Inside the Transformation of a Moody 1920s Craftsman in Minneapolis
Photography by Taylor Hall O’Brien. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Anne McDonald is the interior designer to call for refreshing old homes. She spent nearly a decade working with her father on the builder side of the industry, so she pays special attention to the architectural details that need to be maintained or restored—and she knows just what colors and materials to introduce that will make the historical features sing. The front porch was once overflowing with sports equipment and other odds and ends. “But the homeowners really wanted to be able to play board games on summer nights or have their coffee and read the paper during the winter.” Anne upgraded the porch by ripping out the old vinyl tiles and replacing them with wood planks that she painted a muted turquoise. In the living room, Anne played up the original molding and brick fireplace with a structured, tufted sofa and offset the sharp angles with a pair of rounded Nickey Kehoe chairs and linen Rose Tarlow Otello Ferro drapes. An antique rug mingles with an embroidered footstool and a glass-topped magazine rack. Behind a Federico leather wingback chair from Cisco Home, Anne fitted built-in bookshelves with glass doors that are meant to look original. The adjacent dining room is papered in Cole & Son’s Royal Fernery wallpaper for a lush, verdant effect. The homeowners wanted to keep their oak pedestal table, so Anne paired it with mid-century teak dining chairs and reupholstered the seats in charcoal bouclé. Since the house has small proportions, Anne made the hallway into a moment with pale green walls, dark teal trim, a vintage runner, and sisal carpet on the stairs. The bathroom has a new dark wood vanity, a recessed medicine cabinet, and glossy sage tile from Fireclay with Carrara marble piping. The graphic wood grain on the original door to a boy’s bedroom is complemented by subtly geometric wallpaper and a gray Blu Dot bed. At the top of the stairs, Anne created an immersive office with a Jacobean-inspired floral wallpaper (it’s the Artemis Wallpaper from House of Hackney). Anne designed the built-in desk to fit into the compact space. The rolling chair is a family heirloom. “The porch was basically used as a landing zone for all sorts of things,” says Anne. All the furniture was too small for the living room, so no one ever wanted to sit there. The old bathroom was devoid of personality, but the original hexagonal tile and cast iron tub were worth saving.