This “House-Within-a-House” Plays With Sculptural Forms and Colorful Concrete Tile

A lakeside home in Michigan gets a touch of surf culture with Concrete Collaborative Strands tiles.

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Mandi Keighran

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Concrete Collaborative

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Partner Story

This home tour is presented by Concrete Collaborative, who partnered with Dwell to create Strands, a California-inspired collection of floor and wall tiles.

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When Boston-based couple Matt Saiia and Sarah Shrimplin made the decision to build a family lake house on the shores of Michigan’s Crooked Lake, they wanted to create a home that would eventually become their primary residence and reflected their combined sensibilities.

"The home draws on Danish minimalism, environmental and conceptual sculpture, and our shared appreciation for the divine beauty all around us," says Matt. "Most importantly, we wanted to create a ‘seven-generation home’ that was built to last and worthy of our very best creative effort."

The 3,900-square-foot lakeside home for homeowners Matt and Sarah and their two daughters features four bedrooms, four-and-a-half baths, and was designed by Liz Hoekzema at KLH Custom Homes. "Sarah and I met Liz and Kevin through mutual friends," recalls homeowner Matt Saiia. "Over the years we became friends and admirers of their work—Liz embodies a special aesthetic sensibility and Kevin is passionate about building amazing spaces."

They approached Liz and Kevin Hoekzema, founders of KLH Custom Homes, who they had met several years previously through mutual friends, to bring their vision to life. "Matt and Sarah are such unique individuals," recalls Liz. "We laughed at the first meeting about how opposite some of their tendencies are and how to incorporate those disparate elements."

Matt and Sarah have family and several friends already living on the lake, so they wanted to create a home that could be opened up to loved ones but that also felt like a retreat. As a result of this approach, some outdoor spaces are sheltered within the built form.

Clients Matt and Sarah had three early design principles. "We wanted to embrace the land and relationship between sky, woods, shoreline, and water; balance a sense of openness with cozy space; and minimize the energy and resources required to care for the property over multiple generations," says Matt.

The result is a concept of two houses, expressed in two distinct ways. The house itself appears to be two houses built side by side, with a rooftop deck in between and full banks of windows on the east and west faces; and the insertion of an archetypal "inner" house within the main "outer" house. "It flips the script of hallways always being on the interior of a house," explains Liz. "In our design, the halls are on the perimeter, providing light tunnels, while the utilitarian spaces are clustered inside the ‘inner’ house."

The home is situated on the shores of Crooked Lake, a highly sought-after location. With neighbors on both sides, it was essential to design for privacy whilst still embracing the lake and tree views. "There had been no previous home on this land, so we had the responsibility to honor what was there and make the most of the views," says architect Liz Hoekzema.

"The house-within-a-house concept was extremely challenging as there were no interior floor-to-ceiling walls to conceal pipes and ductwork in," says architect Liz Hoekzema. "But the visual of white against wood is so crisp and contrasting and the views of the surrounding water and trees are so beautiful."

Each bedroom is simply furnished with a bed and nightstands and features a lake view. The cloud-like pendant lighting—visible here in the shadow—is used to anchor the voluminous spaces.

Throughout the home, natural materials that will gracefully patinate over time have been chosen to give the interior a rich tactility that balances the minimalist lines—think waxed white oak joinery, cedar cladding, and sumptuous leather furnishings.

The main living areas feature windows designed to considerately frame the surrounding views. "The home continues to surprise us," says client, Matt. "I definitely love how easy it is to relax in the home and to still feel connected to the changing environment outside."

The richly tactile material palette is one of the homeowners’ favorite elements. "Our home is filled with beautiful tile, soft textured fabrics, chrome fixtures, and the main volumes are wrapped—floor, wall and ceiling—in waxed white oak," says client, Matt.

This sensitive approach to materiality is perhaps most notably celebrated in the bathrooms belonging to Matt and Sarah’s daughters, which have been clad in colorful Concrete Collaborative Strands tiles. The design by architect Chris Deam is a collaboration between Concrete Collaborative and Dwell that takes inspiration from Californian surf culture.

The girls’ bathrooms on the lower level of the home feature tiles from the Concrete Collaborative Strand collection. One bathroom features a Dove and Powder Blue colorway, and the other an Ivory and Tumi colorway.

"We have worked with Concrete Collaborative for a few years now and have always loved their fresh way of embracing and elevating a raw material," says architect Liz Hoekzema.

"Our client wasn't concerned with doing things because they are normal or accepted," says Liz. "We were led by the look—the artful, random patterning and the ability to customize the colors to suit each daughter’s preferences. We love that the tiles are indicative of the colors and movement of water and sky."

The pattern is inlaid into each concrete tile using pigmented clay in a process known as "encaustic" patterning. This creates a durable surface ideal for bathroom floors, kitchen backsplashes, and courtyards.

Key to developing the material palette was the question of longevity and quality—after all, the clients had the ambitious dream to craft a home that would last at least seven generations. The Concrete Collaborative Strands collection fits this bill precisely. A modern take on traditional cement tiles, they use cutting edge technology to create clean, crisp patterns and the tiles are engineered for use in wet areas and high-traffic spaces.

The smooth, clean lines of the Strands tiles take inspiration from surfboard shapes. The tiles can be combined to create endless combinations of alternating patterns.

The bold patterns and colors of the tiles are contrasted with the striped back, monochrome palette in the primary ensuite. Elsewhere in the home, however, this playfulness is picked up again—from the vibrant furnishings to the dramatically sculptural kitchen island.

The master ensuite is nestled into the pitched roof form of the "inner house", a feature which is emphasized through the contrast of the white tiles and black structural elements.

Although the master ensuite is much more restrained in their color palette than the girls’ bathrooms on the lower level, the bathrooms all share the same round lighting forms, creating a sense of continuity throughout the home.

The playful geometric forms were inspired by nature. The open-ended, half-moon island at the heart of the home, for example, draws on the lines created by rays of light and the movement of light on water. This allows clients Matt and Sarah to prepare and serve up to 10 guests diner style. "It transforms cooking and eating into collectly shared experience where everyone can see and interact with each other," explains Matt.

The home is a study in careful balance. In more architecturally expressive areas, the furnishings are subtle and discreet. In more minimalist areas, like the acoustically engineered "listening den," colorful, sculptural furniture boldly punctuates the space.

"We went against the grain with many details of this project—some more noticeable than others," says Liz. "It took the collective brainpower of our team, and working closely with Matt and Sarah to pull it off, but it was so worth it."