Tag: Summer 2022

When it came time for homeowners Tonya and Ryan (who asked that their last name not be used) to build a full-time residence on Geneva Lake, Tonya knew she wanted the home’s aesthetic to embody a warm, farmhouse feel — she grew up on a farm in Nebraska, after all. Ryan’s aesthetic, on the other hand, leans more toward a modern design style.

The couple, who bought the property in fall of 2016, managed to meet in the middle when it came time to design their new residence with the help of developer John Matustik of Matustik Builders and interior designer Brady Mathews of Sojourn Design House.

A longtime builder and developer of lakefront homes, Matustik helped the couple map out how they would want the home to function over the years. He knew the home had to be adaptable. It needed to accommodate the daily life of the couple and their two young daughters and comfortably host large gatherings of friends and family.

“It starts with lifestyle,” Matustik says. “How are they going to live in the house as the family grows and things change? How are they going to utilize the house 10 years later? [And it’s] imperative that the house feels intimate when it’s just you and your spouse.

But when you have 30 to 40 people there, you also don’t want it to feel cramped.”

The design of the 7,637-square-foot home deftly accomplishes that goal and it certainly delivers on wow factor. From the moment guests step through the front doors, it’s hard not to be in awe. The rustic wood accents (all of which are sourced from barns across Wisconsin) have a grounding affect on the main floor. But other elements — like the glass wine display in the dining room, the leather-backed bar chairs around the kitchen island and the moody blue wallpaper in the main floor bathroom — offer modern touches that feel elegant and masculine. And despite its size, the three-story home does feel intimate, while maintaining the ability to sleep 22 people.

When the project kicked off, the couple didn’t have an interior designer. But after having a few conversations about the build with Mathews, a family friend, they decided to bring the Austin,

Texas-based interior designer into the fold. He came in with a vision for how each room could have its own wow-factor moment.

The kitchen, for example, has a grand stone range wall with a custom steel hood vent. Originally, the refrigerator was going to sit against that wall, but the new layout was Mathews’ idea and design, and it’s one of Tonya’s favorite features.

“I love having that open shelving and having everything within reach. But it’s also open. If someone is sitting at the table in the family room, we’re still able to converse with them,” she says.

Another showstopper is the four-season room just off the kitchen. Matustik, Mathews and the couple say it’s one of the most incredible parts of the home. The room opens up almost completely to the outdoors, thanks to the two exterior folding glass doors that open seamlessly to the outdoor pool and sunken fire pit.

“This room was a must-have,” says Ryan. “We wanted it to feel like an outdoor room that we could close off and use in the winter.”

The upstairs is the family’s respite, with three bedrooms and a bunk room for guests that comfortably sleeps about 10 people. The lower level is all about entertainment for the entire family. Ryan has a dedicated space for his golf simulator. And the girls have a small stage with a changing room off to the side.

“When we started planning this house, the girls were four and two [years old] at the time,” Tanya says. “In our previous house, they’d built this little stage and they were constantly on that. That’s one of the things we wanted to incorporate here. It’s crazy how much they use it.”

And to keep everyone active and occupied during the colder months, a gym area and sport court were set up in the garage. The family can play a little basketball or volleyball, and Tonya and Ryan have a home gym. Of course, the in-ground pool and lake provide a bevy of entertainment options in the summer. Having spent summers in Lake Geneva prior to making it their home full-time, the family knew what to expect during the warmest months. Come winter, the entire landscape transforms, and it’s opened their eyes to a whole new range of beautiful scenery and outdoor fun.

“We knew we’d love summer here,” Ryan says. “The winter months are a very different scene, but very enjoyable as well. When the ice [forms] on the lake, there are some winter activities we didn’t partake in before.”

“We’re loving it,” Tonya adds. “We absolutely love it up here.”

By Shelby Rowe Moyer | Photography by Shanna Wolf

MORE ABOUT THIS HOME

7,637 SQUARE FEET | 5 BEDROOMS | 6 1⁄2 BATHROOMS

UPSCALE AND FUNCTIONAL
The elegant design doesn’t sacrifice functionality. The couches are intended for outdoor use, so wet swimsuits and errant spills are no match for the durable upholstery.

FAMILY FRIENDLY
The main living room is cozy and intimate, perfect for the family of four who live here full-time.

A POLISHED POWDER ROOM
Early in the design process, the homeowners knew they wanted one statement room with dark features. Depending on the light, the wallpaper looks black in this room, but it’s actually a midnight blue.

BALANCING ACT
The spacious kitchen is intended for large gatherings, so to maintain a cozy vibe for the family of four, a breakfast nook was added to the left of the island.

FARMHOUSE FEEL
The ceiling beams warm and ground the main floor living spaces. The wood was sourced from old barns across Wisconsin.

PRETTY & SOPHISTICATED
The ensuite bathroom in one of the girls’ rooms has its own whimsical design. When it came to styling the girls’ rooms, they each got to help pick the color palette.

COOL & COZY
The owner’s bedroom has a spacious ensuite and closet. The couple aimed to maximize the room’s square footage by using it where they knew they’d need it most.

ROOM TO GROW
The rooms of the two girls have a bit of a grown-up feel, which was an intentional decision. This way, the rooms won’t feel too young and outdated when the girls reach their teenage years.

MODERN MOOD
The owner’s bedroom has a muted, masculine vibe, but the design doesn’t lose connection with the rest of the home. The barn wood beams tie in with the main floor living area.

SMART KITCHEN
The scullery behind the main kitchen wasn’t part of the initial design plan, but the extra storage and work space has proven invaluable.

DROP IT LOW
The sunken exterior fireplace ended up being one of the most brilliant features of the home. Its low profile buffers the area on windy days (enabling the family to use it nearly year-round) but also maintains a clear sight line out to the lake.

PUP FRIENDLY
Even though much of the home’s furniture was chosen to withstand plentiful guests and playful children, the durable and easy-to-clean upholstery is also great for the family’s two dogs, Trecker and Stella.

GRILL MASTER
Tucked just out of view is the grill area, which can be accessed through the back of the kitchen.

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This home was featured in the Lake Geneva: Summer 2022 issue. For more photos of featured Lake Geneva homes, visit the Lake Geneva Gallery page.

As a retired interior designer, a local homeowner built a career designing homes that reflected her client’s personalities and lifestyles. So when it was time to design her own home on Geneva Lake, she used the same process to create a home that aligned with her and her family’s lifestyle.

“When it came to my clients, the house had to look like them when it was complete,” explains the homeowner. “It was important for me to listen carefully to their wants and needs and understand how they live. The home needed to look like them and to feel like home. I used the same process for my own home, focusing on timeless design and avoiding trendy design and colors.”

The 9,000-square-foot lakeside home has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and boasts an indoor pool, a green roof system, an atrium, a main pavilion and a lower level with outdoor access.

The homeowner and her husband sold their family home in Madison to move to Lake Geneva full-time, with the intent that the home would be a family home for her son and his family to enjoy for decades to come. Her son’s family lives in the Chicago area, so the homeowners moved to Lake Geneva to be in closer proximity to their son, daughter-in- law and grandchildren.

“Our son and his family come every weekend,” she says. “Our grandchildren are 12, 10 and 8, and they come all year round. We’re very adventurous; we enjoy exploring in the woods to see what we can find. We go ice skating and sledding in the winter, apple picking in the fall, and in the summer, it’s lake, lake and more lake.”

In the summer, from sunrise to sunset, the family can be found engaging in water activities and taking jaunts in the boat to Gordy’s for lunch.

When conceptualizing her home, the homeowner wanted her house to be different from the other homes on the lake. To complete the project and achieve her vision, she turned to Balsitis Contracting, Inc.

“[The homeowner] has a very creative eye,” says Joseph (Joey) Balsitis Jr., owner and chief executive officer, Balsitis Contracting, Inc. “She wanted to create something completely different than any other home on Geneva Lake, and have it be a generational home. It’s a contemporary home, whereas many houses on Geneva Lake have similar taste and design. In addition, the layout is very unique and multifunctional, and was designed as a home for entertaining.”

For the homeowner, the most important attribute of her home was the flow. “I wanted something very open and has good flow. We are right on the water, so I wanted people to come in and to see the lake,” says the homeowner. “The sight line of the water is through an atrium; once you leave the foyer, the rest of the house opens to the lake.”

Once you pass through the greenery of the atrium, you enter the home’s main pavilion. This space is home to the formal living and dining rooms and a casual dining room, among other rooms. Although the home is open concept, each room still feels distinct; separated through a series of partitions.

During her 30-year career as an interior designer, most of her projects were traditional-style homes, including the Wisconsin Executive Residence in Madison. For her own home, she wanted a modern home with clean lines — something completely different from what she’s done before. She gathered inspiration for her Lake Geneva home from the Lake Geneva Home and Garden Tour.

“The design inside is very minimal, which can actually be challenging,” explained Balsitis. “The contemporary design has very clean lines and looks very simple; however, it’s one of the more difficult home styles to build.”

During construction, Balsitis and the homeowner developed a mutual respect and appreciation for each other’s talents. “Joey explained everything in detail and how we would go through and execute it without changing the design’s integrity,” shares the homeowner.

“His methodology is perfection, and he didn’t move forward unless the details were laid out to perfection, and he knew what needed to be done and how he could achieve it.”

By Deanna Kane | Photography by Matthew Petersen, Ensure Productions

MORE ABOUT THIS HOME

9,000 SQUARE FEET | 5 BEDROOMS | 7 BATHROOMS

HUB OF ACTIVITY
The home’s central living space features lake views, shiplap details and a cathedral ceiling with skylights to allow natural light in.

COOL KITCHEN
The kitchen was designed with a focus on minimal, clean lines. The quartz used in the kitchen island was utilized throughout the rest of the home, and the smoked wood floors carry through the home for a streamlined effect.

NOD TO THE WATER
The couple installed a four-sided aquarium in the kitchen as a nod to their former Madison home. They had one there too, and wanted to incorporate it in their Lake Geneva home.

SOOTHING SPACE
With peaceful aqua walls, and views of the lake and the rose garden, the primary bedroom is a space to rest and recharge for another day on the lake.

CONTEMPORARY CHIC
Minimalist cabinetry, sleek sconces, decorative tile and quartz countertops complete the lower level bathroom.

AIRY AND BRIGHT
The stunning entryway is filled with floor to ceiling windows, sleek shiplap and direct views to the home’s atrium, which looks out to Geneva Lake.

HAVE A SEAT
The family’s lower level features a bar space where they can gather around for refreshments, to refuel in between swimming, games of billiards or long afternoons on the water.

ENTERTAINMENT PARADISE
The lower level is a place for the family to hang out, relax and engage in a friendly game of billiards or swim in the indoor pool.

SET TO SWIM
The amazing indoor pool means the family can swim comfortably year-round — even while watching the snow fall. They can also catch views of the lake while splashing around inside.

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This home was featured in the Lake Geneva: Summer 2022 issue. For more photos of featured Lake Geneva homes, visit the Lake Geneva Gallery page.

For nearly a decade, an Illinois-based couple were on the hunt for a lake home. While their primary residence is in a northern Chicago suburb, they were interested in finding — or perhaps building — a year-round vacation home somewhere in the greater Lake Geneva area. Both had childhood ties to the locale and were hoping to establish a special space they could enjoy with their four children and growing number of grandchildren.

The homeowners had a specific feel in mind: A place that evoked the cozy warmth of cottage life, with colors and patterns inspired by nature. The house the couple eventually found was a sprawling, English Tudor- style home that was dark and rather somber. The century-old structure also had a fractured layout, thanks to numerous additions over the years. But with 125 feet of shoreline and pristine views of Delavan Lake, the couple knew they’d found their dream home.

The couple purchased the home in August 2017, eventually tapping Lake Geneva Architects and Elkhorn’s Stebnitz Builders to help them reconfigure the five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath structure into one that fit their lifestyle. Another goal was to better integrate the home’s various additions.

“The house lacked continuity in its architecture,” says Jeff Auberger, design and remodeling consultant at Stebnitz Builders. “It was also very segregated.”

One of the main problem areas was the kitchen. Small and rectangular, it shared a wall with a small bedroom that blocked the lake views. Two small half-baths — one opening into the bedroom, the other into the kitchen — also took up more valuable space.

Stebnitz Builders removed the bedroom and half- baths, which enlarged the kitchen twofold. The additional space allowed the couple to create a dining area and install a spacious, 10 1⁄2-foot island. The island is crafted out of alder cabinetry and has a sink and built-in microwave oven.

Best of all, the couple added a picture window to the former bedroom’s exterior wall. Flanked by two doors with divided light grills, all of this glass allows gorgeous lake views and plenty of light to spill into the once-dark kitchen. The kitchen also receives a boost of sunlight from the adjacent family room, which now flows into the kitchen.

To help tie the rooms together, and to remain true to the Tudor style, Auberger recommended introducing exposed beams with clipped corners into the kitchen, with a mini version used as the new fireplace mantle.

“I really pushed to have a beam added to the large opening separating the kitchen from the great room, and to bring in a smaller version on the mantle,” he says. “They really make the home seem more architecturally consistent.”

To further meld the two rooms’ look, the tilework on the kitchen walls and fireplace surround feature blue-and-white Monet-inspired patterns, while the fireplace hearth and kitchen flooring both sport herringbone-patterned clay tile. “That tile is indestructible — and great for kids with wet feet,” says the homeowner.

Another notable accomplishment during the eight-month renovation is the home’s reimagined solarium, which is accessible via both the lakeyard and family room. The original structure was white and featured an opaque, acrylic ceiling. The new solarium was designed by Minneapolis-based Conservatory Craftsman, and was assembled on-site over the same footprint. The space boasts attractive, diamond- paned transom windows and a glass ceiling that lets in the sunlight. It’s also a soothing, gray-green color.

Two rooms the couple barely touched are the living room and hearth room, which are both off the front entryway. The living room features the original floor-to-ceiling fireplace, crafted out of Wisconsin fieldstone, plus original exposed wooden ceiling beams. A blue-and- white patterned area rug and throw pillows evoke the sapphire lake outside, while echoing tilework in the family room and kitchen.

“We want this space to be the place where we gather to have a glass of wine and maybe play dominoes or cards,” the homeowner says.

The hearth room derives its name from the arched-brick fireplace that dominates one wall. It’s one of the home’s numerous additions and includes a Murphy bed. While the homeowners don’t use the room now, they anticipate using it as a fifth bedroom for their grandchildren, when needed.

The homeowners have a few minor projects still on their to-do list, namely fixing the walls and windows in the home’s sun porch. But they’ve already gotten a lot of enjoyment from their new escape, and give props to Stebnitz Builders for making the long-distance project less stressful.

“Stebnitz was exceptional,” the homeowner says. “They were great with problem-solving and the expertise of the crew was outstanding! [And] we are so very thankful to all of the previous owners that added their rich histor y to this home.”

Auberger says he’s proud of the finished product.

“We took a very chopped-up home and opened it up, and made the space feel very natural and correct,” he says. “For me, when it comes to older homes, it’s about creating a space that feels historically correct, but lives like a modern home.”

By Melanie Radzicki McManus | Photography by Chris Kayser, Kayser Photography

MORE ABOUT THIS HOME

4,400 SQUARE FEET / 5 BEDROOMS / 41⁄2 BATHS

The home’s wet bar resides in the new, glorified mudroom that lies off the family room. While the homeowner describes the room as a catch-all space, the distressed maple bar provides an attractive accent. Two reclaimed wood shelves from Elkhorn’s Heritage Beam and Board float on a brick wall, while a small sink sits off to the right. “We wanted this space to be kind of quirky and fun, like the rest of the house, so we put the sink in an unexpected place in the corner with the faucet on the wall,” the homeowner says.

The kitchen’s eating area was once a small bedroom that concealed the gorgeous lake views. Tearing down the walls considerably brightened the kitchen, plus allows the lake vistas to spill into the room.

The homeowners greatly enlarged the home’s narrow, rectangular kitchen by eliminating an adjacent bedroom and two half-baths. An expansive knotty alder island is now part of the kitche which seamlessly flows into the adjacent family room.

The Viking range came with th home, although it used to resid in a different spot. Its striking range hood is an artful new addition. Created by Raw Urth Designs, a craft metal fabricato in Fort Collins, Colorado, it replaced a dated wooden one.

The home’s original solarium featured a heated floor and opaque ceiling, which blocked views of the sky. The homeowners kept the floor, but replaced the structure with a much larger, airier one featuring a glass ceiling and decorative transom windows. Bonus: To help keep the room warm when the temperatures fall, the family room’s direct-vent fireplace was constructed to send half of its heat into the solarium.

Windows in the home’s octagonal dining room needed to be restored — they were the originals — but didn’t need much additional work. The homeowners added new window coverings, opting for Roman shades with a trellis-type pattern in a nod to their original intention of creating a cottage feel in the home.

When the homeowners purchased the home, the kitchen sink was against a back wall. Post-remodel, it’s part of a 10 1⁄2-foot, knotty alder coffee bar, which includes a small fridge for the grandkids’ favorite beverages.

This patio is the spot where the homeowners gather to cook out and enjoy pleasant sunny days. The mudroom and wet bar are easily accessible.

The home’s primary bedroom features a patio door to a small balcony, plus wonderful lake views. “It’s so lovely to wake up and look at the water,” the homeowner says.

This hearth room was an addition created by a previous homeowner and now includes a Murphy bed. “It will end up being a kids’ room for the grandchildren someday,” the homeowner says, noting they have five young grandkids, two of whom recently arrived.

The home’s living room features original ceiling beams and an eye-catching fireplace crafted from Wisconsin fieldstone. The blue-patterned rug and throw pillows are reminiscent of the tile surrounding the family room fireplace, as well as the kitchen backsplash tile. They’re also meant to evoke thoughts of Delavan Lake, sparkling in the background.

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This home was featured in the Lake Geneva: Summer 2022 issue. For more photos of featured Lake Geneva homes, visit the Lake Geneva Gallery page.