Justin Ridderman and his wife decided they wanted to enjoy Michigan summers on a lake. They have always adored Gull Lake and found an older cottage that had a beautiful lakefront view. But the cottage itself was something from the yester years. What does one do when their new cottage provides so much fun but looks like an eyesore next to its neighboring houses?

Well, it gets a facelift of course!

Justin shared how the cottage had good bones but needed an update inside and out. They started to slowly replace items inside and were impressed at how “the old gal” was getting a new life. But soon realized the outside needed to express this same new life. They called BlackBerry Systems located in Kalamazoo, MI to help with this task.

A member of the BlackBerry Design team came to the cottage and work with Justin and his wife on a complete exterior makeover. They started by replacing all the windows which were “ugly brown from the 80’s” as Justin puts it, with Kolbe replacement windows. This included a master bedroom and downstairs sliders that both lead out to the outside decks overviewing the lake.

The next step in this cottage’s makeover was the exterior siding.

“It was an ugly brown siding, again from the 80’s. What were they thinking?” Justin laughs. He went on to say that it was BlackBerry that suggested putting a twist on the new vinyl siding. Not only have an updated color but to place the siding vertically. Justin said he wasn’t sure at first, but the design team showed him pictures of previous homes and he instantly like the idea. Together they decided on a slate gray color that complemented the features of the cottage and the new windows.

Justin shared that the vertical siding instantly was his favorite part of the whole makeover.

He went on to express how he feels safer living at the cottage with updated windows and slider.When asking Justin if he was happy with his home’s exterior makeover and the service from BlackBerry he said one word, “Absolutely!” He went on to express how he was pleased with the job, the workers that came out and everything was reasonably priced. He would confidently recommend BlackBerry Systems to his friends and family.

“Now we have neighbors stopping by all the time to say they love what we’ve done to the house.”

Justin and his wife were so thrilled with the “new cottage” that they decided to sell their home and live at the cottage full time!