Since moving to Minnesota almost exactly one year ago (after briefly living in my parent’s basement), we purchased our current home. How we ended up on a beautiful sunny block in Saint Paul is a bit of a long story, but the short version is that we knew we wanted to buy a modern home. Little did we know that we’d ultimately end up with a 100+ year-old bungalow with modern insides and landscaping, but as soon as we walked through the front door, we knew we wanted to move into the Blue House on Goodrich.

Now more than ever, we’re spending time at home. As we reflect on a year in this house, we are constantly amazed at the design details, materials, and reflections of light throughout. Along with our items of furniture and artifacts collected over the years, we often walk into a room and declare “ah, it’s so good to be home” or “I love it here.” Since we’re homebodies, those thoughts come naturally, but now in the time of self-quarantining and stay-at-home orders, being home and enjoying your home have more impact and influence on how you feel and experience this time. We reflect on this daily and are so grateful that we have the ability to work remotely and that we are surrounded by a lovely home – inside and out.

A benefit of the last two months has been an accelerated understanding of how we use our spaces and how we can make tweaks and changes to elevate the existing design, while making the house work for our lifestyle. As we think about what the next few years or decade ahead will look like, we envision small changes on the inside and more radical changes on the outside. We talk about how we can make the house more sustainable, lower maintenance and accessible while maintaining the original and rethought design and materials.

First up on the evolution of our home is the front landing and landscape design. We’re working with the visionary designers at Phillips Garden to refresh the landscaping and introduce more local and native species to the yard. We’re also making changes to the entrance of our house – adding a permanent ramp that’s purposeful, beautiful, functional and welcoming. We’re documenting our journey and evolution on Instagram and would love to have you join us if you’re interested. Despite all of the challenges of the last few months, we’re still looking forward to enjoying our time at home.

https://www.instagram.com/bluehouseongoodrich