete Work

Bluewater Homes of Northern Michigan

Merchant Cement

Electric

Zawora Electric

HVAC/Heating

Top Notch Heating, Cooling and Geothermal

Plumbing Fixtures

Ferguson

Plumbing

Clearwater Plumbing and Heating Inc.

Interior Doors

Preston Feather

Raydoor

Windows

Marvin Ultimate Windows

Excavating

Mel’s Excavating

Mirrors & Shower

TC Mirror & Showerdoor

Fireplace & Hearth Hard Topix

Flooring

Harbor Flooring

Cabinets & Built-Ins

Woodbine

Roofing BRD Construction

Landscaping

Flaska Landscaping LLC

Tile

Tile Craft Inc.

Drywall

Surfaces Inc.

Garage Doors

Garage Doors Done Right

house and home

THE BIRDHOUSE COTTAGE

AN

ORLANDO COUPLE

DISCOVERS THE WONDER OF NORTHERN MICHIGAN—AND RENOVATES THEIR NEW HOME TO REFLECT THEIR LOVE FOR IT.

By ELIZABETH EDWARDS Photos by ANGELA DEWITT

F

loridians Jill and Dean Bosco are the first to tell you that, unlike so many other folks who have second homes here, they had absolutely no ties to Michigan before they sent their children to camp here—and subsequently bought a cottage in Glen Arbor at The Homestead. The couple, looking to give their kids a broader summer experience than they could get in the South, found a camp here, and decided to give it a try. As it turned out, their son and daughter both fell in love with the camp—and Jill and

Below: The soft blue/green tones of the Benjamin Moore color Lookout Point set the backdrop for the coastal feel in the living room. Van Nort had the original black granite fireplace mantel replacd with a creamy white mantel and beach-stone face.

“Our deck has the most spectacular view I think I’ve ever seen,” Dean says. “And to know that I’m seeing it in our home with a glass of wine or playing my guitar and just watching the sun go down—it’s pretty amazing.”

Dean fell in love with Northern Michigan. “We ended up renting a place at The Homestead,” Jill says, “and we both said, ‘This is the most beautiful place that we have ever seen.’”

The Boscos loved the Glen Arbor resort so much they decided to try it in winter and found they were as enamored with the off-season as they were with summers. When the cottage next door to their rental went up for sale, they purchased it.

The couple’s original thought was to rent out the cottage for most of the year until they had more time to spend Up North. But once they spent a little time there, they did a sharp pivot. “We said, ‘Nope, we love it out here. We’re not renting it,’” recalls

Dean. That decision shifted their design priorities from doing enough to the cottage—built and last updated in 2000—to please renters, to completely re-doing it to make it their own. “And that’s kind of when Pandora’s box opens,” Dean says.

The couple hired Glen Arbor designer Karen Van Nort to oversee a complete refresh of the cottage. “We probably wouldn’t have done as much as we did without our relationship with Karen,” Jill says. “Karen understood our style—and along the journey she became someone very special to us.”

The result is a home with a modern coastal feel that plays up the views of Lake Michigan over the treetops— and the birds that call those treetops home. “I feel like it’s our real-life birdhouse,” Jill says. “We set out our bird feeders, and now we are a runway for the birds. It is by far my favorite part of the cottage. It’s just a total joy.”

Above: The only structural change in the entire re-do was to the primary bath, where a former half-wall made it largely open to the room. The shell tiles are Fan Club in blue by Artistic Tile. Van Nort designed the mirror so it can be removed when not in use to open up a view of the birds.

Below: “The white swivel chair in the primary bedroom is my favorite place,” Jill says. “The chair is next to the hologram fireplace that puts out a crackling noise. I sit there and I read or needlepoint and look at the view.”

Build your future.

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