Glass House

In an area where land value heavily outweighs appreciation of the past, this post-and-beam mid-century modern home was destined to be razed. The tightly formatted four-bedroom lake home sits on a relatively flat lakeside lot. Sitting just above water level, an all-glass south façade provided unforgettable summers — and extremely problematic winters.

With a high water table, a slab on grade floor, outdated single-pane picture frame windows, and strong Michigan winters, the underutilized floor plan no longer worked for today’s lifestyle and turned into a summer retreat. A complete renovation and addition provided full-year functionality while preserving the aesthetic and tradition of the mid-century home.  A 1,149-sf addition to the footprint allowed for an enlarged primary suite, relocation of bedroom 2 into existing garage space, a revamped entertaining kitchen and butler kitchen, and a new three-stall garage. All ceilings remained exposed by creating a new raised floor, with crawl space, to resolve water table issues and allow a new in-floor HVAC system.