Curtain Call

A contemporary lakefront home in Birmingham exudes a quiet drama that belies behind-the-scenes creative restraint and attention to detail

By Rebecca Powers

By Beth Singer

As a former professional ballerina, Joanne Danto knows a bit about staging a mood. So when it came to choreographing the interior of her new home in Birmingham, she wanted a scene set for serenity. As a sort of second act to her previous house and its traditional décor, this new backdrop bathed in abundant natural light signaled a turning point.
She and Arnold Weingarden asked Kevin McManamon Design Consultants in Birmingham to transform the interior of the 14-year-old house overlooking Quarton Lake. “She wanted it Zen-like,” McManamon says.
His team began lightening surfaces, adding warmth, and addressing the volume of the space. Before the makeover, the living room was furnished with two normal-size sofas. “We put in appropriately scaled furniture,” McManamon says.

He used a pair of 10-foot sofas and a coffee table measuring 6-and-1/2-feet square. Because of the subtle color palette, the interior is deceptively simple. Behind the scenes, however, the team busily weighed every detail, including the consideration of 100 white fabric samples for upholstering the living-room sofas.
And though there is a rather pale color theme throughout, the small corner library just off the dining area injects a darker, more intimate subplot. “Everyone says, ‘I want a bright, airy house,’ and as soon as you give them a small, dark space, they crawl right in,” McManamon says. Indeed, when asked about her favorite place in the house, Danto cites two smaller spaces. “The library is very cozy and comfortable,” she says. “And the studio/office is a great place to sit and read or be on the computer.”
But when life calls for expansiveness, they’ve got it. “It’s a great house for entertaining,” Danto says. “We had a fundraiser for the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Miami City Ballet, and I think we had 75 people.”
That the home would fit Danto’s dreams like a leotard is no surprise.
Her daughter, Jennifer Danto Shore, worked as a design assistant on the job before moving to the West Coast. Mother and daughter both may be genetically predisposed to seeking beautiful interiors. Danto’s father, Marvin, owns Michigan Design Center, which he built in Troy in the 1970s. Her brother, Jim, manages the center. And her maternal grandparents were Englanders, as in the former metro Detroit furnishings retailer.” I was born into a furniture family,” she says.
The high-profile cast involved in the production of the home also includes the original architect, Victor Saroki, and the late Brian Killian, who was the interior designer for the home’s first owner. That lineage has come full circle. McManamon once worked for Killian, one of the most respected talents in metro Detroit’s recent interior design past.
There’s no shortage of creative talent in the makeover of the home, either. Vogue Furniture of Royal Oak created several of the custom-furniture pieces. Kitchen Studio installed the kitchen. And Environmental Artists created a new landscape that buffers the home from its rather high-profile setting.
In the end, the talented ensemble scored an encore as uplifting as a well-executed grand jeté.