SOUTHWEST JOURNAL • MARCH 2018
A renovation double feature After redoing the kitchen, remodelers return to an East Harriet home to finish the basement Page 20
+ The soul of a house transformation PAGE 9
+ Beyond the boring rectangle PAGE 24
+ Honoring a landmark PAGE 14
+ Flip the switch PAGE 28
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Contents 20
A remodeling project with a sequel
9 Restoring a family home’s charm 4
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
14 Historic home updated for a modern family
24 A tile design that’s outside the box
28
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FROM THE EDITOR
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M
y mother-in-law was packing up after a recent overnight stay at our house when she announced she’d Home Restoration Services HOME 051916 12.indd 1 5/2/16 1:24 PM had enough. No, not enough of me — enough of the rustic light fixture that hangs over our dining room table, with its clumsy bent-metal arms, fake Trained & Courteous Staff Climbing & Bucket Pruning/Removals copper patina and mismatched bulbs poking out Expert High Risk & Crane Removals of yellowing frosted glass bells. All we had to do Pest & Disease Management By Dylan Thomas was pick out something — anything — new, and Stump Grinding she would pitch in to buy it. How could we say no? My wife and I had been talking almost since we bought our George Welles Lynn Welles house about replacing that fixture with something more clean-lined and modern, more Certified Arborist Certified Arborist #MN-0354 #MN-4089A in keeping with our style. (612) 789-9255 • www.northeasttree.net After repainting almost the entire interior, this may be the biggest design decision we’ve made with this house. Before we shop, we’ll definitely review the story on statement lighting trends Jahna Peloquin wrote for this issue (page 28), the first of three Northeast Tree HOME 032218 12.indd 1 OF3/9/18 1:07 PMSouthwest Journal Home Guides planned for 2018. Jahna shares advice from local HAPPY CUSTOMERS designers on how to achieve both functionality and a real visual impact. Jahna also brings us the story of a grand, historic home near Lake Harriet remodeled to suit the needs of a modern family (page 14). Led by David Heide Design Studio, a team that included architect Mark Nelson, interior designer Michael Crull and MacDonald & Mack Architects made significant updates to the home while preserving the features that won it local landmark status. Mikki Morrissette returns to the Home Guide this issue with a profile of Dave Perry of Artisan Homes (page 9), who recently remodeled a Kenny neighborhood house being sold by the family that had owned it for decades. And for this issue’s cover story, Sheila Regan writes about a two-part remodeling project (page 20), this one in East Harriet; WWW.SMITHCOLE.COM local design-build firm Quartersawn began on the ground floor of the house, then returned several years later to tackle the basement. Smith Cole HOME 032218 12.indd 2 3/1/18 9:04 AM Sheila also spoke with Michael Anschel of Otogawa-Anschel Design + Build about one EK Johnson of the wildest bathroom tile jobs we’ve ever seen (page 24). The homeowners wanted Construction something unique and Anschel, working with lead designer Scott Barsness, delivered. you dream it we build it The homeowners love it. And don’t leave before checking in with Meleah Maynard, our longtime gardening columnist, who has some tips to share on spring pruning (page 30). (I’ve already dramatically cut back the willow shrubs planted outside our living room window, and I can guarantee you they’ll be over my head by mid-summer. After we find a new light fixture for our dining room, we may focus on finding something to replace those Call Ethan Johnson, Owner shrubs, because they’re just a bit too much for our small yard.) Take note: As of this Living and Working issue, Meleah’s Everyday Gardener column is now called Livin’ Thing, a new name that in Southwest Minneapolis reflects its expanded scope. 612-669-3486 • ekjohnsonconstruction.com
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PUBLISHER Janis Hall jhall@southwestjournal.com CO-PUBLISHER AND SALES MANAGER Terry Gahan tgahan@southwestjournal.com GENERAL MANAGER Zoe Gahan zgahan@southwestjournal.com EDITOR Dylan Thomas 612-436-4391 dthomas@southwestjournal.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Maleah Maynard, Mikki Morrissette Jahna Peloquin, Sheila Regan CLIENT SERVICES Delaney Patterson 612-436-5070 dpatterson@southwestjournal.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR Valerie Moe vmoe@southwestjournal.com GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Micah Edel Kaitlin Ungs CIRCULATION Marlo Johnson 612-436-4388 distribution@southwestjournal.com
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The soul of a home transformation Artisan Homes gives a rehab project a personal touch By Mikki Morrissette
A
fter George and Evelyn Larson married in 1932, they saved money from his job as a radio technician and her secretarial work. During Sunday drives with a relative who had a car, they saw the outside of a house on Zenith Avenue and fell in love with it. Evelyn put together notes about their dream home. By 1937, they had saved enough to build it near 55th & Aldrich. “They built and filled that home with so much love,” said daughter Kay from her long-time home in Duluth. “It was not just a place to live. They spent their whole lives together in that house and died there.”
Kay couldn’t bear to sell the home after their deaths in the 1990s. A friend needed a place to live, so she let him stay there. Over the next 20 years, the house deteriorated. A family of raccoons took up residence in the front room; the door was simply closed to shut them in. Eventually Kay knew it was time to sell the home she had once shared with paper dolls and her mother’s couch full of teddy bears. “I had a terrible time thinking of selling it,” she said. “It was a house built by two caring, loving people, in a neighborhood where people took care of each other.” She hated the idea that someone might
buy the house and simply tear it down to build something new and bigger.
After 80 years of ownership Kay and her cousin, a real estate agent, put the house on the market in July 2017. Local remodeler Dave Perry of Artisan Homes had been looking for the right house project — one with older-home charm and curb appeal. “The immense satisfaction I get from bringing the beauty back into older homes is the reason I do what I do,” he told Kay in a letter.
March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 9
The soul of a home transformation
Some warned her that he was just saying that to outbid others for the house. But Kay judged his words to be sincere. She sold it to him in the hopes that he would restore it for a new family. Perry’s specialty as a self-employed builder is rejuvenating older homes, particularly in Southwest Minneapolis. He tends to look for homes with unfinished space. In this case, the attic had potential for a full bath, master suite and walk-in closet. The unfinished basement could house a bedroom-slash-office, bathroom, family room and updated laundry and mechanical room. He widened the opening between the kitchen and dining room, renovated the main floor bathroom and created a mudroom by moving the position of a few walls. Perry added a two-car garage for the first time. The roof was redone. He put in new triple-glazed windows, refinished doors with original glass knobs, refurbished hardwood floors and insulated up to modern standards. Previously, the walls were filled with newsprint from the 1930s. He viewed house design as a puzzle. How could he create a smarter, more modern layout — including functional kitchens and additional bathroom space — without making big structural or exterior changes? “I enjoy that,” he said. “Figuring out the best way to rearrange interior walls.” It took about five months to renovate the house. It went on the market at the end of February.
‘Soulful’ work Perry described the work of restoring the old charm of homes as “soulful.” “I’m drawn to that, as opposed to new construction,” he said.
10
ɕɕThe Larsons’ home in 1937 and today. Submitted photos
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
ɕɕPerry updated the kitchen with new cabinetry, tiles and fixtures.
Before
March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 11
The soul of a home transformation
For Kay’s project, he did a lot of the work personally, including sweating out details such as what kind of knob to put on a cabinet. Perry said he gets “personally attached to the home.” He grew up on the East Coast, where his construction career started with a new house for his mother, built with his stepdad. After relocating to the Twin Cities, he worked for a company that flipped about 130 houses in four years. Since becoming an independent builder six years ago, Perry has nurtured about 20 houses into re-use. Through rehab work he has “seen everything that can go wrong,” he said. He learned how to jack up homes with crumbling foundations and deal with major water problems. “Anytime you’re working with an older home, you are inevitably opening up a can of worms,” he said. “You have to just roll with it and often assume you have to re-do everything once you go inside — new plumbing, new electrical, new HVAC. Once you’re committed to that, there’s not a lot that can stop you.” Perry is licensed as a real estate agent and buys and sells his own properties. He looks for the unique charm of homes built in the 1910s, ’20s and ’30s. Older homes tend to have generous window sizes, crown details in the ceilings, larger moldings. “I don’t care how the space is laid out originally,” he said. “I just care that there’s enough to be opened up.” Perry said he dreams of building a new net-zero home someday — “I’m interested in super energy efficiency” — and creating a cluster of small homes with the atmosphere of an Old World village. “I want to contribute to a sense of community, which is why I love working in traditional neighborhoods with front porches, big trees, pedestrian walkability,” he said. 12
Perry lives in a Southwest home he refurbished from top to bottom for his wife and two children. For his next trick, Perry said with a smile, he’s relocating to a home whose remodel will include a fire pole along the stairway.
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
Dave Perry can be contacted for old home sales and rebuilds at ArtisanHomes.us.
A master suite was added to the attic, along with a walk-in closet.
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Honoring a landmark A Adapting an historic home for a modern family by Jahna Peloquin
14
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
Southwest Minneapolis couple had admired a 1920s Mediterranean villa in the Lynnhurst neighborhood near Lake Harriet for years. So when they found out the house was going on the market, they immediately asked for an appointment to see it. The couple, who asked not to be identified in this story, bought the house in 1988 from the estate of the original owners after the 91-year-old matriarch of the family passed
away. The house was built in 1928 when the family’s original home on the property didn’t accommodate the needs of a daughter with cerebral palsy. To this day, the home still has a Kasota stone wheelchair ramp leading to an outdoor terrace, a working elevator and wide doors for easy access to the main floor rooms. After living in the home for a dozen years, the homeowners realized that, with three growing kids, it was not meeting the needs of a modern family. So they approached historic preservation firm MacDonald & Mack Architects, which in turn recommended David Heide Design.
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A synthesis With its offices in downtown’s Grain Exchange building, the full-service architecture, interior design and home restoration firm is known for its new home designs and historic remodels that blend timeless residential architecture with modern amenities. It was a big and complicated process, said David Heide, architect, interior designer and principal of David Heide Design. He said the house was “built like a bunker with masonry construction” — a highly durable form of construction using brick and building stones such as marble and granite. At the time, it was the largest project his firm had completed. But the project was right in line with what his design firm is all about. “We believe that the synthesis between architecture and interior design is very important,” he said. In planning the extensive renovation, Heide’s design team had to meet the needs of the homeowners while taking great care to respect the historic integrity of the house — especially since it had been designated a local architectural landmark in 1987. Heide worked with project architect Mark Nelson, interior designer Michael Crull and project consultant MacDonald & Mack to help achieve this delicate balance.
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March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 15
Honoring a landmark
The kitchen now opens to living space. Submitted photos courtesy Alex Steinberg
ɘɘThe house was designated a local landmark in 1988.
Form and function As with any many grand old homes, the villa was built for both family and household staff, and the carriage house above the garage contained quarters for employees. To access those rooms, one had to travel into the basement and up a staircase. Heide and his team added a large tower featuring a circular limestone stairwell that incorporated the same art deco features as the original stairway in the main part of the home. While helping to connect the carriage house to the rest of the home, the addition also exemplified the balance between form and function the homeowners had desired with the remodel. Like other houses built during its era, the villa had been designed with formal rooms, such as a dining room and a living room, but lacked an informal gathering space for the family. One of the homeowners’ main objectives with the remodel was to create a great
room combining the roles of several more traditional rooms, including the kitchen, into one open space. Heide and his team decided to annex an underused outdoor terrace that separated the house from the garage to create a new informal living space, and as a result also linked the two structures to make the entire residence accessible to the family.
True to character The kitchen itself presented another major challenge in the remodel. Small, dark and inhospitable, it lacked modern workspaces and readily accessible storage. To reflect the family’s Jewish faith, it also needed to become kosher. Within traditional Jewish culture, the mixing of meat and dairy is forbidden, which necessitates two separate sets of kitchen and dining equipment — everything from pots and pans to dishes, drinkware and cutlery. In the end, Heide and his team created a functional and serviceable kitchen that satisfies the needs of a kosher kitchen without being so large that it’s unusable. When it came to the exterior of the house, David Heide Design was thoughtful not only about blending the additions seamlessly into the home but also about ensuring the structure stayed true to the character of the neighborhood.
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March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 17
Honoring a landmark
18
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
ɘɘThe home has formal and informal spaces.
Heide’s team also paid close attention to proportion and scale. “We want to honor the original house by making subtle changes,” he said. “The use of the same materials as the original house and the use of the same design vocabulary help keep it aligned.”
Building a relationship Since the renovation was completed in 2002, the home has functioned well for the family. The large kitchen-breakfast-family room offers an informal gathering space in what is otherwise a very formal home, and the renovation allows the family to both entertain on an intimate level and host larger functions for as many as 125 people. For Heide, the highlight of the project was the working relationship between his firm and the homeowners. “It was great to work with a client who was willing and able to listen, hire the people they thought were right for the job and trust us to do the job,” he said.
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ɕɕWith a circular staircase at its center, a new tower helps to connect a carriage house to the rest of the home.
3/8/18 5:38 PM
March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 19
A two-part remodeling project After building a kitchen addition, Quartersawn returns three years later to an East Harriet colonial By Sheila Regan
T
he Spring 2018 Parade of Homes tour features a recent project from Tangletown design-build firm Quartersawn that set out to highlight a two-story colonial house’s historic features while capturing more sunlight and making it just a bit roomier. 20
Quartersawn, which specializes in older homes, had the opportunity to do two major projects on the East Harriet-neighborhood house, built in 1922. Initially tackling the first floor and kitchen three years ago, the firm recently returned and remodeled the basement.
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
The project is one stop on the Parade of Homes Remodelers Showcase tour running through March 25. Quartersawn has participated in every Remodelers Showcase since its inception in 2005, said Jeff Nicholson, the firm’s owner. “We love being a part of the showcase,”
ɘ An initial remodel of the East Harriet home extended the kitchen and added windows to bring in light. Submitted photo
he said. “We find it gives folks interested in updating and remodeling their home a very informal setting to meet us and see the high level of design and craftsmanship we bring to peoples’ homes.” The home’s exterior has a stately appearance, with two white columns framing the front door. They’re topped with a small ledge surrounded by a black metal gate, with matching black metal window boxes on each side. The lightblue color of the exterior walls contrasts further with the black shutters, radiating a classic look. Inside, the house juxtaposes historic details with a modern sensibility. The staircase blends white-painted risers and balusters with the dark-reddish wood used for the treads, railing and newel posts — which all boast subtle ornamentation. Lovely arches throughout the house create a feeling of openness and movement.
Part one
The home’s owners, who asked that they not be identified in this story, bought the house in 2009. The kitchen had been remodeled before the couple moved in, and it wasn’t in great shape. There were cheap cabinets from the 1980s, many of which didn’t close properly. The walls were painted an ugly teal blue. The main problem with the kitchen was its lack of light. “Because all you had was the wall of the addition that blocked the southwest light, spending time in the kitchen meant staring at the neighbor’s wall,” Nicholson said. When Nicholson first consulted with the couple, he suggested they consider getting a new house, given that it was so small. As the plans developed, they opted to expand the kitchen only and not the living room, so the total square footage didn’t increase that much. It was just enough to give the house a bit more space. With the remodel, Nicholson aimed to capture more sunlight. They knocked out of a set of French doors and moved
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A two-part remodeling project the back of the house further into the backyard. It didn’t just give the kitchen more breathing room, it also added new windows with an unobstructed view to the south and west. Now there’s a cheery view of the back yard and room for the island countertop that anchors the space. Quartersawn also put in a dog door, made from a door left in the garage when the couple moved in, which separates the kitchen from the dining room.
Part two
For the second major project, Quartersawn took aim at the basement. Before the remodel, the basement was a creepy space filled with raw wood. “We wanted to create the same light and airiness as they had upstairs,” Nicholson said. An additional goal was to bring the details and charms that make the rest of the house unique into the lower level. The Quartersawn team lowered the floor, allowing for higher ceilings, and installed a large bank of double-hung windows. Sitting on the homeowners’ sectional couch, you can now look up at the windows and see trees and sky — just as if you’re sitting upstairs.
ɕɕQuartersawn made a dog door for the kitchen. Submitted photos 22
“When we built the addition for the kitchen, we just did a crawl space,” Nicholson said. “We ended up digging that out and adding windows on the basement level.” A key feature in the basement is now a shuffleboard table purchased from Peters Billiards that Nicholson said was part of the plan from the get-go. There are heated floors and also a space for watching TV and hanging out with friends, with a wet bar and a fridge — perfect for parties. Just as with the first-floor renovation,
the intent for the basement remodel was capturing some of the unique aspects of the original architecture. They installed an arch that mirrors the arches upstairs and accentuated interesting textures already present on the lower level. Upstairs, a bump in the wall became a beautiful buffet. Downstairs, a plumbing stack became an interesting visual flourish.
Recreating details
The basement also features a replication of the newel posts and balustrade from the staircase on the first floor. For that
ɕɕTile adds a visual flourish to a wet bar in the basement.
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
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Move or Improve? “Does my improvement project make sense for my house?”
ɕ Quartersawn’s remodel made room for a shuffleboard table.
part of the project, Quartersawn enlisted the expertise of Shaw/Stewart Lumber Company, based in Northeast Minneapolis. Nicholson said they began by making a template of the existing posts upstairs. From there, an expert woodworker used a lathe and also knives to carve the new post from a block of wood. He also created treads and stair nosings to match. For Nicholson, his aim for creating the basement space was to support circulation and flow. The project created a large area that Nicholson’s design segmented into lower and higher levels. The levels are separated by two steps, so that the space remains open but the areas are distinguishable. “The two steps work great for overlook seating,” Nicholson said. “If you have eight to 10 people, they can spread out and really gather down here as if it’s one big space. It’s not chopped up.” On the other hand, the steps separating the two areas break up the space a bit. “If it was one big space it wouldn’t reflect the size of the spaces in the original house,” Nicholson added, “so we wanted the proportions to reflect that it’s two separate spaces.”
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March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 23
D N O Y E THE BORING B
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Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
g Gettinve creati iles in with t sical a whim om bathro el remod
gan ila Re e h S By
A bathroom’s non-traditional design is mirrored in contrasting tiles. Submitted photo
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hen Meredith Aby-Keirstead and Anne Keirstead called up Otogawa-Anschel Design+Build to redesign the bathroom for their home in Cooper, Minneapolis, the couple wanted something a little whimsical. As educators and parents who are active in social justice causes, the family’s home reflects their creative spirit, with bright colors and art. They wanted a bathroom that was a relaxing space but was also very original. Boy, did OA deliver. The bathroom’s tile design is something of a work of art in itself, with bold angles and contrasting textures. Featuring a palette of light blues and grays, the tiles offer a relaxing, soothing mood — with quite a bit of spunk. The lead designer for the bathroom was OA’s Scott Barsness, with Michael Anschel taking on the tile design. “This one is kind of a funky space with the angled ceilings, and we wanted to better integrate the physical space with the design,” Anschel said. OA, which is based in Uptown, has something of a reputation for thinking about tile in unconventional ways. Whether it’s a bit zany or more refined, Anschel says the firm specializes in creating layers and textures. “That would be a hallmark of our work,” he said. He jokes that while New Jersey gangsters might wear one color, most people feel don’t feel comfortable in monochrome. Instead, even without
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D N O Y E B THE BORING
RECTANGLE
realizing it, most of us wear outfits that have lots of different colors and patterns. “You look outside and you see how many textures and colors there are there. The brain and the eyes can support a rich texture, a rich tapestry,” Anschel said.
From commodity to creation
For bathroom tiles, Anschel prefers not to be limited by squares and rectangles just because that’s how they usually get delivered from the factory. “That’s pretty boring and it’s been done a million, million times,” he said. “You can be so creative with the medium. I treat it more like paint.” He likes to experiment with his
designs so that tiles become an outlet for creative expression. “It moves it from the realm of something that is bought at a store as a commodity to something that is created — a commissioned artwork for an individual (or) for a family that fits their life and their lifestyle and connects to them in some way,” Anschel said. Anschel has had a relationship with art since he was a little kid. In high school and college, he spent a lot of time doing ceramics and eventually moved into large-scale metal and ceramic sculptures. After he graduated, Anschel lived in China for a few years and Japan for a year, where he was introduced to Eastern aesthetics. The experience influenced the way he thinks about design, including ways of decorating and adorning space and connecting architecture and design to the natural world.
Mechanically perfect, aesthetically expressive
As a designer, Anschel is interested
especially in the meeting between form and function. “The tea pots in Japan need to pour perfectly, they need to be weighted perfectly, they need to not have water drip back down,” he said. “Everything about pouring it should be mechanically perfect, and aesthetically as expressive as possible. There’s this push and pull between those two pieces.” In thinking about the Aby-Keirstead bathroom space, Anschel wanted to experiment with shape and color. “I can trick your mind into thinking the space is an entirely different shape from what it is, which enhances the function,” Anschel said. “It makes it feel more spacious, makes it feel less confined.” That was important for this project because the bathroom is relatively small. By tricking the eye with proportion and color, the small bathroom because an oasis. The idea is to meet all the requirements for durability and functionality, but to also evoke an emotion. ɘɘTiles aren’t limited to the shower, spilling over to the vanity. Submitted photo
26
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
Getting to know the client
When working with clients, Anschel taps into their aesthetic, the arch of their home, even places they’ve traveled. After getting to know them, he said, “I use that as a starting point of inspiration, to bring in as a nuance or as a palate to inform the colors or the pattern itself.” Meredith Aby-Keirstead says the couple worked with the OA team to come up with a concept that would consider their likes and dislikes, eventually gravitating toward one design. The reds and browns featured in the initial solution were a bit to dark for her taste, however. She thought the colors didn’t reflect the couple’s personalities. “They were too dark for that room and for that space,” Aby-Keirstead said. “We wanted different shades of blue.” Eventually they settled on turquoise and sky blue tiles contrasted with light grays and a dash of black and white. There are large contrasts in the shapes of the tiles, the direction they face and the way they are patterned. The tiles also don’t just conform to the shower and tub space but burst outside of it with interesting geometrical shapes. There’s an additional section of light blue tiles on the floor, as well as a triangle of playful teal hexagons placed over the kitchen sink. The cool colors of the tiles look lovely adjacent to the marble counter and sink, which has hints of purples and coral. “We are incredibly happy with the design,” Aby-Keirstead said. “We think it’s really fun and creative. It makes the house look more like our house.” Besides the tiles, the bathroom includes a new toilet, sink and bathtub, as well as a globe light that hangs from the skylight and two additional waterproof light fixtures. “Our daughter loves it,” Aby-Keirstead said. “She thinks it’s super-fun. We all like taking a bath in here. It’s pretty relaxing and very calming.”
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March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 27
ɘ Prospect Refuge Studio is an interior design firm in Minneapolis. Submitted photo
e h t p tch Flsiw i A
ccording to trend forecasters and interior design magazines, 2018 is the year of the statement light. Higher ceilings and open floor plans have helped pave the way for the trend, which transcends style genres — from rustic farmhouse to modest minimalist. Statement lighting can provide a focal point for a room and set the tone while providing an opportunity to showcase functional artworks. While good lighting is key to good home design, it has long been considered an afterthought in interior design. Typically, lighting is viewed from a purely functional perspective. It comes in low on the list of priorities for many homeowners, especially when building new and budgets are tight. But for new home builds and renovations alike, statement lighting provides an overlooked opportunity to complete a room and set a lasting impression. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you through the process of choosing the right statement lighting for your home, with tips from local interior design experts.
Choose focus areas
The price point for statement lighting “can be a stumbling point” for those on a tight budget, according to Greg Walsh, proprietor and senior interior designer 28
xtures fi t h g i l t temen tching Eye-ca make a sta
quin
na Pelo
By Jah
for MartinPatrick3, a North Loop interior design firm. Before shopping for lighting fixtures, one of the first things to do is to choose key areas to feature, such as the entryway, dining room or kitchen island — “great rooms where you want something spectacular,” Walsh said. Lower-priority rooms, such as kids’ rooms, can be outfitted with lower-priced fixtures.
Consider placement
Popular opinion holds that a lighting fixture should hang 30 inches above a dining room table. But many interior designers suggest looking at the visual weight and proportion of the piece in relation to the space and scale. “Statement lighting doesn’t mean just big lighting,” said Carrie Charest Valentine, a stylist with Minneapolis boutique interior design firm Prospect Refuge Studio. “It’s about selecting lighting that is appropriate to your home scale, choosing it like jewelry.” If an entryway has 8- or 9-foot ceilings, choose a lighting fixture that accommodates different heights of people while suiting the space. Volume is another aspect to consider. “Just because a lighting fixture is big, it can be really airy,” explained Victoria Sass, Prospect Refuge’s founder and
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
principal designer. “If it’s transparent, it doesn’t take as much visual space as something opaque.”
Understand your lighting needs
There are two main approaches when planning lighting for a home, according to Walsh — showcasing an architectural element, such as a ceiling or staircase, or making the light itself the main event. “Sometimes the goal is to make lighting disappear, fixture-wise” by utilizing upward recessed LED lighting, he said. “It’s doing its work by offering lighting. If that’s done well, then the job of big statement piece isn’t about necessarily about lighting. The illumination that it’s putting out isn’t necessarily as functional. It’s more about the ambiance of the fixture itself and how it attracts attention and space.”
Define your space
Lighting can also be used to help define a space. To distinguish a kitchen and living room in an open floor plan, statement fixtures can offer a visual separation. “We’re currently working with a client who has an open floor plan, and her kitchen, dining room and living room all share the main floor,” explained Valentine, “and so we’re mixing finishes while using different fixtures in each space that help create a distinct look and feel while still speaking to each other.”
Go eclectic
Gone are the days of painstakingly matching the metal finishes of hardware and fixtures throughout a room. Today, it’s in style to mix metals. The same goes for light fixtures. The key is to find pieces that feel related without being too matchy-matchy. “It’s a little out of the comfort zone for some people, but I tell them not to feel like everything has to match or be in the same finish,” said Lisa Ball of Lisa Ball Design, an interior design studio at International Market Square. “We’ve started breaking those rules. Plus, mixing things up adds interest.
“You want to have some kind of common thread, but you don’t have to feel as limited in terms of style or finish.” Prospect Refuge recently completed a project that featured a mid-century– inspired chandelier in the dining room and a classical frosted black pendant in the kitchen. “I like to mix eras so it’s not 100-percent mid-century across the board,” Sass said. “You can pull from different eras and aesthetics as long as they relate to one another in some way.” Mix up styles and finishes for eyecatching elements and combine unexpected materials, such as wood and crystal, to keep things interesting.
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Shop in person
When shopping online, it’s difficult to get a true sense of size and proportion. “More often than not, people tend to buy undersized lights,” said Ball. “If you aren’t looking in proportion to the size of the room, it can get dwarfed. “I think it’s important to go see things in person.” Bring a photo of your space and measurements of the room and tables to an interior design studio or lighting showroom to get direction on finding the right scale for a lighting fixture for your space.
Form meets function
Lighting can also provide an overlooked opportunity to hang a piece of functional art. Designers are making even the most functional lights more decorative. “I tell my clients to look at it as an investment or piece of art, and to think about it as more than just a functional piece,” Sass said. “Lighting can take a room to the next level and offer an artistic moment.”
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More isn’t always more
When picking out lighting, remember that not every single fixture has to make a statement. “Some lights have to be in the background or serve a purely functional role,” Ball said. “Not everyone can be a star.”
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March 2018 / Home Guide / Southwest Journal 29
LIVIN’ THING
Time to prune
S
now is coming down fast (again) as I type this so, though I find it hard to believe, spring really isn’t too far away, which means it’s time to talk about pruning shrubs. First, though, I want to let you know that I’ve changed the name of my column and blog from Everyday Gardener to Livin’ Thing (livinthing.com). I made the change because I want to write more about all sorts of livin’ things rather than focusing solely on gardening. Last week, for example, I learned many fascinating things about animals while reading “Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind” by Sy Montgomery and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. Such as: Despite their fictional representation, great white sharks rarely bite people and, if they do, they usually spit them out quickly; mother hummingbirds leave the nest 10–110 times a day to find food for their babies; and a single sucker (and they have 1,600 of them) on a large, male giant Pacific octopus can lift 30 pounds.
ɕɕTrim your shrub so it looks like a tiny tree, led by a main limb. Illustration by Mike Hoium 30
By Meleah Maynard When I die, I hope to find that reincarnation is actually a thing, so I can come back as a nature and science writer like Montgomery, who travels the world reporting on the lives and behavior of creatures. Today, in my current form, I’d like to offer you some insight into pruning, which can be trickier than it looks. March is a great time to prune many shrubs because they are dormant, or nearly so, which means they won’t produce an unruly amount of new growth like they would in warmer weather. Steer clear of shrubs that bloom on last year’s growth — lilacs, forsythias, chokecherries, azaleas and rhododendrons — or you’ll cut off this season’s blooms, and that can be a real bummer. So, wait until shortly after those beauties have bloomed to get out the clippers. Feel free to go ahead and chop shrubs that are more about their foliage than flowers, such as dogwoods, sumac, viburnums, burning bush, barberry, alpine currant and ninebark. But take care to follow some basic strategies for pruning, or over time (I speak from experience) you’ll end up with weird-looking shrubs that have big-old trunks and lots of little, spindly twigs sticking up all over the place at the top.
Southwest Journal / Home Guide / March 2018
To keep shrubs looking their best and at the right height, remove about a third of the older branches each year. Cut them off as close to the ground as possible to encourage new growth from the roots. For monster shrubs that have hardly ever seen a pruner — so they are a zillion feet tall and have all manner of out-of-control growth going everywhere — DO NOT grab a pruner and hack them back to a reasonable height or you will create the ugly shrubs I described earlier. Instead, use a pruner, lopping shears and/or saw to cut all of the branches down to the ground. Yes, it is hard work and your shrubs will look awful for a season. But you will not believe how gorgeous shrubs that are rejuvenated in this way can be in just one year’s time. If you simply cannot bear to cut an older shrub to the ground, but it is at least the right height, you can try giving it a proper trim. Start by examining the cluster of top growth and choosing the strongest branch that is going in the direction you want it to. Remove all of the other branches back to the trunk or a main limb. You’re doing this right if what used to be a lot of branches coming off one main limb or the trunk is now one lone branch that looks much like the leader of a tiny tree (see the illustration by my lovely husband, Mike Hoium). Got shrubs that are older, but not really out of control? Try doing a “hard prune,” where you cut branches back by half or even twothirds. If you do this, your cuts should be below the spot where a branch forks so you’ll be left with neat, straight branches. For a more complete list of shrubs and more in-depth pruning information, check out this University of Minnesota Extension publication: extension.umn. edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/ pruning-trees-shrubs/. Meleah Maynard is a writer, editor and master gardener. For more gardening ideas and tips, visit her blog, which has been renamed Livin’ Thing, at livinthing.com.
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