Recreate the Cozy Inexperienced Kitchen in This Woodsy Minnesota A-Body
Sometimes it’s love at first sight with real estate, and that was very much the case for blogger and author Melissa Coleman of The Faux Martha. “We had been looking for a cabin for over a year,” she says of her family’s search for a second home in northern Minnesota. When her husband spotted the 1970s A-frame online, they made a beeline for the property with their five-year-old in tow. They put in an offer on the way home and, Melissa satisfyingly acknowledges, “the rest is history.”
BEFORE: Melissa went through so many shades of green that she still has the pile of nearly 50 paint cards on her desk. “I can’t bring myself to discard it on the rare occasion I might need to find the perfect green again.”
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AFTER: The color palette was inspired by nature or, alternately, as Melissa half-jokingly notes, “that inspiration could also be attributed to the neon green shag carpet that once lined the first floor.”
Although they weren’t originally looking for an A-frame, they were very much on board with the property’s combo of classic American cabin aesthetic mixed with a ’70s Scandinavian vibe. Melissa calls it a “chalet frame, with two parts A-frame, one part chalet.”
And true to this aesthetic was the cozy and charming kitchen, complete with yellow-toned wood cabinets straight out of the era of disco and bellbottoms; a quirky cabinet with a sliding door above the drive; cedar-slatted ceilings; white laminate counters; and a vintage oven. Covering the entire space was a beige vinyl floor that was bubbling around the edges, and a small pass-through window pushed through to the other side of the room (“I imagine it shouldered many a hot dish, as they call them up here,” confides Melissa).
AFTER: The homeowner has advice on pulling off a similar look: “Here’s my formula: a pop of color and a warm wood and a pop of pattern. Oh, and last thing, add some enamelware.”
Cute and true to its era as it was, the kitchen could only accommodate six people (the rest of the house could sleep up to eight), and when a plumbing issue forced them to make some changes, Melissa and her husband opted to slightly bump out the space to accommodate more people, add counter seating, and bring the material and color palette up to date while still paying homage to the kitchen’s original, quaint roots.
BEFORE: The cabin is located in the quiet and quaint town of Grand Marais, Minnesota, which becomes a bustling lake town during the summer thanks to its proximity to the shores of Lake Superior.
AFTER: The color palette in the cabin is primarily green with natural, muted tones and pops of black.
Melissa started first with the wall coverings, where she opted to swap out the plywood for cedar panels that matched the rest of the house. For the cabinets, she sought out Semihandmade, purveyors of high-quality, stylish doors for IKEA bases, since she had used them previously in her own home with great success. The graphic marmoleum floors were a recommendation by their builder as an eco-and budget-friendly solution that is also a nod to the home’s original era. Richlite countertops and various cooking accoutrements like cast iron pans make the space feel warm and welcoming.
