By barbara stodola PHOTOS By MARTA GARCIA

From the April 2007 Issue

Lake Magazine covers the hottest information on the Lake Michigan area.

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The house is a showcase for Steven’s woodworking skills, as well as the heirlooms from Nancy’s cattle-ranching family. “Nancy’s family never threw anything away,” Steven says. Indeed, her Kansas City grandmother saved the Gibson Girl prints from Collier’s magazine and now, smartly framed, they march up the Vargas stairway. Her Texas grandfather traded cattle for a tapestry-covered chair near their fireplace, an American Rococo piece he acquired from Wild Bill Cody’s ranch. Six of Nancy’s maiden aunts were missionaries, and their souvenirs range from an embroidered Chinese robe to the silk shoes that Japanese women used for wrapping children’s feet.

“We planned this house around Nancy’s collections,” Steven says. “The footprint of the extension was determined by the size of her Chinese rugs. We wanted an open area for entertaining, and the views from every room had to encompass gardens.” Nancy was an engineer with a yen for gardening, and she wanted a place where she could expand her landscape design business, Nancy Gardens.

Their previous home was in Chicago – a penthouse condo carved out of the Commodore Hotel ballroom. They bought the Michiana cabin from Nancy’s stockbroker friend, as a weekend place. Steven recalls, “At first we were coming out here on Sundays. Then it was Saturdays and Sundays, and pretty soon Fridays. Then we spent the whole summer. Finally I told Nancy, ‘We’re spending more time at the cabin than in the ballroom.’”

The cabin they’d grown to love was one of the original log-sided cottages built in the 1920s, in a forested development known as Michiana, straddling the Indiana-Michigan state line. It became a favorite vacation spot for Chicago schoolteachers. How to enlarge their tiny, 850-square-foot cottage without disrupting the vegetation was a crucial decision for Steven and Nancy. One winter they set chairs out in the snow and sat there, observing the views that could be captured in all directions, from the rooms they envisioned. They drew plans on graph paper, revising them at least 50 times.

When it came time to build, Steven realized he would have to take time off work to supervise the construction, which expanded the house to a little more than 3,000 square feet. That “time off” lasted 18 months, and during that period Steven’s woodworking skills flourished. He developed a technique for staining and waxing the wood beams, so they provide a seamless transition between old and new

construction. He haunted antique shops and salvage yards, finding 19th-century doors and windows that had been painted over, and incorporating them into the new structure.

“Steven designed the kitchen,” Nancy says. “He loves to cook, and we both love to entertain, so the kitchen had to be open to the living and dining rooms.” But they hit a snag when it came to kitchen cabinets. “The new kitchens were all very cookie-cutter. I hate the look of appliances. We wanted our kitchen to look old, but the antique finishes and distressed finishes weren’t the answer.”

Thus began the search for antique kitchen furniture that could be adapted to modern uses. The first piece they found was a French butcher block, almost seven feet in length. Next came an English sideboard, which they turned into a granite-topped cooking island. In answer to the question “Where do we put the dishes?” they invested in a marvelous French bibliotheque, which handsomely accommodates Nancy’s collection of Steuben glass horses, porcelain soup tureens and assorted dinnerware.

“My favorite kitchen piece is the American ice chest,” Steven says. “It dates from the 1850s. We removed all the aluminum. These are the original doors, but we took them off and turned them sideways. Then a local carpenter fitted in the refrigerated drawers, using the original material. So this piece is used as it was intended, 150 years ago.” Around the corner is an Irish food cabinet, also used for its original purpose – storing canned goods. The kitchen is fully equipped with modern appliances, but clever positioning and custom-made wood paneling keep them hidden from view. Nancy selected the color for the kitchen walls – “Purple Fig,” she says, “a color that everybody remembers.”

Now settled in Michiana, Steven commutes to his automotive business in a western Chicago suburb, and Nancy keeps up with clients’ gardens and her own, which extends over three lots. “I keep maintenance to a minimum,” she says. “Here at the tip of the lake, hydrangeas and rhododendrons are just amazing. Out front we have 75-year-old Norwegian spruce trees. I don’t bother them.”

“You can’t be surrounded by so much history,” Steven muses, “without having it get to you. We respect the spirit of this place.”

And because the house is filled with memorabilia of life on the ranch, Nancy – keeping up the family traditions – brought home a white porcelain pig and set it smack on the dining room table. She laughed as she explained, “We needed that little bit of livestock.”