A beautiful custom home on an idyllic Northern Michigan lake is proof that persistence pays off.
This Up North home is a part of the 2024 Northern Home & Cottage virtual home tour, which features immersive video tours of nine incredible homes and interviews with local contractors and builders. Take a sneak peek inside, then get your event tickets.
Contractor: Northwest Carpentry
Location: Benzie County
Laura and Kevin Lutz were struggling to find just the right waterfront property on which to build their dream forever home. Finally, several years ago, they drove north for the weekend and decided to give it a last shot. “By the end of the weekend I was exhausted, and I didn’t want to look anymore,” Laura recalls. Kevin, however, coaxed her into looking at one last property.
That property was in Benzie County’s Pearl Lake Estates—a small development on Pearl Lake, a 600-acre, spring-fed glacial lake that is primarily owned by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “It was just so quiet and peaceful,” Laura says. “We stood on the edge of the property facing the lake and it felt like home.”
The Lutzes engaged Traverse City–based architect Jessica Van Houzen Stroud to design a custom home that took optimal advantage of the Pearl Lake views. Simultaneously, they began the search for builders. “We probably interviewed five or six builders,” Laura says. Among them was Steven Eveleigh of Northwest Carpentry. “We hit it off immediately,” Laura recalls. “We liked how genuine he was, and his references couldn’t say enough about him.”
The payoff for all of the couple’s research is their lovely new home. With its dove-gray shingle and board-batten siding, the home that Stroud designed and Eveleigh built fits beautifully into the wooded lake site, while maintenance-free decking and siding mean the Lutzes have more time to enjoy their Up North life.
Inside, generous use of white shiplap on the walls, tongue-and-groove ceilings, white oak floors and natural wood accents further play out the woodsy coastal theme. Indeed, every room in the home fits into the couple’s Northwoods lifestyle, right down to its walk-out beach room that is outfitted with an epoxy floor and an adjacent bathroom. “Whether we’re grimy from a hike, cleaning fish, prepping for a bonfire or letting in our wet dogs, Tony and Willow, it’s just a great utility area,” says Laura.
Though the kitchen is the heart of the home, Laura says her absolutely favorite part is the three ways her home offers to see, and feel close to, the water: a screened-in porch, a sun room and an upper deck. “If it’s winter and cold, we can sit in the sun room,” Laura says. “When it’s lovely outside, we use the upper deck and if it’s warm but a little buggy, we do the screened-in porch.”
In the end, the Lutzes not only got their dream home, they also got their dream builder. Just like his other references, the couple can’t say enough about Eveleigh. “If there was a ruffle here or there, he’d give us a call and say, ‘What do you think about this?’ And if I had an idea, I’d just give him a quick text and run it by him,” Laura says. “It’s been a true pleasure working with Steve.”
Don’t miss the Northern Home & Cottage Virtual Tour of this home.