Photos by Spacecrafting
Why would a woman with three young boys, a dog, and a husband who hunts want an all-white house? Here’s the backstory.
When pregnant with her first child, she and her husband were working on their first home. She asked him to take care of it all—which resulted in a traditionally styled home with lots of dark-stained wood and a masculine aesthetic. When a different property became available in their Chanhassen neighborhood, they decided to build a bigger home for their growing family. Now, she wanted to be involved.
“I want white everywhere,” the homeowner told Jennifer Horstman, ASID, Green AP, interior designer, and owner of Lenox House Design. The husband’s only request was to incorporate reclaimed wood.
In collaboration with Ador Homes, Horstman designed a five-bed, five-bath, 5,000-square-foot home on three levels for the busy family. “The home truly reflects the wife’s desires while showcasing her husband’s hunting trophies and allowing the kiddos to run amok,” Horstman says. “We started with the brightest white we could find, Benjamin Moore Super White, for most of the walls.”
But the house isn’t completely void of color. The designer then introduced texture via a lizard skin-style green wallpaper in the entry, abstract wall covering in the powder room, and reclaimed wood for the fireplace mantel, ceiling beams, and walls of the lower-level family room—featuring wood sourced from barns in Kentucky (as the husband’s family has racehorses in that state). Black became a unifying feature, along with the wife’s favorite green.
The double-sided fireplace between the dining room and hearth room is wrapped in a marble-like wall covering. Artwork purchased after the couple married is hung above green velvet chairs and functioned as “a jumping off point for the palette in the living room,” Horstman says.
Of course, the heart of the home is the kitchen, with high ceilings, double islands, durable quartz countertops, an open-concept feel, and attached pantry. “We designed everything in the kitchen to be user-friendly, along with a fridge in the pantry with a glass front, two dishwashers, and a bar. This area is about lots of family and entertaining.”
The dining room floor is an ombre tile pattern that feathers into a custom-stained white oak floor. The hearth room, on the other side of the fireplace, is the prime spot for watching morning cartoons or enjoying a glass of wine (parents only!). Plants throughout the home add life, layers, and texture. The house also includes a sport court and gun room.
Although the family has discovered the stairwell walls need to be painted every year due to the recent addition of a puppy, “all of the materials we selected are durable and resilient,” Horstman says. “The house is timeless in a comfortable, always-relevant way. And everything inside is holding up well!”
