Artist in Residence: Laurie Eisenhardt’s Renovated Home Showcases Her Heartfelt Creations

You are where you live. At least, that’s the case for Laurie Eisenhardt. The Royal Oak home of this soulful artist is etched with warmth, quirkiness, creative accents and lots of color. 

And that’s exactly Eisenhardt, who looks at the world through a colorful lens that focuses on pet cats, cozy cups of tea, storied furniture and treasured parties.

Her home-décor imagination takes flight in little ceramic faces with tiny grins that peer from tile backsplashes, an insightful saying about luck that adorns a windowsill and splashing fish in a clear bowl (and a large, sculptural fish that hangs from the ceiling), among other things.

These charming accents wend their way through Eisenhardt’s home, creating interest and intrigue in just about every nook and cranny.

Outdoors, a twisting path leads from her back door to a detached art studio where Eisenhardt, 50, and her assistant create tiles for homes across the nation. She also designs and creates platters, wall pockets, sculpture and more. 

“I make no distinction between my artwork and my life,” she said.  “My narrative is frequently part of the clay, with themes of protection, vulnerability and metamorphosis depicted in the folk tale style of storytelling.”

American Foursquares in Royal Oak

Eisenhardt’s circa-1915 home didn’t always look like it does today. About four years ago,  Eisenhardt, who grew up in Mount Clemens and graduated from the College for Creative Studies, and her husband, Richard Doyle, decided to renovate their first floor by removing walls and expanding the kitchen, dining room and living space, adding a full bathroom, two sets of French doors and an inviting deck. 

“We actually took down the whole back end and side of the house,” recalled Eisenhardt. The entire overhaul took about six months and included “many days of cooking with a toaster oven,” she said with a laugh. 

The home’s style is considered American Foursquare. Also called the Prairie Box, the Foursquare is a post-Victorian design that shares many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright. The boxy shape provided roomy interiors for homes on small city lots, including many in and around downtown Royal Oak.

“The city doesn’t really know when our home was built. I’ve heard 1911 or 1916,” Eisenhardt explained. “Records were shaky back then, and it was neighbors who would provide information, like 'Oh yes, the so-and-so home, that was built in … ' ” 

The couple’s renovation goal was simple: create more room, which meant an opportunity to showcase even more art and tile work than before.

“We wanted more space, more light, more storage and a first-floor bathroom, which these homes typically don’t have,” Eisenhardt said. “Our kitchen was updated in the 1970s, and it was literally falling apart.” 

Eisenhardt and Doyle commissioned a cabinetmaker in Oak Park to do a lot of the cupboards and cabinetry.

“While they were being built, I’d shop for hardware from catalogs, and then eventually, I painted each cupboard yellow.”      

Eisenhardt’s tile work punctuates kitchen walls and backsplashes. “I like living among color,” she said, looking at tile colors that echo the shades of cinnamon, mustard, sage, avocados and blueberries. 

The artist selected yellow for wall paint. “There’s something really emotional about yellow; the color is happy,” she said. “And I love the intensity of a mustardy yellow.” Imbued with bright green paint as well, and with a collection of multicolored chairs around the table, the space is a veritable palette of happiness for the couple and their college-age son, Sam.

“When I needed to pick the colors, I went outside,” Eisenhardt recalled. “It was fall, so I brought leaves in and used the colors from them." Her deep interest and love of the natural world manifests itself in her work and in her home. 

Each of the couple’s pieces has a story behind them. Take, for example, a side table in the kitchen. It comes from a company in Elk Rapids, but the couple discovered it in Saline and were intrigued with the many drawers and their painted-on words — such as “trowels,” “hammers,” “shoe nails” and “paint brushes.”

As for the kitchen’s floor, it’s made of cork. “Not only did I find it aesthetically pleasing,” Eisenhardt said, “but I also discovered it’s a sustainable product. I really love it.”

Doyle, a professional photographer with a studio in Ferndale, was all about installing two sinks during the renovation.

“We entertain, and it’s great when I can be working out of one sink and Richard can be prepping meats and things out of the other sink,” Eisenhardt said.

Added Doyle: “I really like stainless steel, it’s what I was used to from being in photography darkrooms,” he said. His company is called Richard M. Doyle photography, doyledigitalphoto.com, whose clients include car companies, credit unions, eyeglass companies, television stations and more.

Eisenhardt joked that she and her husband used to fight over the use of the one sink during prerenovation days. 

One thing’s for certain, there are no kitchen disagreements these days. 

When they look out the window above the stove, Eisenhardt and Doyle are constantly reminded of how lucky they feel, thanks to one of Eisenhardt’s ceramic works that graces the inside of the window. It’s inscribed with these words: “Wake up! You are under the lucky star now.”

To commission tiles by Laurie Eisenhardt (laurieeisenhardt.com), contact her at 248-544-1006 or laurie@laurieeisenhardt.com. Currently, she is working on a new line of 4-inch tiles with animal themes and decorative borders that are intended for installation and individual sales. An open house April 30-May 1 at her studio will feature a spring/Mother’s Day theme. Eisenhardt also will be showcasing and selling her tile May 14-15 at Art Birmingham in Shain Park, 200 W. Merrill St., Birmingham, MI 48009.

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