Houzz Tour: A Minimalist Home That’s Family-Friendly Too

Designing for a young family that prefers minimalist style is tricky. Interior designer Alison Kripke rose to the challenge by adding streamlined yet soft and comfortable furniture, creating spots that lend themselves to easy gathering, mixing lots of rich, warm textures and providing plenty of storage. The exterior of the home was designed to fit into a lovely New England country lane in a more traditional style, so the designer expertly added transitional touches that blended the modern touches with the traditional windows.

Houzz at a Glance

Who lives here:

A family of five

Location:

Norwell, Massachusetts

Size:

Five bedrooms, five full bathrooms two half bathrooms

Designer:

Alison Kripke of Rüme

In the entry, a futuristic curved chair lets guests know that the more traditional exterior was deceiving. Walnut-stained ash floors with an oil finish and a custom walnut handrail foreshadow what’s to come.

Admittedly, this is the decor in its most minimalist and perfectly staged state. The photos were taken right after the family had moved in and before they unpacked all of their things. The living room is set up for comfort and entertaining, with lots of spots to stretch out and lounge. The reclaimed beams on the ceiling add a traditional New England touch that works well with the windows.

The homeowners prefer a minimalist style, so Kripke stuck to lots of neutral colors, adding interest via pieces that bring in natural textures seen outside the windows. For example, she customized a trio of burnished bronze wire drum tables from Crate & Barrel with marble tops to create a cocktail table in the center of the room.

“He loves his fires,” Kripke says of one of the homeowners. The custom walnut built-in on the left is outfitted for firewood storage. The hearth is custom concrete.

Italian chaise longues sit side by side — one looking into the room and the other facing the view.

The row of crystal chandeliers are in view as soon as one walks in the front door. “It’s important to add these juxtapositions, and these add a glamorous touch,” Kripke says.

The dining space is located between the living room and the kitchen. To create a table with lots of texture, Kripke came up with a unique idea. “I knew stone would be too cold, but we needed something durable,” she says. She wrapped a piece of marine-grade plywood with a gray sheet from Restoration Hardware and finished it with polyurethane.

In the kitchen, white cabinets are warmed by an island wrapped in walnut. The floor is a durable porcelain tile that looks like concrete. Likewise, the counters are a quartz that looks like marble but is tougher.

The kitchen sink enjoys a lovely view out to the woods behind the house.

This cozy den is one of the family’s favorite gathering spots. “They have this big house but love to tell me how they all fit on this sofa,” Kripke says with a laugh. One of the clients wanted to have a large manly sofa somewhere in the house, and this was the perfect spot.

The cabinetmakers built in shelves to house the media equipment, bookshelves and toys. The family has plenty of room in here to unpack book boxes.

The basement is another family gathering spot, with comfy couches for the kids and a bar for the adults. The kids love to play hockey and have a basement practice rink behind the bar.

The original plans had a narrow bathroom in the master suite; Kripke asked her clients if they preferred more of a luxe hotel feel. They went for it. A stunning stacked slate surround and a pendant chandelier are the focal point as the couple enters their suite past a large custom door on a track. The toilet and shower are private and separate from the bathroom space that one passes through to enter the bedroom. There is a water closet to the left and a shower to the right.

“Because they were walking through the bathroom to get to the bedroom, I wanted the bathtub to feel like a piece of furniture and not a bathroom fixture,” Kripke says.

The designer enlisted an old friend, Cape Cod boatbuilder Peter Eastman of Howard Boats, to craft a custom wooden bathtub. “I figured if he knew how to keep the water out, he could figure out how to keep water in,” she says.

The carpenters at Woodworking by Peterson went the extra mile, collaborating with Eastman to match the rest of the wood in the bathroom to the tub. They left the iroko wood out in the sun to darken it before sealing it for a perfect match. The coordinating tile on the mirror walls is from Ann Sacks.

An extended headboard softens the minimalist master bedroom and helps the bed stand up to the scale of the ceiling. A boxy and comfortable European chair creates another juxtaposition — the heavy piece appears to float.

“The kids wanted all kinds of bright colors on all of their walls. We found a compromise by letting each of them pick a color for one accent wall,” Kripke says. This orange was custom mixed to match the shade of Hermès boxes.

“None of the kids’ rooms have a particular theme. We tied this room together with rustic reclaimed wood and color,” the designer says.

A bright green wall enlivens the other son’s room, while a gravity-defying bookcase from South Africa adds a playful touch. All of the kids have comfy chairs in their rooms for reading.

The rustic look continues via the stone tile in the boys’ shared bathroom, balanced by elegant polished limestone countertops. The clean mirror frames and faucets add juxtaposition.

In the little girl’s room, soft linens and light blue juxtapose a reclaimed-wood bed. The woven rug has a cable-knit look, and a cloud-like chair is a comfy spot.

Kripke matched the girl’s blue bedroom walls with a glass tile in her bathroom and crafted the custom bamboo cabinets. The mirror was cut to house the four square lights.

Custom woodwork and cabinetry (except kitchen): Woodworking by Peterson in Pembroke, Massachusetts

Kitchen cabinetry: Faneuil Kitchen Cabinet

Bathtub: Howard Boats