Built in 1917, this grand brick home overlooks Lake of the Isles. “It’s the prettiest in Minneapolis’ chain of lakes,” says interior designer Heather Peterson. “The neighborhood is leafy, and all of the homes are unique. There is a boat house with rental boats and an icehouse with rental skates. In the winter, this lake is the site of the Luminary Loppet, an incredible gathering of people in the frigid night, lit by thousands of luminarias, some in ice pendants that look like blown glass.”
Perched high on a rise, the home commands sweeping views of the lake and retains incredible original details, including a slate roof and intricate plaster ceiling moldings. With its large, well-proportioned rooms, it was the perfect fit for a young family relocating from Seattle. “It was a major upsize from their previous home, and our first order of business was to scale everything correctly while space planning,” Heather notes. “With so much space, we needed to create reasons to use the rooms. They wanted the home to feel cozy for their family of four, but to graciously accommodate Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd, and fundraisers for the kids’ school.”
The wife’s aesthetic was clear, drawing inspiration from Sister Parish and English Country style. “In Seattle they had worked with a now well-known designer early in her career, and they wanted to use the pieces she had specified for their former living room,” Heather shares. “With a real sense of kismet, we realized that those pieces fit the new family room perfectly, and the textiles even worked with the existing window treatments, which we decided to keep.” The husband, meanwhile, was more interested in a clean, mid-century aesthetic, which Heather brought to life in his home office.
Heather describes the scope of work simply: decorating. “A previous owner had renovated the kitchen, added the family room, and made some other modifications that made the old house very functional for modern family life,” she recalls. “We were tasked with furnishing the rooms and making some adjustments to the renovations, to bring everything in line with the vision.”
The biggest challenge came when deciding which existing elements to keep and what to replace. “The question is one of strategy,” Heather explains. “How much do we need to update for maximum impact? The previous renovation was quite contemporary, so our goal was to bring it in line with the home without starting over.”
In the kitchen, this meant introducing new lighting and hardware, painting the island, adding window treatments, and selecting softer, prettier barstools. The powder room underwent a gut remodel, but its compact footprint made it a manageable undertaking. The family room featured cherry built-ins that were fairly classic, but a black granite fireplace surround dated the whole composition. “Hand-made tiles from Kristen Falkirk, more traditional sconces, and a vintage painting made the cherry feel more appropriate,” Heather says. “All of these spaces now feel complete and aligned with the other decorating.”
Rather than erase the home’s layered history, Heather embraced it, proving that thoughtful decorating can be just as transformative as a full renovation. The result is a house where century-old character, collected furnishings, and family traditions coexist beautifully.
