>> at home

Lynne Konstantin I Design Writer
Beth Singer I Photographer

In a designer's own home,
Colonial meets contemporary.

n 1981, interior designer Jane Redfield
Schwartz and her husband moved into
the home where they would raise their
children. The 1962 Colonial in Bloomfield
Village, established in 1924, was not exact-
ly her dream design, which tended toward
the contemporary, but "it was our first
house, and it was all we could afford:' she
says. "We thought it was heaven."
More than 30 years later, the home has
been through many changes — "every-
thing had been redone a couple of times,"
she says. "But I finally got to a point where
I wanted certain comforts:'
Not finding what she was looking for in
other homes on the market, the co-owner of
Kelter Schwartz Design in Bloomfield Hills
and her husband decided to take advantage
of Schwartz's expertise and make their
house what they were looking for.
Collaborating with building designer
Ben Heller, of Morgan-Heller Associates in
Pontiac, and John Morgan, of Perspectives
Custom Cabinetry in Royal Oak, Schwartz
pushed her attached garage back 7 feet and
her kitchen out 10 feet — from which she
only gained an additional 400 square feet
of space. But it provided the freedom to
knock down walls, rearrange the architec-
ture and create the airy flow, clean design
and bucolic window views of her dreams—
plus a breakfast room, mud room, main-
floor laundry and show-stopping displays
for prized pieces of art, ethnography and
heirlooms.
"I wanted the background to be com-
fortable but quiet so the objects I really
cherish would stand out, and I could really
enjoy them," Schwartz says. "And it's exact-
ly what I wanted. It just feels very natural,
very plain and basic and easy. It makes me
feel like I'm at home."

❑

In Harmony on page 40

Inspired by the open, spacious flow and vernacular details of architect
Robert A.M. Stern, Schwartz transformed her Colonial into a home
that blends elements of the original design with a simple, clean
elegance that allows her to take advantage of the lovely views and
entertain comfortably with family and friends, who visit often. "I

didn't want to take away from the fact that I have a Colonial house,
but my passion is contemporary," says Schwartz. "I couldn't fully go
contemporary, but I could go clean. Bringing in elements of Shaker
style helped to blend and balance the styles." Pushing the kitchen out
10 feet over an existing patio, Schwartz created a paneled breakfast
nook with a soaring, peaked beadboard-grooved ceiling. French doors
provide a wall of light and views of her bluestone patio and garden of
wild grass and hostas while a trio of small, square windows, "which
I adore," says Schwartz, adds symmetry, the illusion of space — and
hides views of the driveway. The kinetic mobile light, designed by
David Weeks, is suspended by wire over a rich 6-foot-long cherry
table, finished with a natural edge and bronze inset on the tapered
legs, by Chris Lehrecke.

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

38 July 10 • 2014