HISTORIC
HOMESTEAD

■ BY SUSAN WEINGARDEN

Nancy Farrell and
Lusy Vesely of
Mermaid Design
update a
farmhouse in the
historic Stoney
Creek district of
Rochester.

t's just an old Michigan farm-
house," says the owner of the
grand old home she and her hus-
band have occupied for thirty
years. Located on 40 acres in the
historic Stoney Creek district of
Rochester, the stately home is approx-
imately 150 years old.
Describing the home's interesting
past, the owner said, "There were
several mills along Stoney Creek and
this was once the home of a miller.
About 20 years ago, an elderly Jewish
woman came here to revisit the home
where she grew up. She brought a pic-
ture of the house that showed the
windmill and the barn, which we had
never seen."
There were also suspicions of
ghosts. "One day a couple came that
worked here as caretakers for a doc-
tor and his family," she says. "They
said after the doctor died his wife had
seances to talk to him and they
wondered if there were any strange
happenings in the house."
Appreciating with time, the home
has not had many owners and is ag-
ing gracefully. "It has been totally

50

HOME

The 150-year-
old wood and
stone exterior
blends in with
the rural
setting. The
wooden trellis is
covered with
foliage in the
summer
months.

The bright and
airy living room
has floral khaki
and white linen
sofas with a
touch of black
and white
pillows for
drama. The
fireplace is
surrounded by
Pewabic tile.

renovated three or four times," the
owner says. "When we bought the
house from two doctors it was very
contemporary. We tore off the
aluminum siding and found the
original trim. It's like taking a woman's
clothes off and then dressing her up
again."
According to the owners, that's
when the house started to take shape.
"She has good lines," they declared.
Three years ago the owners asked
architect Fran Bartlett to redo their
dark, narrow kitchen. "He decided to
knock out the wall, raise the ceiling and
add a sun room," she explained. "It
added a whole new dimension to the

house. He also added the arbor that
surrounds the home's exterior."
To complement the architectural
changes, the owner sought the design
help of Lucy Vesely and Nancy Farrell
of Mermaid Design of Grosse Pointe.
"I was using someone that I wasn't
pleased with," she says. "Lucy was my
daughter's childhood friend and often
played in our house. After losing track
of her, we met at her father's funeral
and I asked her to come out and help
me.
"I've enjoyed working with her. She's
known me many years and somehow
she gets into my head. She pulls things
together quickly."