Wabeek Lake, MI - 2019
After three years in Ohio and a major job change, we found ourselves back where I grew up: the Detroit area of Michigan. Our Ohio house sold after only a few days on the market so the clock was ticking to find something a few hours north that we could move into and avoid the whole “apartment first, then house hunt later” scenario. This would be our tenth move in 25 years of marriage so I couldn't bear the thought of enduring one more avoidable move.
A Gamble Pays Off
We spent one day with a realtor hoping to find a mid-century ranch, but the market was hot and every listing that I had forwarded to our realtor the week prior had already sold. Luckily Sarah Cameron, with Berkshire Hathaway, the best realtor in history, found a condo with a main floor master and we put in an offer that day — which was accepted! If you live in the Detroit suburbs, call Sarah — she is simply the most professional realtor we have ever encountered in all our years of buying and selling homes.
The Wabeek Lake condo was built in the early 1990's and required a complete gut of the main floor. Luckily for us, the walk-out basement was finished with a family room, three bedrooms, a full bath and an 800 sq. ft. unfinished storage area.
It was game on for another reno adventure as we moved into the basement and stored all of our furniture and belongings in the storage area. Our contractor, Budman Denton, who came recommended by a friend, helped install a temporary kitchen in the basement using some cabinets and fixtures from the soon-to-be-demolished kitchen, as the project would take around eight months to complete.
The main focus of the scope was this:
Gut the main floor kitchen, living space, existing (worn and dated) marble and oak floors, and main floor master bath. The drywall was in good shape but we did need to remove a wall in the kitchen that allowed for an open floor plan, and soaring views from one end of the condo to the other.
Add recessed lighting in the main living space, replace the floor to ceiling windows (they would have fallen out if you pushed them) replace the doors, skylights, and all door hardware throughout the main floor and master areas.
Tear out the entire master bath as the old steam shower was broken and leaked water down through the shower floor into the basement. The layout was also awkward as the glass shower door directly faced the toilet!
Easy right??
Where Experience Meets Confidence
Because of all of my previous experience in construction projects, I was ready for this one. I was off to the races designing all the spaces with the contractor and pre-selecting fixtures, materials, and finishes way in advance of the schedule. Being ahead of the construction time frame gave me the option to change gears if necessary if something was not available, was delayed, or was too expensive.
The most dramatic element in this project was the decision to remove the wall separating the kitchen from dining room and living space. The condo has floor to ceiling window walls and enormous skylights, so losing the main kitchen wall gave us spectacular views and a completely open-concept living space.
I chose matte white cabinets and a warm, rich emerald-green center island cabinet base. My contractor was completely against the 'green' idea but eventually came around four months later when he saw a Houzz article that touted the trending of green kitchen islands! When you know, you know — don't let a contractor derail your plans if you have confidence in them. Color is my thing and this green island was the gem in the crown of this kitchen design that was otherwise all black and white. That was a detail I was sure of.
Appliances: Balancing Budget with Luxury
The big money-saving tricks in this kitchen were once again the two Frigidaire boxes that I discovered for the fridge and freezer back in the Paiute project , domestic marble countertops from Vermont, and a double convection oven by Electrolux that I had purchased for the Las Vegas home.
Because I designed the kitchen from scratch, I could easily change the layout to my liking. All of the previous appliances in the original space were on the wall that was removed, so we had to find new homes for them. But the kitchen was huge so we had the luxury to be creative and selective about placement. For example, the space that was previously a very large pantry is where I placed the fridge/freezer.
Back in Vegas my GE double convection oven died. Replacing it was $5000, but with some research and time on the internet I found an Electrolux unit with even more features than the GE, including convection in both ovens and blue enamel interior and racks. At less than half the cost, this was a find. I loved its performance and self cleaning functions, so I ordered it again for the Wabeek condo kitchen.
Success Through Trial & Error
On to the counters. I love natural surfaces and fell in love with marble on a trip to Carrara, Italy. It is everywhere and it is never perfect. It shows love, wear, and some stains that over time, present a patina that I find romantic and nostalgic. For that reason, I chose a Calcutta Gold marble for the Niwot kitchen.
Most marble slabs come from the quarries with a polished finish. If you want a matte finish, then you need to pay extra for your slabs to be honed. I did not want to incur that extra cost at Paiute so polished it was. I did love the look, they were spectacular, but every bit of lemon juice or other acid immediately etched the high-gloss finish, and was very noticeable.
In Vegas and Old Orchard I wanted to avoid that stress and cost so I chose quartz counters. A grey Silestone slab with silver flecks in Vegas was a dream! No marks, stains, or any scratches or wear. In Ohio, I chose a white marbled quartz expecting the same satisfaction. No such luck! Quartz is durable and easy care, but white and light colored slabs show everything! Any aluminum pan or tray will cause grey marks, and makeup on white quartz stains easily but can be removed with Softscrub or bleach. No surface material is without issue, but I missed the FEEL of marble or stone. The more natural looking quartz gets — and there are new products and designs coming to market at lightening speed — nothing feels and looks like natural stone.
I can’t believe it took me so long to discover domestic marble, but better late than never. I had an idea of the look I wanted for Wabeek but had not found it until I entered my cabinet designer's studio. Her showroom counters had the exact material that I envisioned - a white species of marble with dark black veins, similar to Carrera but with a much whiter white and less subtle veining. It was bold, beautiful, and had a matte finish. I assumed it was out of my budget until she told me that it was Montclair Danby marble from Vermont. The New England quarries are known for granite but I had never heard of the marble that comes from quarries nearby. It is harder and more resilient than non-domestic marble. It also comes from Vermont with a honed (matte)finish, and is not shipped across an ocean, so is significantly less than other materials I have previously sourced.
All natural surface materials will scratch, stain, wear, and change over time. But this material is my favorite, as the matte surface is so forgiving. The wear adds character and the look and feel, especially when rolling dough or just running my palms across the surface, makes me feel like I am home.
(As for the nitty-gritty of its specs: It’s actually harder & less porous than many other types of white marble, so stains have a harder time seeping in. For example, Vermont Danby’s absorption rate is .06%-0.08% vs. 0.13-0.18% for Calacatta or Carrara. It’s a domestic product, so purchasing it supports the US economy.)
In terms of selection and fabrication of the materials I chose for my countertops throughout the condo, I used Granite Creations in Farmington, MI. Tom Budd is the owner and he is wonderful. His is the only fabrication shop that I have ever used where every part of the process happens under one roof. I went to his location and chose my slabs of marble for the kitchen and family room counters and quartz for the bathroom counters, shower seat, and bathtub faucet deck. After the team came on site to measure, I returned to the fab shop and we laid out cardboard templates on all of the slabs and positioned them just so, taking advantage of the specific grain patterns and unique markings that I wanted to highlight in each piece of marble.
I have never been included in that part of the process before. It makes all the difference in the design impact of the materials in the different areas of my home.
Once the templating was complete, the materials were fabricated on sit and then delivered and installed by Tom’s team. The process was seamless (no pun intended,) collaborative, and easy. Kudos to Tom Budd and Granite Creations — they are master craftsmen.
Although the kitchen was a complete tear-out and redesign, I think the smartest thing we did was removing the wall that separated the kitchen from the dining room. The impact was truly transformative as now the entire living space on the main floor is open and the views are incredible from end to end.
Soaring Views and Natural Light
My vision for this space was to make it bright, cohesive, and comfortably modern. The existing floor to ceiling windows and expansive skylights couldn’t hide the very dated, diagonal plank, gold oak kitchen floor, or the worn marble tile on the other side of the now-removed kitchen wall. We took the renovation as an opportunity to use a single flooring material throughout. I am not a big fan of using multiple surfaces in adjoining living areas, so we chose a grey washed maple plank with slight variations in color and a touch of distressing. Some manufacturers will make flooring look “not so perfect” by adding some dents and imperfections, which helps disguise the dings and little scratches that will inevitably appear over time.
Since the flooring now ran from the kitchen through to the dining room and the adjacent family room, I had the cohesiveness that I envisioned. The rest of the space needed less work than the kitchen. The doors and windows were shot so replacing them was a given. The family room had twelve foot ceilings but no recessed lighting. We added LED cans throughout, a ceiling fan, and new ceiling mounted light fixtures in the kitchen, dining room and foyer.
All that was left in the living room was modernizing the fireplace and making sure we had working electrical outlets in the proper places in the family room. We knew our furniture would be ‘floating’ in this space, meaning pieces like the sofa and floor lamps would not be placed against a wall, so we needed floor outlets in exact places for table ad floor lamps.
As you can see in this ‘before’ photo of the family room, the fireplace wall was a very dated, curved drywall application. The fireplace opening was a decent size but the way it was inset in the drywall made it look small and sad. We chose to cut off the curved sections and re-frame a larger box around the fireplace opening from the floor to the ceiling. This made the fireplace appear much larger and impactful. We then used the same Danby marble on the hearth and a coordinating but not ‘too matchy’ horizontal ceramic tile around the fireplace. Flanking the once empty spaces on either side of the fireplace were new cabinets that match the color and style of our kitchen pantry. We used Danby countertops here as well.
Borrowing my fireplace redo from the Vegas house, we kept the gas line, added a larger burner, and covered it with clear glass for a modern but warm look. This trick is so much cheaper than replacing the firebox with something new and creates a much cleaner, modern vibe.
Replacing the old wood slab front door with an open glass model not only brings in more light, but allows us to have a beautiful garden view off the foyer. With the main living space under control we were ready to tackle the very tired, dated, and worn out master bath.
Maximizing Space and Function
The master bath looked much like the kitchen: everything was original and on its last legs. Demo time.
The large marble steam shower had not been maintained and the tile and grout were worn, stained, and cracked. If we turned the shower fixture on, water would drain through the floor to the basement. The shower door also faced the toilet. After tearing everything out, and without moving the fixture, we framed around the existing toilet to make an enclosed water closet. Problem one solved.
The existing double sink vanity was too large for the space so we chose a wall mounted, floating cabinet that was still large enough for two sinks but smaller than the original. This gave us wiggle room to enlarge the shower space and still leave plenty of room for a free standing tub on the opposite wall. There had been a deck mounted tub under a beautiful angled skylight window. This was a beautiful place for a tub but the deck was huge and the tub was tiny and outdated.
Radiant flooring in the master is a must for us and we have installed it many times. It is amazing what a few extra degrees under your feet can do on a cold fall or winter morning!
The free standing ‘egg shaped’ tub is my quiet place and I use it daily! You can see from the ‘after’ photos that the tub, combined with a tile accent wall and the large angled skylight, gives the space a wonderful spa-like feel.
That tub, combined with a hard-wired, wall-mounted towel rack that I ordered from Houzz, makes my morning ritual a very peaceful and comfortable experience.
Space to Play
Since this is my most recent project, I have the greatest number of pictures to show just how amazing this space turned out. The natural light from the skylights and the counter tops as a backdrop, provides a studio quality which allows me to indulge my visual passion of capturing images of flowers, food, and spaces, along with the fashion capsules that I share in another part of this website.
