Shore seekers... Following their hearts and willing to renovate, homeowners are settling on lake living year-round.

By Joy Krause
Of the Journal Sentinel staff
It took Rick Buckley just two words to explain why his family moved from Elm Grove to the shores of Pewaukee Lake two years ago.

"The LAKE," he said with a big grin, stressing that water word, and gazing out of his living room window at sparkling ripples on a sublime day.

"I've always wanted to live on the lake;" said Buckley, who got hooked on sailing as a kid. "Now was the time." Jan Buckley smiled. "This was the dream. This is something he's always wanted to do," she said, referring to her husband.

Summer may be winding down. But for many area residents, the joy of lake living continues year-round. Said Rick Buckley: "With housing values and property taxes so high, it's difficult to have two houses. Living on the lake is convenient, so more people are making the lake home a permanent residence."

The Buckley's, their three children, two dogs and two cats, endured an extensive remodeling and redecorating project that banished them to their basement for six months-where all shared a 700-square-foot room in order to escape the extensive construction upstairs.

The work begin in August 1995 and was completed in June 1996. The house now includes a greatly enlarged kitchen with sizable island, a reconfigured master bedroom suite, a new family room and an attached garage.

Somewhat similarly, Pat and John Muehl moved from Brown Deer to a condo on North Lake because "it started as a dream to live on a lake," Pat said. It also started as a possible business venture; she wanted to open a health spa on a lake, she said.
Although she eventually abandoned that idea, the couple "fell in love with lake country," Pat said, as they drove around in search of the perfect spot.

They bought their unit at Evergreen condominiums in 1988, revamping the kitchen and foyer, expanding the living and dining rooms, adding a master bedroom suite, a powder room, and a walk-in closet with laundry area.

Both couples are part of a boom in redecorating, remodeling or even rebuilding lake properties, say real estate agents who specialize in selling residences on the lakes west of Milwaukee.

"Sixty percent of lake homes are purchased with an eye toward redecorating, remodeling, restoring, or totally demolishing and starting from scratch," said Mary Steinke, vice president of ShoreWEST Realty and sales director of the lake Country office in Oconomowoc.

And 70% of all shoreline houses in the area are now year-round homes, said Steinke, who has been in the real estate business for over 30 years.

Caroline O'Brien, sales agent with the Lake Country office of Prudential Preferred Properties in Delafield, characterized demand for lake residences as "unbelieveable…It's supply and demand. Theire's not enough lake property, and that keeps pushing prices up. Even people from Illinois want to live on our lakes."

O'Brien, who has been an agent for four years, racked up $7.7million in sales last year, which ranked her as No.1 in her office and No.5 in the company. In remodeling and redecorating, both the Buckelys and Muehls make major changes in architectural style while expanding lake views by adding rooms facing the lake, and installing floor-to-ceiling windows and glass doors.

The Buckleys bought a house that had undergone four additions by previous owners. The result was a "hodge-podge," said Jan Buckley and Dick Froze, who planned the remodeling.

There are several different roof lines and window types, as well as inconsistent structural components. Working with Froze, of Froze Design-Build of Milwaukee, the Buckleys introduced uniformity in these areas while putting a Prairie-style stamp on the home. Remodeling was part of the home-buying equation for the Buckleys, even before they found their house.

Rick Buckley, having boated and sailed on Pewaukee Lake with friends for years, had zeroed in on that lake as a home site. At one point he told Jan, "If we can buy a house on Pewaukee Lake, I'll let you do whatever you want to remodel it." Jan, who once worked as a commercial interior designer, never let him forget his promise. "I said, 'what a deal!'" she recalled.

They found the home on Friday afternoon, made an offer early the next week, and called Froze a couple weeks later. For his work on the house, Froze won honorable mention in the National Association of the Remodeling Industries 1996 "Contractors of the Year" competition.

During her first visit, Jan Buckley had an instant vision for remodeling. "I walked into this house, and thought, 'We could make this a pseudo-Prairie style,'" she recalled.

On his first visit, Froze also saw Prairie in the home's future. That was the start of design harmony. "Dick and I were dangerous together," Jan quipped. "We have the same taste."

The Buckleys had an extensive wish list for the house-four full pages of notes. Besides additions and changes in the kitchen, master bedroom suite, family room and garage, they wanted a first-floor laundry room and powder room, a redefined entry, a new deck, an interior stairway to the lower level, and an insulated sunroom.

By moving interior walls, Froze was able to attain these goals while limiting additions in square footage to just three: the garage, some second-floor space, and a lower level room. The couple restored the core of the house, which was built about 65 years ago. They refinished ornate woodwork and flooring, replaced stonework around the original natural fireplace and converted it to a gas-fired unit.

The interior walls were painted to the couple's delight in faux finishes by Phillip Goodson, owner of PGM Decorative Painting of Milwaukee. During about eight weeks of work at the house, Goodson became such a fixture that the Buckleys started calling him "Eldin," after the enduring character on the "Murphy Brown" TV show.

Goodson, who said he enjoyed the Buckley project, even house-sat for a week while the family was away. The home's prairie character extends to the landscaping, planned by Jane Brokaw of Brokaw and Associates of Sussex.. Walkways were laid out to complement the style; Lannon stone steppers and lighting units also enhance the look. Brokaw said her plan was completed by Durham Hill-Nursery, Muskego, and lighting was planned by Luminoptics, of Milwaukee.

Asked what each liked best about the house, Jan Buckley said: "I just love the comfort and the view." Rick said, characteristically, "It's on the water."
Pat Muehl, whose North Lake remodeling project included skylights and lots of full-story windows and doors, described her favorite aspect of the redesign: "We brought the outside in." The remodeling was completed by designer and builder Randy Shade of Ashippun.

The Muehls also wanted their condo to have a much more contemporary interior, using neutral colors to create a warm, enveloping feeling. Their four sons are all grown and gone, but their only granddaughter, Brittany, 8, already has visited from her home in Seattle.

Working from the start with registered interior designer Pat Rierson, of Pat Rierson Interiors, Elm Grove, the Muehls decided to replace dark brown woodwork and cabinetry, and dark brown glazed tile on the floors and hearth.

Now the woodwork, flooring and wall coverings are in champagne tones, and the marble on the hearth and fireplace surround in the living room is a creamy alabaster. They also added a spectacular expanse (18 feet) of light bronze mirrors on two adjacent walls in the dining room.

As she does with all clients, Rierson first asked the Muehls to analyze their wishes, deciding which aspects of their interior fit the following categories: "define keeps or givens," "re-do," "make-do," "eliminate," "move elsewhere" and "give away."

Their responses became the backbone of the redecorating plan. In the kitchen, dark brown glazed quarry tile, dark oak cabinetry gave way to natural maple cabinets made by Fleischmann Custom Woodwork and Remodeling of Butler, a cream-colored counter top was installed in solid surfacing materials, and fluorescent lights were replaced by halogen lighting and a skylight.

In addition, the refrigerator was recessed into a wall (the back end now sits in the garage), in creasing the usable floor space.

Also, a row of cabinets-the lower part of a wall between the kitchen and foyer-was removed to provide more light and the illusion of more space in both areas. "The entry used to be narrow and confining-I hated that, " Pat Muehl said. Wooden doors on the remaining upper row of. cabinets were replaced by glass doors on both sides, and were illuminated.

The living room was enlarged by eight feet, to include a third set of sliding glass patio doors that provide enhanced views and address to a new, enlarged deck. Formerly, Pat Muehl said, "The deck was the size of a postage stamp."

At Rierson's suggestion, a laminate china cabinet in the ding room was reconfigured to create a headboard and shelving wall in the new master bedroom suite. The light, airy room has a wall of windows overlooking the lake and grounds. The spa tub is the focal point of the generous master. "Because we're athletic, the whirlpool tub makes sense," Pat Muehl said. Their favorite hobby is bicycling.

Despite their condo purchase, the Muehls originally had their hearts set on buying a single-family house on the lake. John Muehl especially wanted a yard he could keep. But they discovered, Pat said, "there's very little available on the lake-unless you know somebody." Living in the area might help them do just that, they thought. So they became condo owners.

But over time, they began to enjoy the freedom of condo living, realizing that lack of outdoor maintenance gave them more time for biking. Then John got involved in the condominium association and eventually took charge of the landscaping, which he enjoys.

And so the house search ended and remodeling began. Could a dream home still lure them away from the condo?

"In my heart of hearts, it ain't gonna happen," quipped Pat Muehl.