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CommentsSomething Old, Something New
Elegant touches meet contemporary comforts
By Jack Gordon
Photo by Jim Kruger, Landmark Photography
With this home, builder Curt Swanson, president of Swanson Homes, blends timeless elegance with a flowing floor plan and numerous modern touches. The intertwined themes of old and new are established immediately in the grand entryway, with its luxuriously textured walls and Old World stone floors, both features that continue through much of the main level. The floor’s mosaic marble inlays add glimmers of Art Deco styling.
To the right of the entry lies the spacious office, where textured walls turn dark, pebbled, and dramatic, setting off rich cherry crown molding. To the left is the formal dining room, with a custom chandelier that complements the fabric of the chairs.
The great room features a unique, double-barrel vaulted ceiling with arches precisely reflecting the curve atop the expansive windows. A built-in plasma TV above the stone fireplace adds another modern touch.
Overhead in the enormous kitchen is another distinctive ceiling: two insets with crossed diagonal beams. Ebony and ivory are the woodwork themes, with cabinetry of distressed ivory along the walls answered by distressed black enamel cabinets in the large island. This Old World kitchen offers ultra-modern amenities, such as a built-in vegetable steamer and restaurant-quality appliances.
Adjoining the kitchen is an inviting screen porch featuring cedar beams overhead and a gas fireplace with stone surround. Those who prefer sun to shade can choose instead a spacious open deck with wrought-iron railings.
Photo by Jim Kruger
Landmark Photography
Two stairways access the upper level. The custom main staircase is a showpiece, featuring an iron-railing design adapted from a French château, limestone risers with cherry treads, and a handsome limestone landing. At the top lies the enormous owner’s suite. The owner’s bedroom boasts a barrel-vaulted ceiling with crosshatch moldings. The expansive bath is floored in marble and granite with glass-tile inlays. Cabinetry of distressed black enamel recalls the theme established by the kitchen island. A flat-screen TV faces the big soaking tub, while the commodious marble-and-granite shower offers two showerheads and adjustable body sprays in the walls and ceiling. Generous his-and-her walk-in closets complete the suite.
The textured wall treatments continue upstairs, throughout the owner’s suite and beyond. Two additional bedrooms, each with a walk-in closet, share a Jack-and-Jill bath with separate, private vanities. A fourth bedroom/bonus room, served by a private bath, could be a children’s play area or study, with built-in game table and desk. It could also serve as a nanny’s suite, an exercise room, or a bedroom for an eldest child.
The unfinished walkout basement has in-floor heat and is plumbed for a bath and wet bar. It awaits only an owner’s imagination. Home theater? Fifth bedroom? Or why not both? There is plenty of room.
Jack Gordon is an Eden Prairie writer.
Builder
Swanson Homes
Home location
Eden Prairie
Suppliers
Appollo Systems
Cabinet Concepts & Interiors
Cartier Lighting
Guyer’s Builder Supply
Haferman Water Conditioning, Inc.
Harmony Melamine Creations
Hedberg Landscape & Masonry Supplies
IDC Doors
James Hardie Siding Products
Minneapolis Glass Company
11 ISSUES (1 YEAR)
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