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inside FEBRUARY/ MARCH 2022 NORTHERN
34 08
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features
departments
16 / THE RENO THAT TOOK A VILLAGE
07 / EDITOR’S NOTE
Architect Dave Whiteford and his wife, interior designer Meg Whiteford, pooled their talents and pulled their family and friends together to remodel their stunning new home in just eight months.
26 / REMODELING THE GARRISON
An extended family performed delicate renosurgery on their 19th-century cottage to bring it into this century while preserving its old soul.
34 / A BIRDHOUSE TRANSFORMED
A young Marquette designer and her contractor/ husband bring their fresh eye for style to this trending city on Lake Superior.
Home Renos for the Soul
08 / NORTHERN MOOD The Monochrome Season
10 / COLLECTIONS
Garage Doors That Make a Statement
Click on Live Here > Northern Home
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w w w. KitchenChoreography .net
orc h e s t r at i ng you r v ision New Construction Remodel Restoration Including Contract Management
south division street downtown tr averse cit y
Design is intelligence made visible. Alina Wheeler, Author
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NORTHERN HOME & COTTAGE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022
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NORTHERN HOME & COTTAGE FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022
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EDITOR’S NOTE
HOME RENOS FOR THE SOUL
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n a way, home renovations are like New Year’s resolutions: Just as the New Year inspires us to rid ourselves of bad personal habits, a renovation is the opportunity to streamline and organize our homes, getting rid of clutter, inefficiencies and other unwanted living habits. Accordingly, a brilliant home renovation can be as life-changing as say, losing 20 pounds or realizing that we can stick to our Dry January resolution. Bright promises all for a New Year and for many years to come. In the spirit of the fledgling months of 2022, we offer you our annual Renovation Issue, packed with three inspiring home makeover stories. We introduce you to architect Dave Whiteford and his wife, interior designer Meg Whiteford. The Whitefords are seasoned pros at designing and outfitting homes that are both stunning and efficient. But when they purchased a 1970s-era home on Old Mission, they were faced with a whole new set of challenges imposed by zoning setbacks that restricted the home to its original footprint. Trust us, you’d never know from this sophisticated, flowing space that the Whitefords’ house once looked like the Brady Bunch lived in it. The Rule Family Cottage (aka The Garrison), Omena Next, we move on to the beautiful, blossoming city of Marquette on the Lake Superior shore in the Upper Peninsula where a young designer, Allison Harlow, and her contractor husband, Ryan Nie, have teamed up to form Curio Design Studio. When a client charged them with the makeover of his 20-year-old condominium in a style that was Up North but not cliché, the couple tackled the project with gusto and finesse. Finally, we offer up a completely different kind of home renovation— think of it as more PBS’s “This Old House” than HGTV. The narrative is about how an extended family figured out how to ease their 19th-century Omena cottage into the 21st century. But the heart of the story is how our Northern Michigan family cottages knit generations together in spite of, or in some cases because of, their aging infrastructures. Strengthening family bonds? That’s a resolution we can all live with. I hope that you curl up on a cold winter day with this issue—and put it down feeling inspired to make your home (and your life) just a bit better.
UpNorth design inspiration, building ideas, & decorating tips straight to your inbox monthly. Sign up here: MyNorth.com/newsletter
Elizabeth Edwards is senior editor of Northern Home & Cottage. Lissa@traversemagazine.com
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Northern Mood
The Monochrome Season CURATED BY ELIZABETH EDWARDS
»
FILL YOUR HOME WITH THE QUIET TONES OF DEEP WINTER.
Tall, Dark and Handsome at the Door Kolbe VistaLuxe Series Door in coal black with 1 1/8-inch simulated divided lights and square profile bars. Old Mission Windows, starts at $6,500 oldmissionwindows.com
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1. Set of Stacking Display Tables Grace & Laurel (formerly Crystal Crate & Cargo), Beulah / $85 crystalcratecargo.com 2. Home Sweet Home Rug Grace & Laurel (formerly Crystal Crate & Cargo), Beulah / $39.49 crystalcratecargo.com 3. Weathered Wood-Style Melamine Plates Grace & Laurel (formerly Crystal Crate & Cargo), Beulah salad plate $9 / dinner plate $11.50 crystalcratecargo.com
Opposite photo by Greg MacMaster. All other photos by David Weidner.
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4. Woven Pillow Handmade by the women of Bijapur, India. Betsie Bay Furniture, Frankfort / $262 betsiebayfurniture.com 5. Pet Basket Made from Himalayan and New Zealand wools that are rich in healthy lanolin and naturally attract pets. Fits animals up to 25 pounds. Sanctuary Handcrafted Goods, Mercato in The Village at Grand Traverse Commons $65 sanctuarytc.com
6. The Dorris Indoor/ Outdoor End Table Betsie Bay Furniture, Frankfort / $396 betsiebayfurniture.com
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collections
STATEMENT GARAGE DOORS
In deep winter, the garage is (arguably) the most important room in your house. Why not give it the style cred it is due? BY ELIZABETH EDWARDS
CARRIAGE HOUSE STYLE Location Walloon Lake Architect N.J. White Associates white-liebler.com Contractor Scott Kennard, Wentworth Builders wentworthbuilders.com
STYLE STATEMENT The garage doors were chosen to align with the main house front door (also mahogany). The mahogany provides a warmth of detail that differentiates the garage door as an important element, a door, a passageway. –Scott Kennard
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photo by Flight Path Creative
Specs Glenmore Carriage House in mahogany by Holmes and Holmes
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STATEMENT GARAGE DOORS
VILLAGE GREEN Location Leland Architect J. Visser Design jvisser.com Contractor J. Peterson Homes joelpetersonhomes.com
STYLE STATEMENT Garage doors are often a large part of a home’s curb appeal. We like to help clients select doors that complement the architecture of the home. Additionally, garage doors can take a beating from the weather so we always recommend doors with materials and finishes that hold up to Northern Michigan’s four seasons. –Joel Peterson
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photo by Dave Speckman
Specs Clopay insulated door with PVC overlay from Overhead Door Company
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STATEMENT GARAGE DOORS
RUSTIC ON THE RIVER Location AuSable River, Grayling Architect Joseph Mosey Architecture josephmoseyarchitecture.com Contractor Render Construction renderconstruction.com
STYLE STATEMENT The door is carefully designed to work with the style of the home. For this AuSable River cottage, it was appropriate to have a traditional door with ‘V’ groove center panels and hardware to reference a carriage housestyle door—as the garage is designed to look like a detached carriage house that was connected to the house with a breezeway. The glass lites in the door were also carefully considered to make sure they referenced the design, detailing and proportions of the main house windows. –Joseph Mosey
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photo by Beth Singer
Specs Custom built by Render Construction
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house and home
THE RENO THAT TOOK A VILLAGE AS THE CLOCK TICKED ON A RENOVATION OF THEIR OWN HOME, FRIENDS AND FAMILY RALLIED TO HELP ARCHITECT DAVE WHITEFORD AND HIS WIFE, INTERIOR DESIGNER MEG WHITEFORD, FINISH THE PROJECT. BY ELIZABETH EDWARDS PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE SOUTHBY
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n mid-october of
2020, when the northern Michigan real estate market was heating up, Dave Whiteford suggested to his wife, Meg, that they put their gorgeous, completely customized lakefront home on Old Mission Peninsula on the market just to see what would happen … Surprise! It sold in just two days. Great news, yes, but the deal included the fact that they had to be out of their home in a month—and, while they spend their winters in Arizona, the couple would need a permanent Traverse City residence by spring. Although Dave remains lead architect and consultant to the buildand-design company, Whiteford Associates (founded in 1978 as Dave Whiteford Design), he had recently sold the firm and consequently had no spec home or the possibility of one that he and Meg could move into. “In the past, Dave has always had something lined up,” Meg says. “But this time he had nothing.” Needless to say, the couple started searching homes for sale in the area in earnest. When Dave drove by a small, For Sale by Owner
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home on a lakefront property several miles away from the home they’d just sold, he took note. The price was right, but the homely, ranch/ lower-level walkout built in 1978 was 200 square feet smaller than their home. And because the prospective house was nonconforming, there was no opportunity for adding on. With the clock ticking, the Whitefords did purchase it, but with the knowledge that they’d have to make the original footprint work for their lifestyle—and quickly. Dave and Meg, literally, rolled up their sleeves and got to work. But they weren’t alone. A small army of relatives and friends joined them. “Many of the Whiteford family members are in the trades in one form or another, so their skillsets doubled the blessings,” Meg says, adding that their help was especially gratifying given that so many of them were already working long hours to make up for time lost in the pandemic shutdown. Job #1: Gut the home down to its studs. Gone went the popcorn ceilings, the white ceramic 12-by-12 foyer tiles, the wall between the kitchen and dining/living room, the vinyl tile in the kitchen and
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“MANY OF THE WHITEFORD FAMILY MEMBERS ARE IN THE TRADES IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER, SO THEIR SKILLSETS DOUBLED THE BLESSINGS.”
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Picture perfect lending. Wooded acres, country homes, and room to play. GreenStone can help you realize your dreams of life off the beaten path. Contact your local branch to learn more about our unique financing options.
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bathrooms, the nasty carpet in the sunroom and the outdated paneling and half-wall in the man-cave that blocked a view of the lake from that room. Basically, everything that held the home captive to the 1970s. Next, they raised the ceilings, added skylights and switched out the smallish windows for expansive new Kolbe windows that opened up the gorgeous East Grand Traverse Bay view on the home’s lake side. Dave went on to rejigger space to create a truly customized home—stealing 3.5 feet from the garage enlarged the laundry room; moving the stairway almost 4 feet by replacing a useless front hallway added some 40 square feet to the great room. That, in turn, allowed space to move the master bedroom to the lake side of the home and create a luxurious master bath where that bedroom had once been. Barn doors, for the hall linen closet and Meg’s walk-in closet, were also important space savers. The reno was far from complete when the Whitefords headed to Arizona that winter, leaving Dave’s nephew, Bill Whiteford of A1pha Construction and Management, in charge. When they returned in the spring, it
was to a completed home and a reveal that felt like it was right out of HGTV. The interior decisions that Meg had made were executed perfectly—the white oak floors, the soft, sophisticated wallpaper choices, the lovely, efficient kitchen with its porcelain counters and pewter-stained oak cabinetry. And, as in every house that the couple has lived in together, the dining room table, designed by
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renowned midcentury architect Alden Dow, who was a mentor to David, graced the center of the great room. “We could not have done what we did without the tireless and selfless hours put in not only by our family members— sisters, brothers, cousins, nephews—but also by countless dear friends,” Meg says. “It truly was humbling and greatly appreciated how they all rallied around us, especially at a time when everyone is overworked and behind.” NHC
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CONNECT TO THE OUTDOORS AND EACH OTHER When you bring natural light and fresh air deeper into your home, it can change how you think, feel, and work in your space. At Marvin, windows and doors are designed to open new possibilities, helping you feel connected to the outdoors while you connect with each other.
Read Northern Home & Cottage Anywhere!
Experience windows and doors differently at your local Marvin dealer today.
FREE digital version available here: link.MyNorth.com/nhc0222 Petoskey and Traverse City MI www.tmmill.com
2021 Marvin Lumber and Cedar Co., LLC. Architecture by Peterssen/Keller Architecture, Minneapolis, MN.
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New Century Modern. Our mission is to help you “feel @ home”!
resources Architect Dave Whiteford Whiteford Associates whitefordassociates.com Interior Design Meg Whiteford Contractor Bill Whiteford A1pha Construction & Management a1pha.bill.whiteford@gmail.com Electric TNT Lighting & Electrical Services eric@tnttc.net Plumbing Ultimate Plumbing 231.631.5172 Fixtures & Appliances Ferguson fergusonshowrooms.com
808 South Garfield Avenue Suite B, Traverse City MI 49686 | 231.947.7040 www.homecabinetryandinteriors.com
Total Commitment to Quality
Rugs Rectangles rectangleit.com Flooring & Tile Floor Covering Brokers floorcoveringbrokers.com Kitchen Cabinetry Van Polen Custom Cabinets vanpolencabinets.com Countertops Stratus Marble & Granite stratusmarble.com Windows & Entry Doors WeatherShield Old Mission Windows oldmissionwindows.com Landscaping & Irrigation Down to Earth downtoearthoutdoors.com Exterior Painting Fresh Coast Painting freshcoastpaintingtc.com
More than 25 years of experience in building distinctive homes while exceeding the expectations of discriminating clients. jim@cooleycontracting.com NHC
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house and home
REMODELING THE GARRISON
A MUCH-LOVED FAMILY COTTAGE, ONCE THE HOME OF A CIVIL WAR HERO, GETS A THOUGHTFUL RENOVATION THAT REVEALS LAYERS OF THE HOME’S HISTORY. BY LUCAS ROBINSON / PHOTOS BY ALLISON JARRELL
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I
t’s the rule cottage,” mark would
say, “yet, nothing is straight.” And very little was. One-hundred-twenty-some years of standing on Grand Traverse Bay, in the Leelanau Peninsula town of Omena, does tend to wear on a place; and 70-plus years of trampling by the Rule family hasn’t helped. Mark is Mark Voight, of Voight Builders in Northport, who took on the restoration of our family’s Victorian cottage, The Garrison, a name given to it by the Civil War cavalry hero who built it. My grandparents, Colter and Marguerite Rule, purchased the cottage in 1947. Voight’s renovations began after a Rule family reunion a few years ago, when it was decided the cottage’s condition had gone beyond “tatty charm.” We’ve been having family reunions every third year at the cottage since 1979, beginning a few years after my grandmother passed away. All her grandchildren have stories of the place from when they were kids, so coming back rekindles many memories. Stories of adventures and misadventures on long-ago summer days are retold around beach fires at every gathering. These recounted memories loom large in the imagination of the younger generations as they come to know their parents, uncles, aunts and cousins in a new light. The trips to the dunes, to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse, out to Peterson Park and over to Fishtown still get made, and young kids are still learning to sail, paddle, fish and
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play favorite card games around the old table on the front porch. They’re developing their own stories, too. In a way, little has changed, but of course, much has. My mother recalls life at the cottage when she was a girl—pumping water at the kitchen sink, the horse-drawn ice wagon and hearing Bohemian spoken around Leelanau County by immigrants from what is now the Czech Republic. Needless to say, our family members agreed that the cottage renovation would mean striking a balance between preserving history on one hand, and family expectations on the other. I was aware of how out-of-square the cottage was but assumed settling and age were to blame. Voight clued me in; apparently no one from the era in which it was built bothered making structures square in the first place. As work progressed, the cottage began to reveal itself. A lumber mark under the cottage’s attic stair bears the name General B.H. Grierson and the date 1896. This would seem to set construction to that year, but there’s reason to believe the cottage is older still. During the demo phase, a small opening in the living room’s framing was revealed next to the existing stairway. It suggests General Grierson was adding to an existing structure. A succession of porches, each enclosed, grew to become today’s kitchen—as evidenced by the three distinct wood floors. If General Grierson didn’t build it in 1896, we know from the significant work he did to the place, he rebuilt it. What may have started out as a simple frame dwelling set on tree stumps and beach-rock piers is now a six-bedroom vernacular Victorian. In the general’s day, it even had a two-story observation tower replete with a bell for greeting passing ships. Some additions to the cottage over the decades were better than others. The worst insult the cottage suffered were the bathrooms tacked on in the 1930s, one on top of the other with the plumbing hanging on the exterior of the home. Also, the living room ceiling was lowered a foot and a half when drywall was installed in the 1950s. My grandparents put the drywall up to brighten the interior and, I suspect, to dampen the sound of so many feet under one roof. They had eight children and eventually 30 grandchildren. The cottage’s kitchen is in the back of the house on the road side. We’ve been traipsing through the kitchen since time immemorial, and the day had come to create a true front entrance. My first thought was that the new entry could go in the living room, nearer where cars park and where we were removing the ramshackle bathrooms. Two birds, one stone, I figured. However, when Mark discovered how rotted the floor framing in another area of the first
floor had become, I knew the new entry would have to be rolled into rebuilding that area. The budget demanded it. Repairing damage led to another design response: the creation of a belt course on the exterior. Victorian houses often have a band of distinct siding between the first- and second-floor windows. Many Victorian and Queen Anne houses in Traverse City have them—they function to unify the asymmetrical composition common to the style. Still, adding one to our cottage was a big departure from its historic roots. I struggled with creating the belt course
WHAT MAY HAVE STARTED OUT AS A SIMPLE FRAME DWELLING SET ON TREE STUMPS AND BEACH-ROCK PIERS IS NOW A SIX-BEDROOM VERNACULAR VICTORIAN. even as it provided a period-appropriate solution to covering repair work. I wasn’t alone in my apprehension: Mark noted that a belt course wants to be straight, and our windowsills and window heads didn’t line up the way they should. We figured out the best alignments, and ways to hide the worst. Looking back, it seems obvious, while our belt course is simple compared to ones on high-style Victorians, it does unify the cottage’s rambling exterior. Happily, it also drove the decision to paint in more than a body and trim color. With six exterior colors now, our cottage is a genuine painted lady. The best of the renovations occurred in the living room— the room that had revealed the mysterious stair opening and that had once had its ceiling lowered. New joists stiffened a bouncy floor: Installing these was a trick because, again, nothing was straight. The living room ceiling, it turned out, NHC
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was seven inches out of level—a fact that, since the false drywall ceiling was level, we had never known. I drew interior elevations showing how new window and door heads would align with existing ones, creating a continuous trim and color band around the room. It’s called a frieze, and it gives the room a strong, level reference. A simple crown mold matching the joists separates this frieze from the ceiling. Light fixtures are located there, and I’d like to stencil a quote from General Grierson’s diaries in gilt letters around the room. Upstairs, rooms were rearranged to make way for a new bath within the envelope of the house and with the plumbing on the inside. Original beadboard finishes were uncovered and the old-fashioned enamel sinks restored. Each bedroom has its own sink, which takes pressure off the bathrooms when the cottage is full.
As the once-grand cottages of yesteryear give way to today’s perhaps overly grand ones, I’m reminded how important it is for a building to be in harmony with its setting. For me, the old frame cottages speak volumes about the outlook and character of our forebears. That seems reason enough to have a go at saving them. Perhaps our family struck a fair balance between our modern needs and the interests of preservation. I hope my grandparents would agree, and I imagine General Grierson would. I like to think the general’s spirit still inhabits the place: He did die here in the summer of 1911. Late one night, my sister-inlaw called me at home from the cottage. She was there by herself for the first time and wasn’t used to the quiet. I told her to sit back and relax—the old general would wind his way down from the observation tower anytime. Just listen for the creaking stairs. NHC
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house and home
A BIRDHOUSE TRANSFORMED
A YOUNG BUILD-AND-DESIGN TEAM TURN THEIR TALENTS TO A DOWNTOWN MARQUETTE CONDO. BY ELIZABETH EDWARDS / PHOTOS BY SABRINA LEIGH
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M
arquette’s harbor ridge townhouses
are a row of three-story, narrow condominiums perched above the city’s busy Lower Harbor on Lake Superior. Built in the late 1990s, the homes, known locally as the Birdhouses, have presided over Marquette’s metamorphosis as an industrial port to a hip and vibrant city. From the Birdhouses, it’s just a short walk to the popular Ore Dock Brewing Company; to Lower Harbor Park, a site that buzzes with waterside events; and to the wealth of pubs, eateries and boutiques that fill the historic downtown. Given their setting, the condos are the perfect stage to showcase the fresh style of interior designer Allison Harlow, who owns Curio Design Studio with her husband, contractor Ryan Nie. Nie, from Canada, is new to Marquette. But for Harlow, the move to Marquette was a re-root: she grew up in the city (founded by her great-great-great grandfather, Amos Harlow, in 1849), but left at age 17 to travel the world. One of the couple’s first projects after establishing Curio Design Studio in Marquette was a powder room makeover in one of the
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Birdhouse condos. “The condo had a super mid-century feel with a lot of black and white,” Harlow says. In the powder room redo, Harlow brought in the black and white theme using 1960s-style geometric wallpaper. Not long after they had finished the powder room, the couple received an inquiry about a total condo renovation at the same address. As it turned out, the condo had recently sold and the new owner wanted a completely new look. “He wanted it to have a masculine take on the lake cottage aesthetic,” Harlow says. That said, he thought the powder room they’d just finished for their former client could fit perfectly in the redo. Allison worked with her new client to develop his concept using blue tones to reflect the moods of Lake Superior, and an abundance
ALLISON WORKED WITH HER NEW CLIENT TO DEVELOP HIS CONCEPT USING BLUE TONES TO REFLECT THE MOODS OF LAKE SUPERIOR.
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HARLOW AND THE HOMEOWNER THREW CAUTION TO THE WIND WITH A RICH, TROPICAL-STYLE WALLPAPER EMBOSSED WITH BRIGHT POMEGRANATE TREES.
of texture, warm wood, black metal and leather. The finished project manifests the theme with pale bluish-gray kitchen cabinetry that evokes the days when the lake pouts and a marine blue island when it shines. The island’s walnut countertop, floating shelves made from walnut, and walnut tops on the stairwell’s half-walls, offer organic masculine accents. Another special touch: Harlow and Nie designed the walnut shelf over the sink with slats for use as a drying rack for bar glassware and other fragile pieces. Black metal pendants and the staircase banister give nods to the black geometric wallpaper in the original redo of the powder room. A cinnamon-colored leather sofa and a rich blue-gray statement wall (Sherwin-Williams Foggy Gray) add drama to the living area. Nie customized a new entertainment center by replacing the cabinet faces with a brushed nickel mesh inlay. The wall behind the entertainment center is papered in a Phillip Jeffries mural called “Waves Fade”—a literal nod to the Lake Superior
surf outside the windows. Wide-plank white oak flooring with a custom weathered oak/country stain pulls it all together. “The flooring guy almost murdered me,” Harlow laughs, recounting how many times she requested he mix the stain until she and the homeowner felt it was just right. Harlow and Nie customized the boring builder-grade shower by ripping out the fiberglass surround, raising the shower ceiling and building an arched doorway for it. Dark indigo subway tiles are a handsome finish. “When you walk into the bathroom, the shower pops out and creates this architectural shape,” Harlow says. In the condo’s second powder room, Harlow and the homeowner threw caution to the wind with a rich, tropicalstyle wallpaper embossed with bright pomegranate trees. Look carefully and you’ll find monkeys in the trees. It is a lively, distinctive touch that carries you away on this Lake Superior sea to ports unknown—come to think of it, a bit like Harlow’s own journey from Marquette, to her world travels and back home again. NHC
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