Back to Basics

This 1915 sq. ft. house in Wayzata, Minnesota isn't especially big on space. Commissioned by LIFE magazine to create the 1999 Dream House, a house for the "average" American family, the team of Mulfinger, Susanka, Mahady & Partners (now SALA Architects, Inc.) chose to focus on quality over quantity.

The result was two houses, the Back to Basics house, shown here, and the Upgrade house, which was full of costly extras. With the Basic house, the architects were able to prove that budget considerations don't mean you have to sacrifice style. Taking their cue from older homes, they focused on creating usable spaces that were full of high-quality details. As architect Tim Fuller explains, "We really learned from older houses in our design of this house."

The design team took their inspiration from the traditional American house shape, a block that features four rooms upstairs and four downstairs. Building upon this basic "Midwestern foursquare" design, the team of architects chose to open the living spaces while defining them with details like flooring that changes direction and ceilings of different heights. This allows the kitchen, dining, and living rooms, which open to one larger living space, to remain defined. By keeping the overall shape simple, they were able to keep the costs down and invest in the details that would make it special, like the "floating theme" created by painting the edges of the architectural supports dark blue.

Color, an affordable way to add detail, plays a critical role in this house. "We used green, red, blue, yellow, and purple throughout the house. Red provides 'punch' while the dark blue window sashes are an unexpected touch that frames each view," says architect Jean Larson, who worked on the Basics house and is now with Rehkamp Larson Architects, Inc. As Tim Fuller explains, "In our design of this house, we really focused on our color scheme, not architectural details. We wanted to use colors that would really stand out and be unique." Pale maple wood is used throughout the house for a consistent look that makes the space feel bigger than it actually is. Bamboo flooring contributes to the clean, light look. In the living room, the power of color is clearly evident. The simple sheetrock fireplace, made bold with a painted surround, is the focal point of the space, and the large windows can be enjoyed from window seats painted in a warm yellow. Seafoam green walls recall the colors of the trees just outside.

One of the main precepts guiding the design of this house is: Why invest money on space that you're not going to use every day? According to designer Sarah Susanka, co-founder of the team who worked on this project and author of the book Creating the Not So Big House, when you're on a budget you'll usually get the most satisfaction out of investing your resources in spaces that you will use most. This smaller-but-better philosophy also places more value on quality over quantity. For example, the dining room is not overly large, yet it has nice details like a partition wall in warm yellow that separates this room from the front entrance. Large windows let in lots of light and give those sitting at the table a view of the outdoors. According to Larson, it's both the formal and informal dining space. In other words, the architects' time and resources went into usable space, not a room that would be used solely for formal occasions.

Although they learned from the attention to detail in older homes, the architects were sure to include desirable modern features in the design of this house, such as the walk-in closet in the master bedroom room. This way, the house really offers the best of both worlds: the charm (and not to mention affordability) of smaller spaces, the quality of decades past, and the modern design and convenient amenities of today.

Credits

Text
Jodi Nagel

Rehkamp Larson Architects, Inc.
jean@rehkamplarson.com