Kitchen of the Week: Kitchen Returns to the Craftsman Era

Minnesota designers incorporate fine woodwork, Arts and Crafts stenciling, and handmade lights and tiles into their new space

Becky Harris January 15, 2016

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected." I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.

Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More

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Searching for their first home in St. Paul, Minnesota, David Heide and Michael Crull soon realized that the houses in their favorite neighborhood were selling within a day in bidding wars. After a long hunt, they found what they describe as “a mess,” with a color and material palette of “baby blue and dirt,” on a street they’d once deemed too busy. But they were in a seller’s market, and they knew they could make the most of the 1922 Prairie School house’s great bones and Craftsman details. A new addition gave them the kitchen of their dreams, complete with beautiful craftsmanship, materials and details worthy of their home’s vintage.

David Heide Design Studio

Photos by Susan Gilmore

Kitchen of the Week
Who lives here: This is the home of design professionals David Heide and Michael Crull
Location: Summit Hill neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota
Size: 300 square feet (28 square meters), including breakfast room

Heide and Crull are not just the homeowners but also design professionals at their own firm, David Heide Design Studio. They’ve worked on many Prairie School, Arts and Crafts and Craftsman restorations and renovations in the area, which is why they had such great vision for this home despite its sad state when they bought it.

Philadelphia Cream upper wall paint color and Sandy Hook Gray lower wall paint color: Benjamin Moore; stenciling: Trimbelle River Studio

BEFORE: Let’s take a look at how the home changed. Here is the “before” floor plan. On the left, you can see the back entry — “you basically walked in and fell down the basement stairs,” Heide says. The couple began to plan a basement renovation that would incorporate a proper back entry.

AFTER: Their basement renovation plans soon grew into a 14-foot-deep addition off the back of the house, and incorporated not only a proper entry but also a new kitchen, a powder room and a covered porch. The original kitchen became a breakfast room open to the new kitchen.

David Heide Design Studio

As specialists in these types of renovations, the couple knew all the right people to help them. They enlisted cabinetmaker Jon Frost to create beautiful red birch cabinetry that echoes the woodwork seen throughout the home. “Jon’s talent consistently makes us look good in our business,” Heide says.

Note the brackets underneath the upper cabinets and the feet on the lower cabinets. “This makes the cabinets look less like they were just screwed into the wall,” Heide says. The knobs are of amber glass.

Trimbelle River Studio, a company that specializes in Arts and Crafts-era stenciling, did the stenciling on the red birch over the windows. You can also see its work between the two wall paint colors in the breakfast room.

Range: Wolf; Revival subway tile: Mission Tile West

David Heide Design Studio

“In any project, you have to know what the most important element is and what the supporting players will be,” Heide says. Because the beautiful cabinets were the stars, the couple chose soft greens for the countertop and tile so as not to overwhelm with contrast. The counters are Typhoon Green granite, and the backsplash is a handmade soft green tile that picks up on colors found in the counters. The cabinets have a shellac finish that enhances the depth of their faces.

The new oak floors match the original hardwoods in the home. The couple had them sanded and dyed dark brown. “Dying the floors gives them more depth. Dye penetrates more than a stain,” Heide says.

David Heide Design Studio

It’s hard to call the lighting a supporting player. The couple designed it themselves and had the glass shades blown at Lundberg Studios. They then had the light fixtures made at local company Lightworks. They also switch between two sets of glass shades — amber for winter, because it lets off brighter light, and this deep red for summer.

David Heide Design Studio

The panel fronts on the dishwasher and refrigerator blend with the cabinetry. The design underneath the sink provides ventilation for the radiator behind it; Heide and Crull used a similar strategy for an air conditioner return vent over the refrigerator. The apron-front farmhouse sink is another era-appropriate touch.

Casement windows: Marvin; Shaw’s Original sink: Rohl

David Heide Design Studio

When I asked Heide if they collected anything in particular, he laughed, not knowing where to begin. Russel Wright is a favorite, along with other pottery and art glass from the 1920s through the early 1960s, and many other items.

Before Photo

BEFORE: Unfortunately, the kitchen’s original details had been ripped out years before Heide and Crull bought the house — this “before” photo gives you a good idea of how far they had to go to bring it back to the appropriate era. The angle in this photo and the following one match up.

David Heide Design Studio

Now this breakfast room sits where the old kitchen was, while the new kitchen is part of the addition. The small table is Stickley Brothers with a Harvey Ellis inlay; the chairs are Stickley reproductions. Heide and Crull like to use the shelves for cookbooks, magazines and some of their many collections. The new windows are casement windows that match the windows in the original house.

Windows: Marvin

David Heide Design Studio

“Give us two hours, and we’ll completely rearrange the house,” Heide says with a laugh. “We also seem to change with the seasons.” Here, the breakfast room serves as an office. A carved Buddhist altar from Thailand houses a Kosta Boda glass piece, and a print of a painting called The Threshing
hangs above.

With this setup, on a typical night, Heide will finish his e-mails and keep Crull company while he makes dinner.

David Heide Design Studio

In another arrangement, they switched out the artwork to a limited-edition panel of CFA Voysey woodblocked wallpaper reproduced by John Burrows. This one is called The Stag.

Although the couple has enjoyed renovating as an ongoing project for the past 15 years, they’re happy to have it completed. Besides, they still can take two hours and turn it all upside-down anytime they want.

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