Last month on Instagram, Traditional Home posted a few of the images from today’s home tour, and I got very excited! I had never seen this home before, and I could not wait to see more. I found the feature online, but still no date, which was later confirmed as 2007 by @splendorinthesouth. Eleven years later, this home still feels so fresh and timeless… the kind of home I would like to see more of in the shelter magazines today.
Homeowner Lisa Schrenk Bouchard enlisted designer Ann Heath to help create an inviting respite for her family and friends. She loved the open floor plan of the newly constructed Michigan home, but she “traditionalized” it by straightening out modern curved walls, replacing window sashes to include traditional mullions, encasing the archway in the entry with paneling, adding a fireplace in the living room, and more. She applies an “only if I love it” attitude to her fixtures and furnishings, favoring antiques and dressmaker detailing. Many pieces, like antique chandeliers in the dining room and kitchen, traveled from old house to new.
Lisa’s collections, especially her majolica, Quimper, and blue and white porcelain, drove the interior design. She wanted a background that would enhance them without overpowering. “I wanted the house to feel like a warm hug every time you walk through the door,” she said. “I started collecting in my early 20s with only one rule––buy what you love,” says Lisa. “Unless I truly love a piece, I walk away. I don’t believe in just filling a space with ‘stuff.’ ”
Perched on a gilded bracket, an antique Staffordshire dog guards the front door. In making what was a contemporary home more traditional, Lisa encased the archway in paneling and added a fireplace in the living room.
A sisal rug, neutral walls, and white sofas allow homeowner Lisa Schrenk Bouchard’s collections of blue-and-white Chinese export plates and delftware vases and urns maximum attention in the living room. Lisa trimmed her new fireplace with delft tiles.
On an antique sideboard in the back hallway, she displays a pair of majolica plates, and above the antique green bench, Lisa presents part of her collection of old blue-and-white Staffordshire transferware plates.
As part of the redo, a screened porch became a light-bathed sunroom. Lisa’s love of gardening is reflected in the floral fabrics covering the chairs. The chandelier is an antique.
An antique crystal chandelier and full bells-and-whistles decorative trim on the draperies and chair upholstery bring a feminine air to the dining room. Merian botanical prints hang above a new custom-painted sideboard.
Lisa brought an antique French chandelier from her previous home to illuminate the kitchen.
Quimper––cheery antique French faience pottery, one of Lisa’s favorite collections––fills a china cabinet in the breakfast area.
Lisa replaced columns of mixed style with one consistent favorite on the exterior of her Detroit-area home. All-new landscaping completes the exterior’s warm and inviting good looks.
Shortly after moving into her new home, Lisa remarried creating a blended family with six boys aged nine to 24 years old at the time of publication. This is truly a family-friendly home! Photography by Gordon Beall and captions by Candace Ord Manroe for Traditional Home.
Design Crush: Jane Ellsworth Interiors
A Place to Call Home by Gil Schafer III
An Elegant 1930s Long Island, New York Home
Four Mundane Current Design Trends …and How to Get Them Right, by Holly Holden
Dear Andrea ,
I iam new to your blog , and find it so inspiring , your blog today just shows that good design and style never dates ”
Thanks Hazel (Manchester uk ) X
Pretty and timeless. She got it right. No trendiness in sight 🙂
Beautiful home. It does “hug” you.
Your blog is always a breath of fresh air…my friends and I look forward to each one and then revisit them often.
I have seen photos of this house and it truly a fine example of buy what you love. She definitely has many of my loves!
Still a beautiful home. Nothing needs to be changed even after 11 years. Lovely.
Love it now. Loved it then. It is classic and timeless. Joni, your blog is my favorite- always look forward to your posts!
She is a brilliant colorist and a talented decorator!