Six homes will be featured on this year’s SCAMP Home Tour, one of which is the newly purchased house of Emily Ford and Patrick Fitzgerald, located on E. Washington Street.
The home tour is Saturday, June 4, and Sunday, June 5. The tour weekend begins Saturday with the Patrons’ Evening, which includes a tour of all the homes followed by a Patrons’ Night Event at Oakhurst Golf & Country Club. The Patrons’ event also includes beer and wine, strolling dinner and an auction.
Ford and Fitzgerald featured their previous home, located on Robertson Court on last year’s tour and Ford decided to do it again this year.
“I thought a lot of people would want to see this house because it’s at a dead-end, so a lot of people don’t even know about it,” Ford said. “In December I e-mailed Heather Roeser (a SCAMP board member), letting her know we would do the tour again. I wanted to plant the seed because I know they can have a hard time finding people. I just think it’s a nice thing to do.”
Ford and Fitzgerald actually got their new home through a house-swap with the previous owners Rich and Vickie Little. Ford said the swap came about because of her mom, Pam Ford Morgan, a realtor with Morgan & Milzow. Ford said her mom is always trying to broker a deal to sell Ford and Fitzgerald’s house.
“She would always come across people that she thought she could sell our house to. I said ‘Mom, we’re not going to move until we find something,’” Ford explained. “So last year she was like ‘well, the Little’s think your house would be a good fit for them.’”
When Ford-Morgan suggested to Ford that she and Fitzgerald check out the Little’s home, Ford was hesitant at first and admitted she really didn’t like the home at the time.
“I hadn’t been inside of it, but I didn’t like it was vinyl blue (siding) and Victorian style, which is really not my style,” Ford explained. “I dragged my husband here, who wasn’t really excited to look at it either. We got here and we loved it. We basically worked it all out (to swap).”
One of Ford’s favorite things about the home is its location. They are now located in Independence Township.
“We’re the first house outside the (City of) the Village (of Clarkston),” she said. “I like being in the township to be honest with you. It’s cool, but we’re still so close to town.”
Ford is also excited to be located on Parke Lake, which she grew up.
“My mom lives on Main Street so I always wanted to live in Park Lake,” she explained. “I was kind of holding out because I thought she might want to sell her house to us, but she’s not ready to, so here we are.”
Even though the house was built in the late 1980s, Ford said it has the old house feel.
“It’s modeled like an old Victorian floor plan, so when people come in they’re like ‘is this an older house?’ It has character, but it’s not too old of a home.”
Living at the end of the street with a backyard leading out to the lake and cattails on both sides of the pathway, Ford said they’ve seen some wildlife.
“We did have a couple foxes, but I think maybe one or both of them have passed because we haven’t seen them in awhile,” she said. “I got a couple of pictures of them. They would go from one side of the cattails to the other either early in the morning or late at night. It was really cool.”
As far as the house itself, Ford noted they haven’t done a whole of changes to the home outside of cosmetics, such as painting, new flooring and new light fixtures.
With the dining room previously in red and the living and family room in green, Ford decided to go with a light blue.
“Kevin Harrison of Harrison’s Home and some of his designers helped us pick some paint colors,” she said. “I like the blue because we’re on a lake and there are a lot of windows.”
The furniture she said is a mix of what they previously owned and new furniture they bought from Harrison’s.
“We did bring a fair amount of furniture from our other house,” she said. “We’re trying to work them in with the new furniture we bought.”
Upstairs contains a master bedroom with a master bath with a sunroom porch located off the bedroom. It is complete with a sofa to sit on with a cup of morning coffee or two, old fashion desks for both her and her husband.
“I like this room,” Ford added. “It’s a cool when we wake up we can see the lake.”
Upstairs also has two guest bedrooms which have an adjoining bathroom.
“The floor plan has really grown on me,” she said. “It’s traditional with how it’s set up, but it’s kind of cool.”
As far as any additional changes to be made to the house, Ford said besides some of the cosmetic changes they’ve made, she doesn’t really have any plans to do anything else.
“The (previous) homeowners really kept it in such nice condition, which was nice. They were avid gardeners, which we’re not. I didn’t like the walkway so we’re currently having a new walkway put in.”
Ford said she and her husband can’t wait to enjoy the lake with their new boat. And as far as helping SCAMP out, she’s just happy to help.
“As a teenager I volunteered for SCAMP. It’s such a great program and I love the concept of the home tour,” she said. “I think it’s just a nice event and happy to be in it again.”
For more information or to register for the home tour visit www.clarkstonscamp.com or call 248-623-8089.