The family of six living in this Fenton home is busy with work, school, sports, family gatherings and the hundreds of aspects of daily life in raising four daughters under the age of 14.
As the parents approached the idea of building a new home, they planned long term. They wanted a home their girls would return to as adults with their own families. And both the husband and wife have large extended families that continue to grow, and the couple wanted to host family get-togethers with ease.
Their immediate needs, however, included separate bedrooms for each daughter and more functional space for everyday living. “The layout of our previous house was kind of clunky and space was tight, especially on the main level where the laundry room, kitchen and pantry were,” says the husband.
The wife says they wanted a home with space where everyday living was simple but highly functional. “No extra rooms, but the rooms we had were used and everything had a place,” she says.
That functionality shines in a modern home with clean lines, an aesthetic the couple can take credit for because they made all the selections for flooring, cabinetry, tile, hardware, countertops and the like. “We did all that ourselves, and then we hired Joni (Spear) to help furnish the house and make it all come together,” says the wife. “It is a daunting process to pick out everything. And while I feel we did a great job ourselves, I think hiring someone to help from the very beginning would have been smart.”
Joni agrees. “It happens a lot that clients call me after they’ve selected their flooring, tile and plumbing fixtures, for example,” says Joni, the principal of Joni Spear Interior Design. “It’s always better to bring the designer in at the beginning of the process. It makes my job easier and makes the end result feel flawless.”
The wife explains she didn’t realize designers offer valuable insight in the beginning stages of a new build process. “We went in kind of blind to that, and a designer’s help would have made it easier and maybe made it better,” says the wife. “Designers see things you don’t in terms of knowing where you might need more lighting in a hallway, for example, or that you might want a drawer instead of a cabinet in a certain part of the kitchen, things like that.”
Regardless of when she’s brought to a project, Joni brings her expertise and decades of experience to deliver the client’s vision through thoughtful design. In this home, her top priority was to provide a plan for layout and furnishings of the family room.
“I like to start from the ground up, so I provided some options for a rug for the family room, and once we had that, we worked from there selecting the furniture,” says Joni. The room’s ceiling treatment served as the center point. “We built the floor plan for furniture from that gorgeous ceiling. And with four girls, she wanted very durable furniture with a clean-lined aesthetic.” Joni also suggested an ottoman with trays that would work both as a coffee table and as additional seating. “It’s huge and it’s multifunctional,” the designer says of the piece.
The room’s focal wall features a linear, contemporary fireplace below a framed TV. Flanking the fireplace are a pair of arched bookshelves with black backgrounds. Family friend and stylist Nina Gregory curated the accessories for the bookshelves. “She wanted family photos on the bookshelves, but other than that, I just found great stuff and we moved it around until it was pleasing,” says Nina, owner of Wild Ember Design.
In the nearby eating area, Joni suggested teal chairs to pick up a hue from the family room rug. The vegan leather chairs are wipeable and hold up to the demands of an active lifestyle with children at home.
The way the family room, eating area with adjacent wet bar and kitchen flow easily and seamlessly is one of the wife’s favorite elements in the home. “This is my dream kitchen,” she says. “It’s spacious, and I’ve always wanted big windows and a panoramic door to be able to extend the entertaining area out to the patio.” There’s plenty of space outdoors as well, as the home is sited on a full acre lot.
Nina and the wife worked together to bring architectural interest to the blank slate of a lower-level guest bedroom. Nina found wood slat panels for the wall’s focal point based on the wife’s inspirational photos. “We ordered these in the stain we wanted and then cut them to the height we needed, says Nina. “I also installed them along with the wallpaper, which is a peel and stick.” Designer Joni Spear sourced the Bernhardt nightstands, which feature pearlescent capiz shells in a sunburst pattern. “Those nightstands are amazing,” says the wife.
As the project unfolded, the couple realized designers have access to sources, vendors and trade partners the homeowners could not even imagine. “There are so many things going on behind the curtain, if you will, that they can figure out how to help you design your home,” the husband says of design professionals.
Joni agrees that bringing a designer on board at the beginning makes for a smoother process. “In the end, it came together very well,” she says. “It’s a stunning home and has an overall Zen quality to it, a very calm and peaceful house. And I think they were looking to create that quality with four kids always on the go.”
Resources:
Cabinetry: Mark Hall Fine Cabinetry
Granite fabricator: MSI
Tile supplier: MSI
Wallpaper: Wall Blush
