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FeedNeutral Gets Glam
by Alecia Stevens
Photo by Dana Wheelock
A few months earlier, the couple had begun construction on a downtown St. Paul loft at the Lowry, a condo conversion project in the vintage Medical Arts Building, built in 1911. Since A.J.’s husband, Chuck, is a neurosurgeon who works in St. Paul, the couple wanted a place where he could spend the night if he worked late. Yet not until that fateful day on the treadmill had it occurred to A.J. that they could make the move entirely.
The couple combined two units into one, creating a home of 2,600 square feet. Like most lofts, the living, dining, and kitchen areas are open to one another, while the owners’ suite and study have doors to offer more privacy. The second, smaller unit now serves as the cozy family room and space for playing games, knitting, and reading. The Burtons left the second kitchen intact for guests or for hosting a casual party.
After a lifetime of living with “old stuff,” A.J. knew she needed help furnishing a modern loft. “This was so different,” she says. “I understood how to do an older home, but I had no idea how to do this.”
She called in Janet Gridley, principal of interior design firm Gridley Vaughan, who works in Minneapolis and Dallas. The designer was especially pleased to come in at the beginning of the project, when she could influence the architecture, as well as the furnishings. “I kept thinking about where the Burtons were coming from”—both literally and metaphorically, she says. “At our first meeting, I looked at their existing furniture—lovely, but all antiques—and lots of it. Then [A.J.] told me none of it would go to the new loft.”
Photo by Dana Wheelock
That said, she left bare the original terrazzo flooring, hidden under carpeting in many of the other units, to reveal the rich history of the one-time medical building. Damage to the floor in the living room is a souvenir from an old dental chair that was bolted in place on that spot. The floor’s palette of brown, gray, and cream inspired Gridley’s material choices throughout the loft, including the creamy lacquered cabinets, and the brown, cream, and gray marble countertops and window ledges.
Sandblasted, exposed concrete structural columns and stark, silvery HVAC ductwork coexist here with finishes worthy of a fine handmade frame. The effect is almost archeological, as if the elements were unearthed and exposed like a fragment of fresco, an aura that no doubt owes much to Gridley’s studies in Greek and Roman art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. One wall is covered in Phillip Jeffries’ natural raffia, while several others feature the work of artist Stuart Manning. The entryway shows off Manning’s masterful hand-pounded, silver-leaf squares, roughed up with a steel brush; another wall features his smoky Venetian plaster; and yet another he painted metallic silver and sage green horizontal stripes.
The finishes aren’t reserved for the walls, however. Gridley brings these details to the furniture as well. A pair of 90-inch Barbara Barry sofas, covered in tawny linen velvet, feature customized bases and feet stained with Baker’s Aged Vermeil finish, which gives them a glint of glamour. The other furnishings exemplify Gridley’s preference for an eclectic mix: a Formations coffee table, Troscan dining chairs, A.Rudin lounge chairs, and a Christian Liaigre leather bed—each adding its own personality and price point.
Photo by Dana Wheelock
Though the furnishings are neutral, the space is far from vanilla. “A.J. loves red, so we used it as an accent in each of the rooms,” Gridley says. Rugs by Aubrey Angelo decorate the terrazzo floor like paintings on a wall—each with a different flavor. Custom red wool rugs ground both the bedroom and family room, while a black and cream felted-wool, namad-style rug welcomes visitors in the entry. The loft reveals its subtle use of color, pattern, and texture gradually; its elegant details require quiet attention to appreciate fully.
“All of the kids say, ‘Mom, this is so not you,’” A.J. says. Well, it is now. The Burtons clearly revel in their new, urban loft life. “We love walking along the river, walking to dinner, and knowing the owner of the local restaurant,” she says. “We just got it right away. We love the feeling of freedom from so much stuff.”
Alecia Stevens is a Minnneapolis writer and interior designer.
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