Designing & Furnishing A Lake Michigan Home

May 22

One of our specialties at Flourish Interiors is designing, furnishing, and stocking non-primary residences on and along the coast of Lake Michigan and surrounding inland lakes. In Southwestern Michigan, beautiful resort like areas have organically grown and developed, where many people from Chicago and surrounding areas vacation and escape the city during the warmer months of the year. Stunning homes on the Lake Michigan coastline, gourmet restaurants, art galleries, antique stores, and unique boutiques make this area feel a little like a Midwestern version of the Hamptons.

Often times, when people buy or build new properties in this area, they need all new furnishings, as this is usually an additional residence and not a primary one. That’s where we at Flourish Interiors come in. We are passionate about helping curate these waterfront homes. Our team can come alongside your builder and help design jaw dropping, one of kind features during the build process. We can then use those color selections and features to help define the aesthetic for furnishings and accessories. We are passionate about designing and furnishing homes in this area, and are extremely knowledgeable about the unique needs these homes have, the vendor pool in this area, etc. Below is a list of ways, we at Flourish Interiors, work to design specifically for lake homes in this region. And these reasons are why we are the ideal choice to help you in the process…a designer from Chicago or elsewhere may not be accustomed to working around these unique needs. And, of course, this is just a small sampling of the ways we customize our Lake Michigan designs:

WINTER WEATHER PROTECTION The Lake Michigan coastline is prone to extreme weather including high winds and blizzard like conditions during off season months. Because of this, we work with builders to prepare and design homes that can stand up to these conditions. We have to be very careful when designing outdoor spaces like lenais, decks, 3 season rooms, pool areas and pool houses, outside gathering spaces, etc. We must specify materials with certain ratings for example to protect them from the elements.
SUN PROTECTION Houses along the coast of Lake Michigan often feature large windows to take advantage of the beautiful water views. However, these large windows often have very little naturally blocking the direct sunlight that filters in all year long. In a more traditional neighborhood setting, home owners may have smaller windows, and then have another house next to them, trees surrounding the property, etc. These things all act as a natural barrier against sunlight exposure. But we find that in the Lake Michigan homes, the combination of large panoramic windows combined with the wide open exposure the coastline creates, results in excessive sun fading for furnishings. Therefore, our design team at Flourish looks for various ways to combat this issue. We often source discreet window shades that can be deployed during the time between visits and in the off season. Additionally, we are careful about the types of fabrics we chose in areas where sun fading or bleaching could be a problem. Finally, we also offer end of season “repositioning” services where our Installation Team come and move items out of the way to protect them: we can audit an entire property for areas that might be in danger and move just those items…and then of course come back in the spring to put items back into their proper place
COASTAL BUT LAKE COASTAL One of the biggest mistakes that makes us cringe a little is when these Michigan homes are decked out with coastal design but feature wildlife, tropical items, and other oceanic elements. For example, starfish, dolphins, tropical shells, and things of this nature would not be seen in Michigan… Our objectives when designing in a coastal theme, would be to style with accessories that are true to the Michigan wildlife and coast. Here are a number of items that we might use that DO embody the Harbor Country aesthetic; sunsets, Lake Michigan fish, sailboats, dunes, trees, driftwood, seagulls, deer, etc. These animals and elements are more in line with what you experience when living along the coastal areas of South West Michigan.
CREATIVE WAYS TO SLEEP MANY GUESTS We find that being able to sleep large groups of people in these homes is critical. Often times these homes serve as gathering place for family reunions. They also lend themselves well to entertaining during the summer. Even if a family comes to us and only has, for example, five current people (Mom, Dad, & 3 children), we will counsel them to plan to sleep at least 8 but ideally 12. This allows for their family to expand via their children eventually marrying and having children of their own. It’s always amazing, how fast time goes and how an extended family can become quite a bit larger and create a need for many more sleeping areas. In the meantime, the extra beds allows for sleepovers, family reunions, and guests. Here are some ways our design team creates additional sleeping options. First, we highly recommend creating bunk areas in say a finished basement, or a bonus room above the garage. Built in bunks can be custom crafted to sleep full adults and really extend the sleep count. For example a bonus room that has 2 bunks with full beds, can comfortably sleep 8 people. That’s perfect for housing grandchildren or cousins. Finishing these bonus spaces and using them in that way is a creative solution. Other creative solutions include trundles, murphy beds, sleeper sofas, and the use of screens to create additional areas of privacy. We are experts at taking even a small vacation home and maximizing the sleep count.
VENDOR NETWORK Successful design necessitates having a powerful and reliable network of vendors at your fingertips. From wallpaper installers to cleaning services: your new lake home is going to require a plethora of new human resources to be manifested into your comfortable, beautiful new home away from home. We at Flourish Interiors, are local to the region and have worked for years to refine and create the best vendor network, which we will deploy for your benefit. We act as a concierge, going above and beyond just design selections, and work to make your new home not only aesthetically pleasing but functioning. We can help source landscape architects, pool care vendors, house cleaners, catering, and so on.
PASSION FOR LAKE MICHIGAN HOMES Another reason that sets Flourish Interiors apart, when considering a designer for your near Lake Michigan home, is that we are truly passionate about designing in this area. Flourish Interiors owner and principal designer, Vanessa C Smith, grew up in NW Indiana and her family has their own home in Grand Beach, Michigan. She has been visiting and enjoying this whole region for as long as she can remember. She loves to hunt for the perfect items for your home in the many local antique stores, and she understands the vibe and style of this region. She has relationships with the best antique store owners, artists, gallery owners, and craftsman and loves deploying these things into your home. Hiring a true connoisseur of Harbor Country as your designer and boots on the ground, will result in more care and attention to detail going into the design of your home.