Join us for a premier one-day home tour featuring 13 beautiful homes, thoughtfully designed and surrounded by stunning landscapes in Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties. The Traverse City Area Northern Home & Cottage Home Tour is Saturday, September 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Below is a sneak peek inside the fourth home on the tour!

Proceeds raised during the Traverse City Area Home Tour will benefit Northern Michigan non-profit, Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan. Save money by purchasing tickets online at MyNorthTickets.com or by calling 800.836.0717. Online ticket sales end Friday, September 15 at noon. Tickets are also available at the door.

Address: Ship Watch 3, The Homestead, 1 Woodridge Road, Glen Arbor

Directions: Beginning in Traverse City at the intersection of M-72W and S W Bay Shore Dr/M-22: Drive west on M-72W 14 miles to S Coleman Rd/669. Continue straight on S Coleman through the blinking light to 616. Turn left onto 616 and continue until it ends at Dunns Farm Road and turn right. Travel on Dunns Farm Road about 9 miles. Turn right onto Westman Road and drive to M-22. You will see The Homestead across the road. Turn left onto M-22 then right onto Homestead Road. Follow Homestead Road for 0.3 mile as it becomes Woodridge Rd. Park at the Welcome Center and look for signs for the Home Tour shuttle bus.

Developer: The Homestead, 231.334.5000

Over 15 years ago, John and Mariya Fogarasi purchased a three-bedroom condominium in the Ship Watch development at The Homestead in Glen Arbor. John’s career as a diplomat took them all over the world, and he and Mariya hoped to make Glen Arbor their family’s home base in the United States.

Decades later, as John neared retirement (and the couple planned to spend more time at the condo), the Fogarasis decided it was time to update their beloved piece of Glen Arbor real estate. Working with Natalie Foisie, of Builder Liaison, and Paul Maurer General Contracting, both headquartered in Traverse City, the Fogarasis oversaw their remodel from six time zones away—which meant that the consultations were usually late at night and what John calls “a labor of love.”

The couple had three major goals for the remodel: to modernize the unit; to eliminate the lockout feature (which enabled two bedrooms and a bath to be rented separately), making the unit one seamless space; and to create an interior decor that reflected their international travels while showcasing the magnificent Lake Michigan vista out the window.

Goal No. 1, modernizing the unit, largely meant turning a galley kitchen into a gourmet kitchen. To that end, the couple had the wall between the kitchen and the entryway removed to make more space. A clunky in-the-way dropped ceiling over the kitchen peninsula was torn out, and the peninsula became an island—allowing family and guests to gather all the way around it. A backsplash fabricated from Encore tiles (sustainably handmade in Oregon) in a soft blue-green palette now takes center stage—and also reflects the changing shades of the bay framed by the sliding glass doors across the room. The island and perimeter countertops are Cambria Quartz in a pattern from the company’s Montgomery collection that features turquoise swirls—again echoing the watery view. New appliances, bold new seeded-glass pendant lights and custom cabinetry with beveled glass fronts all combine to make the kitchen a tiny, efficient gem.

The dining area, set between the kitchen and living room, features three individually shaped pendant lights by designer Tom Dixon and inspired by Asian-Indian designs. The living room fireplace was completely redone—raised, centered and refaced using charcoal ledgestone with copper accents. Likewise, the fireplace in the master bedroom was raised, centered and refaced, in this case with Michigan-made Motawi tiles in a rich brown and celadon green pattern. Besides being one of the many changing hues of Lake Michigan, the latter is a nod to South Korea’s ancient and traditional celadon pottery.

The door that once locked off the two bedrooms and bath is now a pretty archway—a shape that is mimicked in another archway, this one framed in cherry and leading into the master bedroom.

This may be the smallest home on the tour, but take your time going through it because it is rich in details.

Preview all 13 homes on the Traverse Area Home Tour in the August 2017 issue of Northern Home & Cottage.


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Photo(s) by Dave Speckman