SkyLofts MarketSquare | The Perfect Loft for IKEA Designer

ROYAL OAK, MI – The communication and interior design manager for Canton’s
IKEA store “hit every loft in the city” before making her choice: SkyLofts MarketSquare in Royal Oak.

 
“I’m kind of a city loft person,” said Heidi Tippery, 40. “You want that high, open ceiling, and dining and kitchen as one room. I love to entertain. I’m a big cook, so I had to have a specific size kitchen. Out of the lofts in this area, SkyLofts has the best kitchen floor plan, for people who have this amount of stuff.”

Tippery’s kitchen features poured-concrete countertops, a departure from the polished granite chosen by many of the other owners in the building.

“We enjoyed working with Heidi during construction to install something a little different,” said Development Manager Nico Schultz. “The concrete countertops are a different twist in a more industrial environment of a loft, where so much of the infrastructure is already visible.”

With the exception of some of her art (“I’m an Ann Arbor Art Fair freak,” she admits), almost everything else in Tippery’s loft comes from IKEA, right up to her kitchen cabinets. Sofa, bar stools, rugs, shelves, lighting (a phenomenal value, Tippery says), dining room table, tea kettle and drinking glasses that match the room: All IKEA. Their modern, Scandinavian-influenced style fits perfectly with the loft’s contemporary flavor.

Tippery’s two-bedroom loft is an inspirational lesson in what ‘just paint’ can accomplish. The residence hits the visitor’s eye with huge splashes of warm, bright color, accessorized in yet more primary hues. The loft’s long wall is deep orange and the facing wall is bright chartreuse. The bedroom walls are tomato red with linens in orange, white, gold and red and there’s a monster, multi-colored abstract painting looming over it (Buy the kit; stretch the canvas yourself).
At the Canton store, Tippery decorates every room setting and is responsible for signage and display products.

“At IKEA, our goal is to inspire our people to become their own interior designers. My job is to get them inspired,” she said.

Tippery spent much of her childhood living overseas, as her father’s corporate job took the family to Japan, Germany, England and Switzerland. She’s moved between states nine times since graduating from Arizona University, and that doesn’t count moves within the same state or city. She also travels frequently.

“I’m what you’d call a vagabond, in a sense,” she said.

The amenities at SkyLofts MarketSquare lend themselves to Tippery’s travel. She can dial into the building from her cell phone anywhere in the world to admit a visitor. The heated indoor parking provides comfort and safety for her and a dry spot for her motorcycle. She can see visitors in the building lobby on her television, but says she doesn’t think much about security at all. “I really feel safe in this building,” she said.

Dynamic downtown Royal Oak also suits the vagabond.

“If you’re traveling, you can come home on Friday night and walk, enjoy a nice dinner, go to a bar,” she said.

Tippery grew up in the Detroit area and still has family here. Working here lets her be close to her parents, while living in Royal Oak fuels her spirit.

“I’m a city girl. I need to be around some sort of energy,” she said. “Where I find the most energy in the metro Detroit area is Royal Oak … Being in the design industry, I’ve got diverse friends … I find that mixture of people quite energizing.”

SkyLofts MarketSquare construction is now complete and Morningside Group is closing out the building with phenomenal Close-out Pricing, selling six lofts in January, a month notorious for slow home sales. Founded in 1993, Morningside Group is a real estate development firm that specializes in creating premier mixed-use and multi-family developments in urban locations throughout the Midwest. Long recognized as a leader in the design and construction of highly acclaimed buildings, Morningside Group has built an enviable track record of successful public-private partnerships.

Morningside’s incomparable work ensures that each new development will join a growing portfolio of prized buildings which includes, in Michigan, SkyLofts Royal Oak in Royal Oak and Liberty Lofts in Ann Arbor, and, in Illinois, Arbor Court and Prairie Town Center in Oak Lawn, Crescent Court and Museum Square in Elmhurst, Morningside Square in Downers Grove, The Glen Astor in Glen Ellyn and buildings in Evanston and Skokie.

Click here to visit the SkyLofts MarketSquare website!