Photographs by SPACECRAFTING
1928 Tudor
Nowhere is it etched in stone—or pale Tudor stucco—that architecture and personality must mesh. Edgy art, splashy patterns, and a flair for fun make the interior of a classic Tudor as playful as the personalities of its owners.
For interior designer Andrew Flesher, meeting the potential clients who owned the 1920s hilltop Tudor on Dean Parkway in Minneapolis was click at first sight. “We got each other immediately,” says the award-winning Minneapolis-based designer. He loves her phone call salutation of “bye, doll” and his extensive collection of classic vinyls and the sophisticated stereo system that’s the better to hear them with.
“I strongly believe you shouldn’t mess around with the architecture. Keep it true to its age. Within that historic shell, you can have great fun with the furnishings, mixing the styles.”
—Interior Designer Andrew Flesher
Clients can stress out a designer when they bring home finds without consultation. Not these two. “They’re art collectors, and the furnishings include a lot of their personal effects. The result is that nothing about the house looks like a showroom. Every space projects their personalities,” Flesher says.
Not every client knows when a taxidermy white peacock is just the accessory for a staircase landing. Or has the temerity to collect art as controversial as an above-the-mantel representation of a pistol. “Everything they select works,” Flesher says.
His secret to making the Tudor—or any historic home—modern? “I strongly believe you shouldn’t mess around with the architecture. Keep it true to its age. I like the floors and walls to be original, and to keep a lot of the original chandeliers and sconces,” Flesher says. “Then within that historic shell, you can have great fun with the furnishings, mixing the styles. Anybody can be true to the architecture. It takes skill to mix furniture styles and keep it all balanced so that nothing looks out of place.”
But what about times when architectural features like the living room’s original scrolled fireplace fight the vibe? Instead of removing the fireplace, Flesher kept it (“future owners may want it”) and covered it in sleek rift-sawn (radial grain) oak. “We left a gap between the spaces to create a shadow line for more interest,” he explains.
Multiple seating areas ensure the homeowners’ goal of a room that’s to be used, and used well. Open cabinets for the stereo integrate it into the design, adding to the modern character and serving as a portal into the homeowners’ interests. Walls covered in gray grass cloth with a metallic background catch the light and shimmer.
The room’s palette began with sofa pillows printed with yellow, gray, and black insects and flowers on a white background—“just edgy enough for the owners.” Repeating the colors, Flesher designed a pair of soft, shaggy rugs to break up the long room and define its discrete functions. A custom daybed in front of the fireplace is great for entertaining. “You can sit on either side. I love including daybeds for this reason.”
Continuity between the living and dining rooms is ensured with repetition of drapery panels in an updated linen chinoiserie fabric. The original dining room chandelier exudes yesteryear formality, but casual modernity has a say underfoot. “The custom tie-dye rug captures their hippie taste.” The installations that cost Flesher sleep were the canvas-covered steel daybed inset beneath the dining room windows and the long sofa nestled beneath the living room windows, extending flush to the fireplace. “The measurements had to be perfect.”
Beyond the living room, a porch soon caught a serious case of “project creep” until all the boxes including bar and fireplace had been ticked off. Nautical lighting gives it a casual style. “I try to avoid recessed lighting in historic architecture. It ends up looking like Swiss cheese,” laughs Flesher.
A highly engineered Poggen-pohl kitchen—the serious cook’s dream—segues to a family room grounded with a green velvet sectional. Flesher replaced the golden marble fireplace surround with aged mirror appropriate to the architecture, one of the many twists that make this Tudor timely.
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Dining Room
The homeowners’ iron gate dramatizes the approach to the dining room, where the Tudor’s original chandelier balances an ebonized custom table. Interior designer Andrew Flesher designed the table as a tree trunk with branches, paired with mid-century fiberglass chairs with bases that look like feet—a masterful mix of styles and periods.
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Daybed
A daybed sits in between the two sides of the living room, visually dividing the conversation zones without obstructing the views.
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Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy
Shag rugs. Vintage vinyl. Edgy art. Check, check, and check. Flesher’s seemingly effortless ability to combine styles goes high volume in the swanky living room, where the owners “didn’t want anything formal or fussy.”
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Coffee Table
Flesher designed the of wool shag rugs.
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Living Room
Baker’s modern take on a classic wingback chair stands beside the living room fireplace, which Flesher covered in more modern rift oak. The white coffee table is vintage. Sconces original to the home mix with modern lighting and a custom blue mohair sofa.
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Kitchen
Flesher designed the center island to look like a big block of marble. Brushed-gold-with-leather hardware is by Holland & Sherry, and lighting is by Visual Comfort.
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Fireplace
A green velvet-and-leather sectional is from Poltrona Frau. A Moroso swivel chair sits opposite the art wall Flesher designed with screw-on cups.
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Kitchen Table
The custom kitchen table’s glass top is reverse painted vibrant citron; the antiqued brass base was locally made by Peter Vanni of Archipelago Metalworks. Modernica chairs in olive-gray fiberglass are classic Herman Miller shell chair reproductions. A wet bar includes a wine fridge, sink, and icemaker.
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Moody Blues
From the kitchen to the family room, various shades of blues, grays, and greens unite the spaces. “Rather than everything being matchy, the colors just have to talk to one another,” Flesher says. The family room is painted Inchyra Blue by Farrow & Ball. The adjacent powder room, is covered in mural wallpaper by Area Environments surrounding a backlit French antique mirror.
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Galvanized Steel Table
Opposite the fireplace wall is a galvanized steel table, designed as pleated fabric.
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Cool Vibes, Haute Hangout
By enclosing the Tudor’s existing porch, the owners gained another year-round hangout with French doors that open to the back patio. Flesher added a fireplace wall with recesses for the TV and wood logs. “Even though it’s a gas fireplace, I included a log box because it adds texture,” he says. The faux bois Formations chair near the window is made of concrete.
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Backyard
The landscape from the porch, dining room, kitchen, and family room.
Interior design: Andrew Flesher, Andrew Flesher Interiors, 612-968-9777, andrewflesher.com // Contractor (kitchen, family room): Welch Forsman Associates, 6026 Pillsbury Ave. S., Mpls., 612-827-4455, welchforsman.com // Architecture (porch): Mohagen Hansen Architecture | Interiors, 1000 Twelve Oaks Center Dr., Ste. 200, Wayzata, 952-426-7400, mohagenhansen.com // Contractor (porch): SourceGroup LLC, 2399 Wayzata Blvd. W., Ste. 100, Long Lake, 952-476-8100, sourcegroupllc.com
