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Celebrating the rituals
and festivals of Judaism
is made even lovelier in a
Huntington Woods home.

Lynne Konstantin I Design Writer
Brett Mountain I Photographer

To create a new and wider porch, replete with an
overhang and brick columns, builder Joel Lerman
had the bricks from a torn-down wall in the
three-season room hand-salvaged, one-by-one, to
match the original bricks on the home's exterior.

LED lighting illuminates each step.

W

hen a cement step broke on the porch of a Jewish
family's Huntington Woods home, the wife replaced it.
When it broke again six years later, she replaced it once
more. And the rest, she says, is history.
The couple, with two grown children and a pair of grandchildren
who visit often, undertook a major renovation of the 1956 home
they'd lived in since 1991.
The couple tapped architect Michael Willoughby of Michael
Willoughby & Associates in Bloomfield Hills, kitchen designer
Franco Nonahal of the now-closed Kitchen Studio in Bloomfield
Township and builder Joel Lerman, owner of Lerman Corporation
in Bloomfield Hills, to create the company-friendly, easy-flowing
layout and stunning, yet practical, kosher kitchen the couple craved,
as well as another kitchen just for Passover.
"They were all fantastic to work with:' says the homeowner.
"Franco came out, and within 5 minutes, he created a perfect
drawing, upside-down, of exactly what we wanted while pushing
the envelope just enough. And with Joel, we just clicked. He has
incredibly innovative and creative ideas for using space. We had a
great relationship:'
Most important to the family was a comfortable space to have
family and friends over. "We wanted to design around our lifestyle
— not just a kosher kitchen but open spaces so people could feel
comfortable and move around the house during Shabbos and yontif
dinners:'
And, of course, they added a brand-new porch.

The painstakingly matched

horizontal grain of the

cabinetry and clean,

uninterrupted lines of the

backsplash and under-cabinet

lighting (electrical outlets and

light switches were placed

to the sides) perpetuate the

feeling of easy movement

about the kitchen. Backsplash

tiles that run up behind the

hood to the ceiling add to

the welcoming airiness of the

room. Beyond a counter (lined

with bar stools on the other

side) is a family/eating area

that once was a three-season

sunroom with a concrete floor

and lined with doorwalls. "But

it was always freezing, except

in the summer," says the

homeowner. "Now, this is my

favorite room." It opens to the

patio, which has a space fitted

for the family's sukkah.

❑

Illuminated on page 42

Do you have a home you'd like to share with the community? Contact Lynne Konstantin at Ikonstantin®thejewishnews.com .

December 13 • 2012

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