My New Home: Living on the lake in Lakeland

Emily Adams Keplinger
Special to The Commercial Appeal
Beck, Tia and Robert Williams love their home on the lake.

Robert and Tia Williams had always dreamed of living on a lake, specifically Garner Lake. 

“We felt it was an amazing hidden gem in Memphis that so many people don't know about,” said Tia. “We would drive this neighborhood on weekends talking about how someday, maybe in the next 10 years, we would live there. We didn't plan on moving, but this unlivable house with great potential and a more affordable price tag came on the market. We just couldn't pass it up.”

The mid-century modern style home was built in 1979.

The couple built their last home with Regency Homebuilders in Arlington, where Robert is a digital strategist and Tia is the marketing director. “After renovating two homes and building one, the most important thing to us in a home is either the reality or the potential for a really great floor plan,” said Robert. “This home easily offered that for us. However, the view of Garner Lake and the dream of walking in the front of our home and out the back onto our boat after a day’s work is what sold us.”

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Jenna Williamson of Green Bee Real Estate was the listing agent on this home. Green Bee is a locally-owned real estate brokerage serving the Memphis metro area. The company gives back a portion of every sale to local nonprofit organizations. Robert and Tia did not know Jenna beforehand, but came into the deal unrepresented and worked with her on both sides of the transaction.

The kitchen is spacious and new with seating that serves as the dining area of the house.

“Since we weren't technically in the market, we had not really looked at other properties,” recalled Tia. “However, anytime a house had come available on the lake, whether wildly out of our price range or not, we would keep our eyes on it.”

The couple paid $320,000 for their new home. It has approximately 2,850 square feet. The home was built in 1979, in the mid-century modern style. It has five bedrooms and three bathrooms, with living spaces that include a vaulted great room. Having sat vacant for more than a year, the house was admittedly in rough condition when they purchased it. For example, there was no flooring and the sub-flooring had been damaged by animals, Also, there was a grasscloth wall covering on all of the walls that had also been damaged by animals. The kitchen was outdated and one of the bathrooms wasn’t operable. Several of the windows weren’t functional and couldn’t be closed. And, the home’s exterior siding was rotten and the landscaping was completely overgrown.

The Williamses' home on the lake has several levels of living area cascading towards the water.

“Now we’re vacationing in our own backyard, with multiple levels of outdoor entertaining space,” said Robert. “We’re situated on a 250-plus acre lake with a boat dock, and we have a pool and a fire pit area. Inside, the kitchen is full of our personalities, and we love the separation of living space and bedrooms, specifically our primary suite. Most of all, we like the idea of raising our son in a home that we think is perfect for creating memories.”

“Yes, our plans call for us to renovate the entire home and backyard,” added Tia. “Aside from intense cosmetic changes, we’ve already rearranged the first level of the house to create a large primary suite with sitting area/library, walk-in closet, and large shower and freestanding tub.  Previously, there were two bedrooms and a small primary bath in that space. Additionally, we took off the stone that was on the fireplace and DIY'd it with a concrete plaster finish with a terrazzo-inspired quartz hearth. And, we painted the exterior of what neighbors referred to as ‘the green house’ a bold dark gray with black and cedar accents. An understated favorite update of ours is the swap we made from standard, dilapidated garage doors to modern wood-look doors with offset glass inserts.”

The great room is the room with the most dramatic change. It originally had a fieldstone fireplace. The rustic, unpainted cedar ceiling is now painted white.  The flooring was carpeting and is now a composite.

As for their Lakeland Estate neighborhood, Robert said, “Everyone is so happy to live here, and the story from so many we've talked to is the same -- they dreamed of living on this lake. We have loved getting to know our neighbors, and passing each other on our pontoon boats with a friendly wave. We've been so thankful for the support and encouragement we've received from them while putting many months of sweat equity into this home, all while balancing being first-time parents to a two-year-old.“

A firepit, some comfortable seating and the peaceful feeling of living on the water all provide a great way to relax.

Emily Adams Keplinger is a freelance reporter who produced this feature for the Advertising Department.