In a break with convention, Deb Leavitt and David Gardiner decided to buy a larger house in their sixties. The couple had tried downsizing but concluded that a two-bedroom bungalow wouldn’t cut it for their blended family of six kids, five grandkids and seven grand-dogs.
“We’re not empty nesters; we’re bird launchers — and they come back with little birds and dogs,” explains Leavitt. “Our nest needed to grow, not shrink!” So she kept her eyes open for properties in their favorite South Minneapolis neighborhood near the Mississippi River. In 2023, her vigilance was rewarded when she spotted this 1939 two-story sandwiched between West River Parkway and Seven Oaks Oval, a two-acre wilderness park. “The house felt surrounded by woods,” says Gardiner.
Photography by Bo Carlock/Spacecrafting
The 2,169-square-foot Colonial was dated and needed remodeling, which was fine with Leavitt and Gardiner, who didn’t mind a project and wanted a home that could adapt to their needs as they age. This would require adding both a main-floor owners’ suite and laundry room, along with a few more personalized features. One was a wide staircase to the lower level located reasonably close to the backdoor for carrying bikes downstairs. “We ride bikes quite a bit, and our bikes live in the basement, not the garage,” says Gardiner. Another requirement was to incorporate fun features for the grandkids.
The couple initially worked with a different design firm but switched after the first round of drawings due to communication issues. That wasn’t a problem with their next partner, Vujovich Design Build. “They listened, and the difference was obvious in the plans,” says Leavitt, citing half doors in the mudroom and the top of the lower-level stairs, which protect the house from muddy dogs and the youngest grandchildren from toppling down the stairs, respectively. “Christina [Senior Design Director Christina Rymer] got it.”
The biggest change was adding a one-story addition off the back of the house, which doubled the main floor square footage. Expanding the main floor was the best way to accommodate the new lower level staircase and the owner’s suite without sacrificing too much yard space. The configuration also created other opportunities, and once Leavitt saw them, there was no turning back.
“There was some space on the side of the house that we thought could be a closet, and when I asked if it could be a pantry, Christina lit up, and we were off and running,” says Leavitt. The pantry is a nostalgic yellow-and-blue nook with shallow canning shelves and beadboard walls that remind Leavitt of rural New England, where she grew up. Adding to its appeal is a kid-size door hidden behind polka-dot curtains — a secret entrance that leads to the lower level using the old staircase opening. “Eventually, we’re going to add a tube slide,” she says. Rymer also installed a salvaged French casement window along an interior pantry wall. The window opens onto the three-season porch in the front of the house, bringing natural light and views into the space.
To create a more modern, open floor plan that works better for the family, Rymer removed a wall between the original kitchen and dining room to carve out space for a larger kitchen with a 12-foot island. Details such as warm brown oak cabinets, a ribbed island, glass cabinet fronts, a textured backsplash tile, and punchy bursts of blue and orange give the kitchen character and help it feel welcoming and comfortable.
A bit of eclecticism was important to the couple, who wanted the house to reflect their personalities. They don’t miss having a formal dining room. Instead, they dine at the island or a small table in the sunroom. For bigger groups, they utilize a large folding table that’s expandable and easy to set up in the living room. “We prefer to have a larger kitchen that allows many people to be working at the same time with a big island,” says Gardiner, adding that the kitchen’s central location makes it easy for their 20-plus-person family to move between the backyard, sunroom, kitchen, living room and three-season porch.
Because the couple saw how their elderly parents struggled in their homes, they included features that will allow them to stay safe in the house as they age, like pathways wide enough for a walker, bathroom grab bars, and even an easy-to-clean Cambria grout-less surround in the zero-threshold shower.
The new addition blends well with the original home, and from the exterior, it looks even nicer than before. That was important to everyone on the team. “Deb and David set out to create an easy, welcoming space for family gatherings for generations to come,” says Rymer. “It’s a fun, whimsical house in many ways, but because we leaned into the bones of the house, it doesn’t feel brand-new. It feels meant to be.”
Project Partners
Builder: Vujovich Design Build
Architect: Vujovich Design Build
