REFACE: Bringing Homes Back to Life

Nestled on a beautiful level lot on the north shore of Big Detroit Lakes sits a 1977 rambler that has recently been transformed into a curbside beauty. The once unappealing, basic rambler was purchased in 2018 by a renovation loving couple who were more than excited to take on both the interior and exterior updates to make it their home.

Troy & Skye Fingalson, owners of Design 2 Sell and North Shore Tile in Detroit Lakes are amongst the handful of people that can see the new through the old and envision the potential. “We love walking through a home, seeing the potential, and bringing it back to life”, stated Skye. “I always feel like I’m making the home happy again, almost like I can feel that it is talking to me.” Troy and Skye are no strangers to the renovation and building process; both have been in the industry for many years, and have unintentionally flipped the last 4 homes they have lived in.

“We have moved 4 times, brought life back to each home, and then moved on”, Skye said.

“We tend to always say that this will be our forever home while we are fixing it up, but so far it hasn’t ended up that way”, she laughs. “I’m addicted to the MLS and am always envisioning what I would do in the space if it were mine because that is what we enjoy doing.” “You never know where life will bring you and I love a good opportunity when I see one.” However, she does say that THIS will be their forever home. The location being close to town, the large and private backyard, and the beachfront make it hard for her and her husband to leave.

When they purchased the home in the Summer of 2018, they immediately began renovating the interior of the home, all while living in their Master Bedroom during the process. “We have two young children, so doing this was not easy, but it is always worth it”. After finishing up the interior, they took a little break and began the planning stages of the exterior of the home. “I knew that we needed to add dimension,” Skye said. “The home was basic and flat. The windows and the brick were not to scale with the home, and it needed a new roof.” “I wanted dimension, texture, and I really wanted to bring color back. Everything has been so neutral, and I did not want that. I fell in love with Benjamin Moore’s paint color “Dark Harbor” and designed the entire home around that.

Incorporating texture and high contrast was also important. They used stained cedar to build their pergola over top of the garage, the posts by the front porch, and the custom-made planter box. “A great way to determine which colors compliment each other is to look at a color wheel and select colors that are opposite of each other. The cooler tone of the teal paint and warm tone of the cedar work great together and mix cool with warm. The white trim gave the home that high contrast.” Adding the right stone in the right place on the home was also something that Skye knew had to be done correctly. The home is not tall enough to do a wainscot among the front. “It would have made it look smaller.” That is when she decided that all it would need was the face of the garage, the chimney, and the bottom of the pillars to give it the right texture. Troy and Skye opted for real stone, and stone that was irregular shaped that would pull out the cedar color. When replacing the windows along the front of their home, they made them much larger and Skye was completely set on the gridded look. “I have always loved the gridded windows. They give a cottage feel, and they look welcoming.” By enlarging the windows, the home appeared larger.

Another unique feature about the home is the wider siding. They chose a 12” wide siding instead of the standard narrow siding. “Larger scale pieces make a small space feel bigger.

It is a common misperception that if you have a small space, you should use small scale pieces, when in fact, the larger scaled items you use, the bigger the space will appear”, Skye mentioned.

By adding the front porch area, and the pergola over the garage, we were able to add a lot of dimension to the home. The soffit is not your standard aluminum soffit, and instead, is painted shiplap. The painted shiplap also lines the ceiling underneath the front porch, where Skye has a beautiful chandelier hanging. “Lighting is everything, so we chose what we wanted to highlight with the chandelier, the lanterns that hang from the pergola, the under-soffit lighting, and the landscaping lights.”

One problem that Skye had while designing the exterior of the home was finding that perfect garage door color to match her front door. “I really wanted that orange-cedar tone and the factory colors were too brown. I took the front door swatch into Detroit Paint & Glass, where they color matched the front door for me so I could send it in to the garage door factory to custom match.”

In any great design – it is truly all in the details. So, by adding a decorative old barn rope railing, the beautifully curved sidewalk, the unique floor to ceiling cedar planter box, and the gorgeous landscaping, the icing was now on the cake. “It takes a village of talented people in various trades to accomplish a great renovation. Let the experts be the experts and trust the process”, Skye stated. “We couldn’t have accomplished all of what we did without the help of everyone and their amazing expertise.”

Stop into Skye’s beautiful flooring and Interior design studio, “Design 2 Sell” in Detroit Lakes to visit with her about your next building or renovation project.