Brilliant!
Harbor home puts its sunny-side out
Not often does a new house these days garner so much attention, or such regular remarks to the homeowners. It’s almost as if the community, driving by arguably Emmet County’s most cheerful homestead, felt a sense of ownership as it rose from its lot on M-119, first the usual stages of foundation, frame and roof and then … the color.
Yes, that yellow house, the sweet-corn, sunshine-bathed, comforting-like-custard home of Tom and Mindy Mooradian, just outside the Harbor Springs city limits.
It just makes you smile, or stop and put in your two cents about the lot dimensions, the color, the “wow” landscaping — everything and anything, it seems.
The welcoming Harbor Springs family has taken all the attention in stride as they settle in to their spacious, chic and stylishly decorated residence that combines Harbor’s elite cottage look with Mindy’s sense of interior design.
“We heard everything possible about the color,” said Mindy. “One man last summer pulled into the driveway with a paint fan from Benjamin Moore, came to the front door and said, ‘My wife just wants this color so badly.’ I laughed so hard. He went and got darn close.”
For the record, the color is heirloom yellow, and it was shocking to Mindy at first, she said: “It was exactly what I had picked out, it was just shocking.”
After a second coat, the Mooradians were certain in their choice, and they comment now how its hue transforms with the seasons, standing out against summer’s lush green landscape, complementing fall’s blaze of color, and this time of year, adding warmth to the north’s standard white-and-gray palette. “I wanted a very upbeat house, a contrast to our gray days,” said Mindy.
It’s truly a high-profile home for a low-key family long connected to the Harbor community. “People stop by and say, ‘We just want to know who lives here,’” Mindy said.
So did we.
If the outside draws your attention, you should see the inside. Except don’t stop by; instead, let HomeLife give you a tour.
Mindy’s eye for details and colors is dazzling room-to-room in the five-bedroom, three-level home. It’s a knack that some people just possess, like being able to nonchalantly pick out dog-print wallpaper, Mackay-patterned plaid (which is also Mindy’s maiden name), and vinyl flooring textured like sisal (I didn’t know they made that, either!), to create a welcoming guest room and bath.
“I had the most fun doing this house,” she effused, room to room.
Her love of family and intentional design is apparent, like in the main-floor master bedroom where bright blue walls are “based on skiing in the winter, with that bright blue sky.” In the shower, their daughter’s rock collection found its way into the design, covering the floor in place of traditional tile.
The kids’ rooms and their laundry (with bright pink vinyl floor and green-and-pink floral wallpaper, the happiest laundry room I’ve ever seen) are upstairs, along with a bonus room and sitting area with juicy purple furnishings and paint accents. In the lower level, a music room with drum set and dance floor is decked with colorful strobe lighting, a fun place for the couple’s children and their friends to hang out.
Pointing out pieces like grandma’s piano in the living room, Indiana Colts memorabilia — her home state — in the basement entertaining space and Indiana limestone around the fireplace, Mindy notes: “This whole house is my family.”
The couple, Harbor residents for 24 years, purchased the lot-that-is-bigger-than-it-seems eight years ago with plans to eventually remodel the existing home on the site. Tom, a Realtor, and Mindy, a long-time volunteer with organizations including the Christ Child Society, decided instead to start new and demolished the old house in July 2007.
Tom’s family has been long-time seasonal residents, starting in the 1960s when they’d travel north from the Detroit area to ski at Nub’s Nob and the Boynes. In designing their home, they incorporated architectural components of Harbor Springs cottage style, like cedar shake and board-and-batten construction. “I took things that I always admired from houses in the area,” said Mindy.
Now that same admiration is being directed back at their own home and inspiring others.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t hear something like, ‘Oh you’re the yellow house,’” said Tom. “It’s been fun.”
More on the Mooradians
The homeowners: Tom and Mindy Mooradian, son Flick, 13, daughter Mackie, 16, and dogs Nellie and Mr. Biggs
The builder: Benny’s Construction, Petoskey (owner Ben Fettig)
Finish carpenter: Ben Brower
Completed in: April 2008
Landscaping: Check it out this summer, by Litzenburger Landscape
Award-winning: The home won first place in the Architectural Award residential construction category at the 2008 Harbor’s Heroes event
Favorite shop for furniture and décor: Bondurant, Petoskey
Added touches: Furniture refinishing, Kelly’s Refinishing of Charlevoix, Danielle Otimer and Shannon Cummings; Allerding Upholstery, Harbor Springs; Harbor Drapery; Al Dicken, Cross Village, cut stonework; Jill Brecheisen, Petoskey, kitchen design; Lynn Dinning, Good Hart Glassworks
