From Missouri to Minnesota, With Love

from designKC - Winter 2024

Breathing Room

A Great Lakes retreat by Kansas City designer Julie Arnold honors its Native American and Nordic heritage.

Words by Jessica Bahr | Photos by Julie Arnold

When explorer Samuel de Champlain encountered the Great Lakes in the early 1600s, he was astonished to ﬁnd that the vast expanse was, in fact, not an ocean. Because the lakes weren’t saltwater, he called them la mer douce, “the sweetwater sea.”

About 400 years later, the waters also captivated Kansans Kail and Becky Katzenmeier. The two began to spend vacations near the shores of Lake Superior and soon started renovating vacation-rental properties in the Lutsen, Minnesota, area. Their latest— SweetWater Cottage—borrows Champlain’s term of endearment, and its peaceful design by Julie Arnold of Place Interiors honors both Native American and Nordic cultures of the surrounding area.

The Katzenmeiers knew they’d found something special with the original property and its proximity to the lake. Most newconstruction homes in the area have setbacks that don’t allow building so close to the water. SweetWater Cottage is so near Lake Superior that, from certain angles, it appears to ﬂoat on the water.

The beauty of the property was undeniable. However, the original cottage’s interior left much to be desired. “We wanted a peaceful retreat for guests,” the Katzenmeiers say. “But the dated interior, especially the kitchen, was closed oﬀ from the lake view. We knew we needed to open up these views and allow for larger group gatherings.”

A mutual friend introduced them to Julie, a Kansas City-based designer whose signature aesthetic—and penchant for contributing her own hands-on eﬀorts and original artwork— matched the homeowners’ heart and vision for the cottage. Julie accepted the challenge to open up the dark, dated home and infuse it with warmth, reassuring hues and inviting textures.

Beyond planning and designing spaces, Julie enjoys the hands-on creation of unique pieces for her clients. Case in point: these two large-scale paintings were inspired by Lake Superior. “After an exhaustive search for large-scale photographs by the dining tables, I decided instead to create two paintings for the cottage with the lake as inspiration,” Julie says.

Julie looked to Minnesota’s rich Native American culture and Nordic immigrant heritage to guide her design decisions. The two cultures complement each other in their reliance on natural materials and careful craftsmanship, evoking a connection to the earth and an invitation to the hygge lifestyle.

The term “hygge” is derived from a Danish word meaning soul or consciousness and is the pursuit of simplistic contentment, comfort and connection—an especially ﬁtting descriptor for this cottage.

With the ﬁreplace removed from the hulking stone wall, the homeowners knew they wanted a wood-burning stove in the living area to take its place, as they have in their other properties nearby. “In Scandinavia, hygge is very much connected with the heart, like the center of the home is the heart,” Julie explains. The vaulted ceiling was also added in the renovation, as well as the shelves on either side of the stove, which display a mix of pieces from Sweden, art and prints from Lutsen and various antique ﬁnds.

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“The concept of hygge played a large role in the inspiration, along with the natural surroundings of the lake and the pine and birch trees,” Julie says. “The intention was to create peaceful, reﬂective spaces that embody a connection to the surrounding boreal forest, Lake Superior and also a connection to others. The right selection of ﬁnishes, artwork and found objects throughout the home keep the interior calming to the eye. Pure but not too minimalist.”

The Katzenmeiers wanted comfortable spaces for their guests that feature the natural surroundings and provide an open living space for families to gather, relax and cook. So, the first task of the redesign was clear: remove the hulking stone fireplace that divided the kitchen and living areas. But an open concept can also feel cold and disconnected, a direct opposition to the concepts of hygge. “I really had to figure out how to make that open space still feel cozy,” Julie explains. She solved the riddle by, yes, removing the fireplace wall but also by adding a wood-burning stove. In the updated living space, a newly vaulted ceiling allows the light to pool from either side of the house. In contrast, the ceiling in the kitchen area remains intentionally lower to distinguish the spaces and create a sense of comforting compression. This genuine care for the heart and soul Julie infused extends beyond her design at SweetWater Cottage. It’s core to her business. She regularly gives from the proceeds of her work to a nonprofit she feels is connected to a particular project. From the original art she painted for SweetWater’s dining room, she gave to Friends of the Boundary Waters, an organization supporting stewardship for Lake Superior and the boundary waters between Minnesota and Canada. Julie’s Place Interiors also regularly collaborates with the HALO Foundation, which provides homes and a sense of family to impoverished youth.

Looking from the living room into the kitchen with its picture-perfect forest view was impossible before the renovation. A stone partial wall with a ﬁreplace on the living side and ovens on the kitchen side blocked the space. In its place, there’s a generous island of reclaimed elm by Urban Lumber Company. Urban Lumber built the boxes and panels in Kansas City, and then Julie and one of her sons ﬁnished the island build on-site.

As for the homeowners, they couldn’t be happier with the overall calming and renewing eﬀect they feel throughout SweetWater Cottage: “There is truly an inspired sense of Scandinavian inﬂuence, rooted in the area’s history and calming energy that wouldn’t have been possible without Julie’s disciplined restraint and skilled design eye.”