Meet your hosts.
“I want a house with a crowded table
And a place by the fire for everyone
Let us take on the world while we're young and able
And bring us back together when the day is done
If we want a garden
We're gonna have to sow the seed
Plant a little happiness
Let the roots run deep
If it's love that we give
Then it's love that we reap
If we want a garden
We're gonna have to sow the seed
I want a house with a crowded table
And a place by the fire for everyone
Let us take on the world while we're young and able
And bring us back together when the day is done
The door is always open
Your picture's on my wall
Everyone's a little broken
And everyone belongs
Yes, everyone belongs”
Crowded Table // The Highwomen
Behind our name.
When I first heard the song Crowded Table by the Highwomen, I had it on repeat. It is encompasses how I strive to lead my life and my vision for what this house would bring to our lives. I have always dreamt of having a home to host and for all to be welcome.
Our Family
We are Chad and Jessica Cordes and tagging along with us for this wild ride of life is Lenora and Louie. We live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Jess is a professional wedding and family photographer and Chad is an operator specializing in utility contracting, excavating and pretty much anything under the sun in that world. We love to work hard and to play hard. You can often find us on a family hike, out with friends, at the beach, watching HBO, on a date night, drinking patio beers and cooking up something delicious for dinner. We believe in leading a life of adventure, fun, goofiness, quality time and being good to others.
Construction
We started coming to Pentwater in 2019 when we were invited up by my best friend to spend the weekend at her mom’s house. We immediately fell in love with this quaint beach town. The shallow water near the pier, the amazing boutiques, ice cream shops, the picturesque town, some great dive bars, lots of hiking, the proximity to Grand Rapids, the lack of chains etc. We knew it was for us. There aren’t too many un-commercialized small beach towns left and Pentwater is a gem of one. We started toying with the idea of having a place of our own and knew we wanted to be in the Village for its walkability. In 2021 we found a land locked wooded lot that was just that. After we purchased the lot we found out it was zoned to be a multi-family, which is why our dream went from building a small cottage to taking on the huge project of building a duplex. My goal was to design a duplex that did not look like a duplex from the outside. The interiors are not mirrored nor is the exterior. I designed this home to ensure the most privacy for us and our full time renters. Their entrance is on a separate side of the house, the backyards are separated by a fence and I made sure no bedroom windows faced out to the backyards for privacy. Sound proofing was huge to us and our wild toddlers have proven it to work great. After searching for the right builder for two years, we started construction with Archstone Homes in summer of 2023. Chad spent every weekend from the fall of 2022 - summer of 2023 clearing trees, excavating the lot, putting in a new road, tying in utilities and creating an awesome rock wall in the backyard. We've put a lot of sweat equity into this house and every design is purposeful. We wanted this home to be ours and not to be a cookie cutter rental with “welcome to the beach” signs everywhere. This house is filled with custom prints, lots of art, custom woodwork, a fully stocked, great finishes and amenities, comfy beds, lots of games and everything you need for being together. Construction was wrapped up in November 2023 and we are so excited to be in this house. Huge shout out to Archstone Homes for being such an excellent builder to work with.
