HGTV Urban Oasis Home
The front of the home in Waterhill.
In the prestigious Waterhill neighborhood in Ann Arbor, MI rests a green craftsmen home. The 1,500-square-foot, two bedroom and two-and-half bath home is being given away as a part of the 2016 HGTV Urban Oasis Home sweepstakes. The TV channel will be giving the $650,000 home away and taking entries for the sweepstakes starting on Oct. 4 through Nov. 22. This is the seventh home HGTV has done for Urban Oasis to complement their other giveaways, the HGTV Dream Home Giveaway and the HGTV Smart Home Giveaway. These other two giveaways have been two of the most successful promotions in cable TV history.
The Urban Oasis giveaway started as luxury, highrise properties in large U.S. cities like Chicago, Miami and New York City. Starting last year, the project got a new focus on urban communities and remodelling older homes. The new idea took off and the number of giveaway entries doubled from 2014 to 2015. The HGTV team chose Ann Arbor for this year because of the eclectic people and the home’s proximity to downtown and campus.
“I love Ann Arbor, and it just has a great feel to it, especially the Waterhill district, said Scott Branscom, urban project manager for HGTV, “You have older generations, younger generations, college students, just a mixed background of people and you are right around the corner from downtown. The people here have been fantastic to work with. I really have fallen in love with Ann Arbor so I’m really going to hate to see this [house] given away.”
A lot of focus went into making the house ecologically friendly and using sustainable features. Many of these features are found in the backyard, students from the University of Michigan’s landscape architecture program worked on implementing native plants and a raingarden bioswale to make a beautiful and ecological backyard. “[The students] are very sharp, they did some great design work with the original concept plan and ran with it, and added whole layers of sustainability and ecological design to the final project,” said Stan Jones, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Michigan, “The original design focused a lot on pollinators and native plants, some of it got installed, some of it didn’t. The bioswale really transformed this side of the yard, and when those plants grow up, it will really create a very nice outdoor room to compliment this [porch].” The garden also has a herb garden and a chicken coop to emphasize home garden to table sustainability.
The home was designed by local architect Dawn Zuber of Studio Z and renovated by local contract company Maven Development.
An unexpected touch of whimsy is found in the garage doors made by Clopay. These doors are made from a composite as an alternative to wooden garage doors. Not only is this more sustainable, it is also lower maintenance. Through the garage you can access the back porch though another garage style door that is all glass to let light into the cozy space. This nook is ideal for watching football games and entertaining. This also allows for the garage to be opened up for one large entertainment space.
When you enter the house, you open up into a large space that has the living room, dining room for six, and a modern black-and-white kitchen. Back behind the kitchen is a laundry room, powder room and a guest bedroom. In the guest bedroom there is a patterned ceiling, a spectacular view of the backyard and a one of a kind painting of a wolverine. There is a bathroom ensuite with floor to ceiling geometric tiles and innovative shower fixtures. Upstairs is the master suite which includes the bedroom, bathroom, and massive walk-in closet. The bathroom walls are covered in blue, penny stone tile. The space also has a large soak in tub and a shower. The bathroom leads into the large walk-in closet. The bedroom, like the downstairs, has vaulted ceilings and paint is in a relaxing grey green hue.
Starting Oct. 5 you can enter to win the HGTV Urban Oasis home twice a day on HGTV’s website until Nov. 22nd. The TV special will premiere on Oct. 5 at 11 p.m. EST, and will be hosted by Matt Blashaw of DIY Network’s Yard Crashers, and the designer of the home, Brian Patrick Flynn.
Video courtesy of HGTV.
