A Note from the Editor
Summer’s an easy time to take nature for granted. In its wild, wily way, as flora and fauna explode around the region, most of us would do well to slow down and enjoy the beauty of it a little bit more.
That was our assignment at HomeLife for this issue (hand-to-forehead).
At some area estates, I don’t know how the homeowners can bring themselves back inside, their landscaping and water features are so breathtaking, refreshing and alive. What is even more remarkable is that the features at the homes we visited are mostly manmade.
There’s more to it than laying sod and planting bushes. At the houses we toured, painstaking consideration was given to literally every boulder, every turn in the stream, every variety of plant and flower to create a season-long wave of blooms.
Bob Drost, one of the area’s pre-eminent landscape designers, said he and his crew hand-select each boulder and rock at each job site, mark them as to where they will be placed and piece the yard together with the most natural flow possible. The result is a look that makes you question which came first, the water or the house?
One of the most jaw-dropping examples of incorporating water features and foliage into a natural setting, in the entire region I would say, has to be at the Mullen property on Burt Lake. I felt like I was on vacation at a lush, exotic destination — and I even had my own paparazzi, staff photographer G. Randall Goss, who could’ve spent all day at this one shoot alone.
Since this is the height-of-summer issue, we continued our outdoor explorations by visiting some spectacularly shined outdoor kitchens, with beautiful granite countertops, professional-grade grills, refrigerators, working sinks and all the amenities of their indoor counterparts. At these gracious homes, the owners all said their outdoor living areas are another gathering place for friends, family and summertime memory-making.
Since lakes and waterways define and shape this region of Michigan, we headed to several striking homes situated on Michigan’s most beautiful waters, Lake Michigan, Walloon Lake, Bay Harbor Lake and Lake Charlevoix.
I have to confide that at one exquisite Lake Charlevoix property, as Randy finished up the photo shoot and I waited for him so we could head to our next assignment, I pulled up a wicker rocker, turned it toward the sun and even took off my sandals (see photo). I took it all in, every sense heightened — the smell of the flowers, warmth on my face, trickling nearby stream.
Yep, it was another rough month at the office.
Beth Anne Piehl
HomeLife Editor