People make the home and a home should be about you. For me that’s it! It’s a very simple concept to say out loud but acting upon it can be difficult – too many non essential things get in the way.  But not for Jackie and Brent Hegwood. They know exactly how they want to live and what interests them and that’s how they remodeled the inside of their stunningly beautiful lake home in Wisconsin; my kind of place.

Jackie has a wonderful personality and with a smile on her face all day long and her husband Brent is a fascinating person and an avid art collector. Brent is a sponge for knowledge that comes to life when telling you the history behind a sculpture or an artifact or when he tells the story on how Indians use wild flowers to make dye for their blankets and then shows you the framed flowers below an actual Indian blanket that hangs on the wall. It takes about two or three minutes to know and really like both of them and you can tell that they love to entertain family and friends. I was complete stranger who asked a lot of questions and never felt more welcome.

Brent and Jackie have a keen interest in Southwestern art and the Anasazi American Indians that turned their home into a magical place filled with history, spirit and soul.  This home has soul unlike any other I’ve photographed.  Every little nook and cranny has an interesting history and story begging to be told and I really didn’t want to leave. I wanted to learn about everything.  Even the napkin holders are carved wooden dragon flies and because this house isn’t that big I was afraid I would only be here for a short period of time and miss something. ‘Where did this come from, . . .’ or ‘who is that striking Indian girl in the photograph from 1950?’ “What is that amazing mask attached to the front of the fireplace?” Like I said, my kind of place and I wanted to capture everything this home had to offer.

Many things will grab your attention here and Terri Schmidt saw the vision of the finished product and offered up a masterpiece. I received the before pictures from Brent and from the looks of it, the scale and scope of this project took on a life of it’s own. Wow! Dream Kitchens have never put on a before and after show like this and when I compare the images side by side I’m stunned. How do they do that?  (Stay tuned as the images will be on the home page and in the showcase gallery.)

The kitchen remodel is incredible and the walls that came down to open up the space made me wonder what the person was thinking when they built the house. I suppose that happens all the time with remodels especially when you see the finished product first but it’s still fun to see how it looked in the beginning.

What’s interesting is when you take a closer look at the island in the kitchen with the Bordeaux Cream granite top you can see bright shades of pink that dramatically stand out against the dark brown Knotty Alder cabinets and the turquoise base cabinets the granite sits on. Take even a closer look and you can see pink and turquoise in the woodcarvings and blankets throughout the home. How they tied all that together is beautiful and insightful. The copper and textured painted hood vent is a powerful addition to the room completing the earth tone feel of the entire home and the hood vent is visible from every room on the main floor so making it standout like that was smart. The chairs around the island are made from old refurbished barn wood and on the back slat there are what look like hand carved pine trees. The dinning room table and the gathering table in the living room are also from refurbished barn wood and the craftsmanship is remarkable.

The entire home is perfect and I haven’t even mentioned the outside with intimate and multiple level decks, patios, pergolas, a stone fireplace, and a dozen or so bird feeders all on a hill with a beautiful lake about one hundred feet below. The back of the house is largely glass and the spectacular view of the lake and majestic oak trees are the prominent features taken into consideration when designing the entire first floor. Once again, my kind of place, . . !

After taking about 250 pictures it was time to leave and Jackie shakes my hand and invites my wife and me over for dinner and is all excited about it. Of course she is and I can hardly wait to come back. Now it’s really my kind of place.

Jim
RPG