Show House showcases designs of the times

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — Whether you want to redo a room or your entire home, you’ll find plenty of inspiration at the Junior League of Detroit’s 24th Designers’ Show House.

Located at 205 Lake Shore Road in Grosse Pointe Farms, the 5,985-square-foot manor-style home and its half-acre property have been reenvisioned by some of the region’s top interior designers and landscape architects. A ticketed preview gala will take place from 5 to 11 p.m. Sept. 17. The Show House will be open for regular tours Sept. 18 to Oct. 2, and the outdoor space can be rented for private functions.

Known as the House on the Hill because of its elevation, the structure was built in 1988 and features five spacious bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms. It also overlooks Lake St. Clair.

Held every other year, the Show House is the primary fundraiser for the nonprofit JLD, which supplies grants to other nonprofits, gives scholarships to women and undertakes projects in the community.

“(Come) to be inspired by the designers, but also to give back to your community,” JLD President Kimberly Burke said. “We appreciate the community’s support.”

Loretta Crenshaw, of Detroit-based Crenshaw & Associates, who was selected to design the dining room, has dubbed her space “Divine Dining.” Crenshaw is using a color palette of black, white and yellow, with touches of metallics; she sees this as a place for an “intimate evening with friends.”

“The intent is to layer with very fine furniture,” said Crenshaw, who also has antiques on display. This marks her seventh JLD Show House.

Paige Loperfido, of Grosse Pointe Farms-based Décor & More Designs, brings elements of the outside into a guest bedroom that she’s calling “The Secret Garden,” with pops of bright green and with pale blue wallpaper covered in images of butterflies, birds, wildflowers and vines.

“It’s kind of like an ode to a Southern bed and breakfast,” Loperfido said.

For the primary bedroom, Wanda Brown, of Detroit-based Wanda Brown Interior Designs, has envisioned the occupants as a couple who “travel all over the world for work and pleasure, and they stay at the nicest hotels and resorts.” She said she wanted the room — the “World Travelers’ Peaceful Retreat” — to reflect quiet luxury and international influences.

A different destination is evident in the “Hampton-Inspired Retreat Room” by Haley Kiarash, of Bingham Farms-based Kia Interior Design LLC. With beach-inspired accents and pops of coral, turquoise and gray, and cushy wool swivel chairs that feel like a favorite sweater, it’s a playful and peaceful space.

Proving that elegant design doesn’t have to break the bank, Kiarash’s room features an Ikea desk that she upgraded with two shades of chalkboard paint and transferred lettering from a historic document.

“It doesn’t look like (it’s from) Ikea anymore,” Kiarash said with a laugh.

Benjamin Moore Paint is one of this year’s sponsors, and its 2022 Color of the Year — a light, silvery sage green called October Mist — is serving as something of a design anchor, showing up not only on walls, but also on accents. Although the designers all work individually, Gabriela Boddy said gold and charcoal gray also seem to be recurrent color trends in many of the rooms, giving the house unity and flow. Boddy, of Grosse Pointe City, is one of the general co-chairs for this year’s Show House, joined by Sheila Minetola, of Grosse Pointe Park, and Dianne Bostic Robinson, of Detroit.

“I think there’s metal in most of (the rooms),” Boddy said. “I think everybody’s trying to merge what’s in vogue with traditional pieces.”

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, designers are currently overwhelmed as homeowners undertake renovations that they’ve been putting off for the last couple of years. That, coupled with the expense to the JLD of renovating a historical home for modern living, led the nonprofit to choose a newer home for the 2022 Show House.

“We wanted to find a house that was ready to be decorated,” Boddy said.

It’s also more practical for average homeowners to replicate some of the color and design schemes.

“It really helps to show what you can do in your personal space,” Burke said.

“Because not everybody has a mansion,” Bostic Robinson quipped.

In addition to tours, there will be two special events at the Show House — a metro Detroit history program from 5 to 8 p.m. Sept. 21 and a jazz concert by Ben Sharkey from 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 30.

“It’s an opportunity to get so much more than just a tour,” Bostic Robinson said.

Show House visitors will be able to purchase food and beverages on-site and eat them by the pool or under a tent facing the lake. In addition, the garage is being converted into a boutique where shoppers will be able to find home goods, jewelry, accessories, gifts for pets and babies, and jelly from Grosse Pointe Academy.

Attendees can take advantage of a limited number of coned-off parking spaces on Lake Shore, or they can use the nearby Grosse Pointe Academy parking lot. The St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church parking lot is also available but only on weekdays.

Tickets can be purchased at the door, but tickets purchased before the Show House opens are discounted. For advance tickets or more information, visit www.jldetroit.org/fundraiser/designers-show-house or call (313) 881-0040.