This Newly Designed Addition Brings Flow and Calm to a Minneapolis Home

Partially because there wasn’t room in the kitchen for an island with seating at it, a major feature of the kitchen is a breakfast banquette, designed to give the family somewhere to gather on busy mornings before work and school. Banquettes, Victoria explains, were once a signature of Minneapolis homes, but many people have opted to remove them. She sees them as both functional and a great bit of Minneapolis character. “It was really fun to be adding one back in, in the spirit of what I find would be really authentic to a house of this era,” she says. 

The separate dining room, Victoria notes, is about the same amount of steps from the meal prep areas of the kitchen, but it’s separated by a doorway, which makes it feel—and function—like its own interior. “Having a visual boundary of a doorway is such a game changer,” she says. “It changes your psychology. You think, I’m going to go into this room, I’m going to sit down and stay a while.”