When Royal Oak residents Sarah Barry and her husband, Timothy, were looking for a new home for their family in 2019, they had two things on their list: expansive property and water.
“The minute we pulled up to an old farmhouse on Lake Orion, we got the chills,” Sarah Barry recalls. The house had been on the market for a while because it wasn’t in the best of shape, “but when we stepped foot on the property and took in an old red barn and the water, we went crazy. We knew it’d be perfect for the boys (ages 8, 11, and 13) for running around and playing.”
The landscaping and the barn were the two most prominent selling features for the family. When the couple entered the home, which was built sometime in the 1920s or ’30s, they could see that the current homeowners had been in the throes of renovating many spaces and had taken areas down to the studs. “The work they did was beautiful. I think they were ready to just move on.
“I could envision what the home could be,” says Sarah, an interior designer who launched Inspired Spaces by Sarah in 2019. Once moved in, she and Timothy started work on the kitchen, primary bath, and laundry room simultaneously.
The couple contracted out the work themselves. “That was scary,” Sarah says, but Timothy, who is the CEO of Troy-based LitFinancial, told her, “You’re an interior decorator, and you can do this!” The couple hired a neighbor/carpenter to assist with the renovation.
Today, the Barry family (and, often, friends) enjoys meals in a beautifully renovated kitchen and dining space. An inviting laundry room brightens wash days, and an updated master bath adds calm to the parents’ busy days. Meanwhile, Timothy has created a makeshift hangout space in the three-story barn. There’s still lots of work to be done, Sarah says, but she’s taking it one step at a time.
Here, the designer shares her perspectives on the renovations done thus far. “I wanted our home to be earthy and to bring the outside in, creating comfort and warmth. This was the first time my sons could see firsthand what I do, besides be a mom,” she adds. “Their reaction was like, ‘Wow, Mom, you did this?’
Set on stone
“I really wanted to have some sort of stone or brick in the kitchen.” The Barrys ended up selecting real stone (Stonecraft Heritage). “It’s super heavy, so we had to add extra support in the basement.” The dark natural-wood flooring with wide planks was there when they moved in.
Showstopper
Handmade zellige tile (made in Morocco and purchased from ziatile.com) covers the entire sink and open-shelving wall. “I splurged on that,” Sarah says of the textural, shimmery addition that features creams and grays — along with natural imperfections — but seems to “change in color depending on the light.”
Open to change
“We had so much cabinetry in the kitchen — because it’s so big — that I thought, ‘Let’s create open shelving to eliminate some of that cabinetry.’” Atop those shelves, which are made from old barnwood Sarah discovered at Reclaimed Michigan in Waterford, are the family’s everyday dishes.
Life cycle
Sarah’s been told the laundry room was once the home’s front porch. It was half-remodeled when her family moved in, and Sarah had the washer and dryer moved to a different wall to maximize space for a counter/folding area and large sink and to allow room for a bench. Brick flooring creates a vintage feel. (Sarah found the bricks online.) Pine shiplap adorns all the walls, while the cabinetry’s blue-green shade provides an updated farmhouse look and adds a hint of color to offset the space’s neutral tones.
Barn yarn
The items in the barn, like old lanterns and sleds, were left behind by previous owners over time and add to the story of the historical property.
Fired up
The Barrys wanted to retain the brick from the now-gone original fireplace, so it’s still evident in the kitchen and reaches up through the home into one of the sons’ rooms.
History lesson
The Barrys had the opportunity to meet a woman (Patsy Ewald Langdon) who was born and grew up in the home. “She shared beautiful stories, including how her husband proposed to her [there],” Sarah says. “It was once part of a farm spanning several acres, and keeping that history alive has been an important part of my design process.”
Pining for beauty
The former attic space and now bedroom of the oldest son was complete upon move-in. It has pine walls from floor to ceiling while the old fireplace’s exterior brick runs from the floor to the ceiling. “We kept the brick exposed to add more rustic charm,” Sarah says. The adjoining bathroom echoes a plaid motif found in the bedroom. The bathroom mirror features a porthole look.
Flooring finery
The primary bath’s tile floors and a distressed wood vanity “give it that farmhouse/rustic feel,” Sarah says. The porcelain tile, from the Pacific Tile Collection, makes the space feel more expansive. For the shower floor, Sarah opted for round pebble stones to introduce a natural element.
This story originally appeared in the February 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on Feb. 10.
|
|
|
