PRACTICAL AND pretty:

PLATINUM HOMES BLeNDS FOrM aND FUNCTION

he house in Moorhead’s Horizon Shores neighborhood somehow looks both striking and subdued when you approach it from the front. The beige and brown color scheme is soothing, but the tall front façade offers a classic look and a little drama. And when you view the home from its gracious backyard you see that the house is larger than it first appears. Clearly, there are surprises in store inside as well.

1,200 the lower level. The interior continues the calming color palette of beige, taupe and a grounding, earthy brown. This neutral color scheme is set off by crisp white trim, which has become a bit of a Platinum Homes signature. feet

“We’re big into the white trim package,” says Platinum Homes president and co-owner Matt Orner. “We tried it on one house about seven years ago and it just took off. Everybody likes the white. It’s a clean look.”

Starting with a neutral base ties the entire space together so homeowners can either enjoy the completed look as is, or add their own flare with accent colors, art and eye-catching décor. The homeowners in the Horizon Shores house elected to keep the interior of their home neutral, for a pretty and practical look. Many Platinum Homes share this aesthetic.

Although the company builds several styles of homes, they’re always customized to what the customer wants. The most popular are all two-story homes, including the Bloomington

(the same model as the Horizon Shores home in Moorhead), the Calloway (which offers similar square footage to the Bloomington floor plan) and the Madison, which combines elegance and practicality in a slightly more modest footprint.

From the moment that the future homebuilders sit down with Platinum Homes sales consultant Hollie Kietzer, the conversation centers on their lifestyle, their routines and what they want from a home and a neighborhood. Every decision — from where to build to which finishes to choose, is centered on customer preferences.

“We can move walls, we can move cosmetics counters to closets, replace a soaker tub and go with a tiled walk in shower,” explains Kietzer. “Usually people are just tweaking them slightly.” In fact, many of the most successful and popular architectural and design elements in Platinum Homes are drawn from real life and suggested by previous customers.

“I’ve never been one to categorize my houses,” explains Orner, who serves as Platinum Homes’ inhouse architectural drafter in addition to his leadership roles. “I guess I just build what people want. I pretty much design it as if I want to live in it.”

In fact, Orner does live in one of his homes. And many of the touches in the Horizon Shores house — including the square shape of the kitchen island and the built-in lockers and mail center in the mudroom — come directly from homeowners.

“A lot of my past customers come up with a lot of neat house ideas,” he says. And he adds that they get a kick out of seeing their ideas brought to life in a new home. “They come back to a parade home and see it in a model house.”

The Moorhead home features lots of practical built-in storage, including the aforementioned floor-to-ceiling lockers and bench element that are tucked into a mudroom off of the garage along with a handy mail and message center. Both built-ins are custom made in maple, one of Orner’s go-to materials. If a customer doesn’t have a preference, Orner and his crew, led by Platinum Homes vice-president and co-owner Ben Orner, usually recommend maple or rustic alder to add a warm, natural texture to the neutral color scheme. The combination of these two built-in elements streamlines residents’ “coming home” routine and keeps clutter to a minimum. dining room contribute to the open, welcoming the evenings while still keeping the family’s dinner

“When you walk in from your garage, you get to throw everything down on the message center and put your coat in the locker which, in my opinion, is much better than a closet,” says Orner. In fact, he liked the concept so much he ripped the closet out of his own house and installed a locker set-up instead.

The generous built-in cabinets in the living room also aim to make storage stylish. “You always have things in your living room that you want to hide, and these make that possible,” Orner says.

Instead of minimizing the need for smart storage solutions, the designers and Platinum Homes capitalize on it, providing a much needed place to stash the books, games, toys, remote controls and dozens of other items that make a cozy room like this function, while keeping clutter tucked out of sight. And the tops of the built-ins’ shelving units are wide enough to double as tables and display spaces, offering the perfect place to highlight a carefully curated collection or a striking piece of art.

The built-ins in this comfortable living room hug the lower part of the walls, allowing the cultured stone fireplace and its elegant maple mantle to remain the centerpiece of the room. Since the other design elements are placed lower on the walls, there’s plenty of room for the generous windows that flood the room with light.

All that natural light in the living and adjacent dining room contribute to the open, welcoming feeling of the home and invite the sights of the residential neighborhood in, while still allowing privacy. The window placement in the dining room maximizes the benefits of lingering natural light in the evenings while still keeping the family’s dinner out of view of passersby. And the flexible layout allows the homeowners plenty of options for configuring furniture as their needs change.

The kitchen offers similarly generous cabinet space and really gives the beauty of the wood a chance to take center stage. “They’re custom built cabinets so it also takes time for the construction people to build,” says Kietzer. She always sends customers to choose their cabinets first, both because they’re time consuming and because the wood customers choose sets the tone for the rest of the room.

Here the maple floor feels warm and inviting. Its color and texture are echoed in the cabinets and the back of the high top chairs along the snack bar. Unassuming pendant lights and recessed lighting illuminate the space without competing for focus. Smooth countertops gleam. A textured glass and maple door to the walk-in pantry and perfectly symmetrical gray subway tiles on the backsplash quietly add visual interest while contributing to the harmonious whole.

The architectural flourishes throughout the home are similarly subtle and well planned. They’re all designed to compliment the flow of the space while adding visual interest and a touch of luxury at an affordable price.

“The tray ceiling in the master gives a little more volume in your bedroom,” says Orner. “I’ve always liked the look. It’s a very cost effective way of making things look a little different.” It also makes the master bedroom feel spacious and adds a touch of luxury to the room without breaking the budget.

Design elements in the bathrooms look similarly luxe, but boast a surprisingly affordable price tag. Orner likes adding archways to a bathroom for architectural interest and to set off a great bathtub