Outside Erik and Tami Lepley’s kitchen window, 50 shaggy Scottish Highland cattle roam 80 acres dotted with ponds and trees blazing with autumn color. It’s the same view the couple enjoys from the living room and the master bedroom. The entire western Michigan farmhouse, in fact, is oriented to let the Lepleys keep watch over their herd and land. Six years ago, the outlook wasn’t so idyllic. After a fire reduced their beloved century-old farmhouse to smoldering ash, the empty nesters moved to a nearby apartment. Slowly, they formed a plan for their new abode on the same property, building the best of a classic farmhouse while eliminating the shortcomings.
To create a layout suitable for a working farm, architect Robert Sears in Grand Rapids, Michigan, drew inspiration from the hundreds of magazine pages Tami compiled. A metal-roofed breezeway connects the house to a heated garage that accommodates the couple’s office, a dog/boot wash station, and hooks for coveralls. After a day working fields of soybeans, corn, or alfalfa, Erik and Tami can walk in the home’s side door and go straight down to the basement to clean up in the guest bathroom. “It keeps the dust and dirt out of the main living areas,” Tami says.
The floor plan also better reflects modern living. “Old farmhouses were typically cut up into a bunch of small rooms: a kitchen, a dining room, a parlor,” Tami says. “We wanted a modern farmhouse that’s open and airy.” The kitchen, dining area, and living area form one big great room on the 1,126-square-foot main floor. A traditional farmhouse kitchen, bolstered with a marble-top 5×8-foot island, provides plenty of prep and party space. Two square tables pushed together seat six in the connected dining area; two more stored in the barn expand seating to 16-helpful for when the Lepleys’ two college-age kids and other family visit. French doors in the adjacent living room open to a large terrace with outdoor seating. “We love the flow of the house,” Tami says.