The Minimalist Family
It's a very cool day. I've got a home tour for you that will delight and amaze. Sara and Travis have kindly agreed to give us glimpse of their ultra modern, ultra sleek home. And. We get to see both the before and after shots.
Travis has been described as having "a near zen like aversion to excess." After seeing the pictures, I think you'll agree that's a pretty accurate description.
As is my custom, I'm going to feature a few of the amazing photos here, but to get the full picture take the photo tour here.
The extra amazing part: Sara and Travis are parents of two wonderful kids (Scout and Calder — love those names!) with number 3 on the way. Where in the world is the clutter?!!
This last picture is from the "before" house, but I love the texture of it. It's right out of an Anthropologie catalog photoshoot.
Labels: home
posted by Gabrielle of Design Mom at Thursday, February 15, 2007
26 Comments:
And yet I am sure that my kids could find some way to mess that house up.
Although I destest clutter myself, I don't think I could function in a house as orderly as that. Where's the creativity?? Where are the signs of life??
I love it. It feels open and unhurried.
It's so funny that you mention signs of life Melissa, because I was just thinking about how lively it is to be in Sara and Travis's home. Maybe it's something about feeling like your part of a blank canvas — all those possibilities.
The photos don't show off how absolutely beautiful the lighting is in this home. It is nice to something well done in their own unique style. BRAVO!
I meant to say it's nice to SEE something well done in their own unique style. and yes, still a BRAVO!
I would love to see the childrens' rooms, and I would love to hear the Stratfords talk about how their house orients their children (to creativity, to peace, to fun...).
i love it. i'm very minimalist in my decorating and i have two kids, but somehow kid-clutter happens ten seconds after i've cleaned up and cleared out. how does it look when there aren't pictures to be taken???
regardless, i think it is awesome and they did a great job with the rehab.
amazing. so peaceful and zen like. i love it. nothing muddling it up or distracting the eye. it seems like a place you can think clearly in.
amazing! i aspire to that state, but i know there's no way in the world that my home could ever look like that. i wish i knew their secrets of how to keep their home so orderly. my home looks like a bomb went off every day.
forgot to mention--- i LOVE all of their modern fixtures, flat cabinet surfaces, handles, faucets, etc. i totally vascillate between the absolute minimalist look and my love for almost circus-like color. i think i'm always crossing the line.
Cool, but where are the toys? Do the kids only get to play in their rooms, or are are the toys just squirreled away somewhere?
Toys- yes, that was my thought, too... where are the kids allowed to play and create and make messes?
qrgce
Awesome. I love it.
I really, really love your home photo tours. What a great idea! I've loved all of them so far. Lots of great ideas, and just in time for me, since I recently started a home inspiration journal (I am dreaming of moving this year or next and even possibly to a house). I wish I could have a home office that looked like this place. But I definitely couldn't pull it off through the whole house.
I can definitely see possibilities in these room, but I don't particularly care for them the way they are. It looks like no one lives there. I can hardly believe anyone does. It looks very cold.
That place is breathtaking.
I know this family and the kids aren't allowed to have toys EVER. just kidding. i think it's probably in this toyless condition for picture-taking purposes, as I plan to do someday so my family far away can see my home, too.
I love the hidden tv projector and creative way to seat in the kitchen. amazing transformation
The funny thing is that although I love the french antique-y look in my house that was posted last week, I TOTALLY appreciate the purity in this design style! Gorgeous in it's clean simplicity.
I wish I could have like 10 houses, and decorate them in all differnt styles. Great JOB!
Ah, I totally loved liz's comment. Yes, our children are NOT allowed toys. Ha!
To address a few comments:
We've only lived in the home since April 06; the renovation JUST ended, and we still don't have anything up on the walls or even finished purchasing furniture. So though we're pleased with how the house is looking, it's far from done.
That said, there will never be a plastic Fisher Price kitchen in the living room for kids to play with. We're fans of storing the majority of our kids toys in their rooms. The toys still migrate into the living room and kitchen and I'm trying to figure out a system for storing some toys in the living area. It's a work in progress. When we took the photos, we opted to clean up all the toys, as I'm sure all you would for pictures of your homes! But just under the kitchen table is a built-in bench that stores all kinds of paint, play dough, kids' kitchen gadgets... plenty of things to stimulate creativity. And when we're done using it, the clean up is quick and easy.
The kids' rooms are much more brightly colored: hot pink, red, and orange for Scout, and brown with lime green for Calder's room. But there again, these rooms are far from being done. Maybe we'll post updated photos of the entire house when it's more "finished". These photos focused on the areas our contractor did so we could post them on his website.
Thanks for looking! It's fun to read all your comments. I love the home tours Gabby. Can't wait to see who's up next week!
Sara-
I was going to say the same thing as Liz! Thanks for setting everyone straight. You house looks amazing. Truly amazing.
i think it is stunning, really amazing
This post has been on my mind. I love the home and it inspires me to implement some of these principles into my own space. ... Simplify, open, put away, white, light... I think a space like this inspires creativity, productivity, living, and thinking by minimizing distractions. I admire the strong choices and wonderful transformation of space. Funny how this minimalist approach seems to strike such an emotional chord with people. Like we need to justify all our "stuff". I find that the state of my desk is often a reflection of the state of my soul. When it is stacked high with papers, potential projects, books, and who knows what else... my creativity is stuck, my productivity stalled, and my thinking clouded. Today I'm going to devote some minimalist energy to my desk. Thanks for inviting us into your home Sara.
Wow, the legendary Stratford rennovation! I'm so glad I got to see it. I love that TV projection idea, too. And Sara, I like your description of the kids' stuff storage cabinet.
Love this house...I wondered if you might have any information about what kind of wood the floors are. I would love to put this wood in my next home. I love the slight variation in color. Thanks for your help.
for stringbing:
the floors are oak. we had to lay new floors in the kitchen and living room; the rest we just refinished. we used a special stain, which was called ebony, and then the guys who stained it immediately wiped it right off. if you want, i can email you the name of the stain... but i don't have access to it right now. then we put on two coats of matte finish poly. hope that helps!
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