Entire home
Smittys GA "Right In The Middle Of It All"
Lakefront holiday home with fitness centre and Hot tub
Photo gallery for Smittys GA "Right In The Middle Of It All"





Reviews
10 out of 10
Exceptional
6 bedrooms 4 bathrooms Sleeps 14 4000 sq ft
Popular amenities
Explore the area

Glen Arbor, MI
- Place, Glen Lake3 min walk
- Place, Crystal River4 min drive
- Place, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore14 min drive
- Airport, Traverse City, MI (TVC-Cherry Capital)52 min drive
Rooms & beds
6 bedrooms (sleeps 14)
Bedroom 2
1 Queen Bed
Bedroom 3
2 Single Beds
Bedroom 4
1 Queen Bed
Bedroom 5
1 King Bed
Bedroom 6
1 Queen Bed
Guest apartment open living area
1 Double Futon
Master Suite
1 King Bed
4 bathrooms
Bathroom 1
Toilet · Shower only
Bathroom 2
Toilet · Shower only
Bathroom 3
Toilet · Shower only
Bathroom 4
Toilet · Shower only
Spaces
Deck or patio
Porch or lanai
Kitchen
Separate dining area
Garden
Dining area
About this property
Smittys GA "Right In The Middle Of It All"
Smittys GA is a unique home situated on a very private seven acre partially wooded site, surrounded by flower gardens, featuring neo-classical inspired architectural elements uncommon to the area.
The main home features 3 bedrooms (2K,1Q), 2 loft bedrooms (1Q, 2T), 3 bathrooms, 2 spacious living rooms with 20' ceilings , an exercise room complete with a flat screen TV, stereo, universal weight machine, Precor elliptical glider and yes a ceiling fan. The home also features a screened in, fully finished, heated (hopefully not needed but there if it is) 3 stall garage with an all-weather ping pong table which can safely be taken outdoors, Tournament Foosball table (indoor only), stereo and also a lighted, marked, outdoor (driveway) 1/2 court basketball court also with stereo.
Inside the home the dining room opens to the formal living room (living room one) which runs the length of the house from Northern to Southern exposures. To the North the living room opens through double doors onto an airy enclosed screened porch featuring a 20' ceiling. The screened porch in turn, opens through double doors onto the rear of the homes two spacious decks. The rear deck overlooks a large and active organic fruit and vegetable garden which abuts the balance of the properties acreage. There are approximately 5 acres behind the home which in turn adjoin the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park land. The property is surrounded by another 28 acres of land held in the Leelanau Land Conservancy.
Returning to the main home, the formal living (East end of home) room opens to the south (front of home) through double doors onto a sunny 320sf redwood front deck. This deck is in the feature thumbnail picture and is surrounded by flower gardens so don't forget to use the zoom feature on this one.
The middle door in the photo is the mainly used entrance on the front of the home. It enters into a large foyer and mudroom built to separate the house into two zones where, for instance, kids could watch an action movie in one living room and parents could read a book in the other or vice versa. The foyer leads to the mudroom and both also feature Brazilian terra cotta tile as an aesthetically warm but thoroughly protective flooring area and space to shed the shoes. Here you will find a thoroughly stocked walk in pantry.
Through the mudroom turning to the right leads to the kitchen. Left at the mudroom leads to the second living room which intentionally incorporates many of the trim design elements of living room one. The spacious second living room was built to feel more casual and features high knotty spruce ceilings, two ceiling fans, an eight foot tall sliding window wall on the northern exposure and a spiral staircase to the 2nd loft bedroom as well cushy comfortable Natuzzi leather sofa, loveseat and chair and a Denon surround system.
Continuing west through the second living room takes you to the third bedroom featuring a queen bed, skylight for those spectacular starry nights and a sliding doorwall to the north deck. Continuing on you pass across the 'pass-through' which is the door nearest the garage. The 'pass-through' was designed to allow quick access between the front yard and the back yard. Accordingly this area also features Brazilian terra cotta tile and a place to 'kick off your shoes'.
Continuing on westward takes you past the 3rd bath and into the exercise room. Here you will find a universal weight machine, a Precor glider, flat screen TV, wet bar, a second refrigerator, and entrance to the garage which was described early on.
The finishes in the home were selected for both durability and comfort with floors being 75% hardwood, 15% quarry tile and 10% carpet. You will find carpet only in the master suite and the two loft bedrooms. The home features knotty spruce ceilings in both the 2nd living room and the exercise room. Countertops are ceramic tile in the kitchen and granite on both the kitchens breakfast bar countertop and the wet bar in the exercise room.
Appliances include a 2nd refrigerator just off the exercise room and front-load washer and dryer just off the kitchen. The kitchen features a Fridgidaire slide-in 4 burner range, over the range microwave, Kitchenaid dishwasher, blender, Bunn coffee maker and grinder, etc.
Above the garage is another 800 sf of living space. This “carriage house” apartment features hardwood throughout, one bedroom with a queen size pillow top bed, 1 bathroom with a shower stall, apartment sized “stacked” washer/dryer laundry unit, an open kitchen with a Jenn-Air electric range, Kitchen-aid refrigerator, appropriate cooking and dining utensils, skylights, a ceiling fan, flat screen TV and bar seating and an open dining area which together would easily seat 6 adults comfortably.
Currently the carriage house also has two additional sleeper sofas for additional sleeping space one of which may be substituted with a second queen bed for a small additional fee.
Add dates for prices
Amenities
Hot tub
Kitchen
Washing machine
Dryer
Free WiFi
Air conditioning
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House Rules
Check in after 4:00 PM
Minimum age to rent: 25
Check out before 10:00 AM
Children
Children allowed: ages 0–17
Events
No events allowed
Pets
No pets allowed
Smoking
Smoking is not permitted
Important information
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card, debit card or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges; special requests cannot be guaranteed
On-site parties or group events are strictly prohibited
Host has indicated that there is a carbon monoxide detector on the property
Host has indicated that there is a smoke detector on the property
Safety features at this property include a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit
We should mention
This property does not have any lifts
About the area
Glen Arbor
Located in Glen Arbor, this holiday home is on a lake. The area's natural beauty can be seen at Lake Michigan and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Make sure you get close to the area's animals with activities such as game walks and birdwatching.

Glen Arbor, MI
What's nearby
- Glen Lake - 3 min walk - 0.3 km
- Crystal River - 4 min drive - 2.2 km
- Little Glen Lake - 7 min drive - 5.8 km
- Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum - 11 min drive - 7.7 km
- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - 14 min drive - 13.4 km
Getting around
Restaurants
- Cherry Republic - 4 min drive
- Pegtown Station - 19 min drive
- The Mill - 6 min drive
- Art's Tavern - 4 min drive
- Boonedocks - 4 min drive
Frequently asked questions
About the host
Hosted by James Smith

My wife and I are were both born in Detroit and grew up in the area with Denice graduating from Wayne State and myself from Ferris State . We met early in 1996, were married in may of 1997, sold our homes, left our jobs, got new jobs, combined two families, bought this home and moved up here to start one new life together in August of 1997. Thinking back it makes us tired just to tell the story
Why they chose this property
Go out on the deck at midnight on a clear summer night and look up - you will begin to understand.
What makes this property unique
I am allowed 2000 characters to explain why and its probably not enough. Maybe it was the tree frog stuck to the glass of our front door during a warm summer rain. Maybe it was the distant howling of coyotes deep in the woods late at night or then again maybe it was the cement trucks buried in the mud up to their fenders a hundred yards into a forest (our front yard) during construction.
Or maybe it was just the countless other construction projects done for others or the days, weeks and years of us working out of town to make this all possible.
In the end it simply comes down to the land, the magnificent water that abounds in the area, the unpredictable climate and what we have gone through to tame this land and build a home that provides us constant comfort in an unpredictable changing climate.
We have slowly over 15 years time, carved our homestead out of what, after a storm has knocked out power for few days, sometimes seems like pure wilderness. This is such a beautiful place but when a late November windstorm roars in from the West, and the leafless trees are swaying 10 feet at the tops or a mid-winter snowstorm from the North drifts 3 feet of snow on the deck the day before the temperature plummets to zero, we are reminded that our presence at our quiet little place in the woods is up to the good graces of mother nature.
And that's okay we prefer it that way.
Or maybe it was just the countless other construction projects done for others or the days, weeks and years of us working out of town to make this all possible.
In the end it simply comes down to the land, the magnificent water that abounds in the area, the unpredictable climate and what we have gone through to tame this land and build a home that provides us constant comfort in an unpredictable changing climate.
We have slowly over 15 years time, carved our homestead out of what, after a storm has knocked out power for few days, sometimes seems like pure wilderness. This is such a beautiful place but when a late November windstorm roars in from the West, and the leafless trees are swaying 10 feet at the tops or a mid-winter snowstorm from the North drifts 3 feet of snow on the deck the day before the temperature plummets to zero, we are reminded that our presence at our quiet little place in the woods is up to the good graces of mother nature.
And that's okay we prefer it that way.
Languages:
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