By Pam Dewey
Home type: House Location: Minneapolis, MN Style: Colorful, eclectic Bedrooms: 3 Square feet: 2,000
The sunroom is a perfect spot to relax and listen to the records.
Creative Director Michelle Cherland and her husband, Eric, who works for the Minneapolis Parks Department, bought their 1920 South Minneapolis home in 2013. Like many homeowners, it was the location that drew them in. Their home faces Minnehaha Parkway, a wide strip of green space that connects to Minnehaha Park, a “193-acre park with a 53-foot waterfall, limestone bluffs and river overlooks,” and Minnehaha Creek. They enjoy canoeing the creek.
Michelle and Eric were also drawn to the tall ceilings and the wood-burning fireplace.
“I love the wood-burning fireplace. We do a lot of fires,” says Michelle. “When we had it cleaned when we moved in, and the chimney sweep told us that when you have a fireplace in the middle, it actually radiates heat throughout the house.”
The front room has large windows on all three sides, and the windows in the front directly face the parkway, filling the room with light throughout the day. This has become the TV room and a play space for their 7-year-old daughter, Senja. The room also features colorful paintings by local artists Ashley Mary, Jennifer Davis, and former Minneapolis resident and artist Mikey Boss Dog. It connects to their living room with the fireplace and the dining room. The dining room is open to the kitchen and the recently added sunroom.
A painting by Jennifer Davis hangs in the front room, which faces Minnehaha Creek.
Though Michelle and Eric loved the location and the charming original features, the home needed a lot of updating.
“We bought it from Ethel, who was 95. When you pulled down the wallpaper, it said 1964 underneath. It appeared she moved in and redid this house in 1964, and then we moved into a 1964 time capsule,” remembers Michelle. “We pulled up all the carpet, found the original hardwoods underneath, and refinished the floors. It was basically five years of DIY updates. We’ve since had people come in and fix some of our mistakes, but we got it most of the way there.”
Michelle and Eric’s remodeled kitchen is open to the dining room.
In 2018, a local contractor renovated their kitchen and added a powder room off the kitchen. During construction, they opened the wall between the kitchen and dining and installed new cabinets, tile floors, and quartz countertops. Michelle also had a quirky idea for the powder room floor: penny tile floors, but with real pennies.
“My contractor said, ‘I’ll instill the penny tile, but I’m not going to go one by one.’ So, I got window screens, epoxied the pennies to the screens, and basically made 1’x1’ tiles. He grouted the tiles in, and I polished them and put a coat of polyurethane on,” says Michelle.
The powder room off the kitchen with a custom penny tile floor.
He also installed the patchwork tile floors in the second-floor bathroom, which is the level where their bedroom, their guest room, and their daughter’s room are located.
Patchwork tile floors in the upstairs bath with a sweet stool for Senja.
When asked to describe their home’s style, Michelle says, “Eclectic. I like things that are colorful, things that are hand-me-downs, and things we’ve thrifted.”
The barrister cabinet in the living room — next to the blue velvet chair and ottoman — is one of those treasured hand-me-downs. It was a gift from Michelle’s parents.
“My dad made the bookcase for my mom when they first got married. They gave it to me because they knew I liked it,” Michelle says.
Rory lounges in a blue velvet chair next to a barrister cabinet Michelle’s dad made.
In 2023, Michelle and Eric added the sunroom at the back of the house, expanded their daughter’s room, and had the hardwood floors professionally redone. They also added Rifle Paper Co. wallpaper to the dining room and kitchen on the main floor.
The marble table from West Elm is stunning, especially underneath the classic Schoolhouse lights.
Photo by Michelle Cherland
Their daughter’s room is a cheery pink space dedicated to Senja’s love of Barbies.
Senja’s room is pretty in pink.
The sunroom is another bright, sunny room where they read or listen to records. The yellow chaise lounge in the sunroom is from Apartment 2B. The midcentury modern bar that faces it is from Find Furnish, a local vintage furniture and décor store focusing on the 20th Century. The midcentury modern buffet in the dining room is also from Find Furnish.
Rory the cat struts through the sunroom.
“Because it’s a 1920s house, a lot of modern furniture is too big. So, midcentury pieces fit the space well,” Michelle says. The scale also factored in her selection of the yellow chaise lounge, though it’s now one of her favorite pieces in the space. “I like the style, but that was also the only couch short enough to not cover the windows.”
The yellow chaise in the sunroom magnifies the bright, sunny vibes.
Despite all the updates, the home still feels like an old, storied space. Perhaps that’s because of Michelle’s fondness for old things. She’s become a collector of the discarded and weird.
“If anyone is getting rid of old stuff in my family, I always say, ‘I’ll take it,’” says Michelle.
Michelle and Eric’s home is filled with charming, vintage pieces.
They still have some reminders of the former owner, too. When they wrote the contract for the house, Michelle put in two asks: an olive green kitchen set and Ethel’s woven cat doorstop.
Ethel’s woven cat doorstop lives on with Michelle and Eric.
Photo by Pam Dewey
Michelle and Eric have two cats, Rory and Larry. Their love for felines is reflected in the gallery wall of cat art in the entry and the art throughout. Their beloved cat, Peanut, who has since passed away, is also featured in their custom portrait from Jennifer Davis, which Michelle had commissioned when they got married.
Guests are greeted by a gallery wall of cat art in the entry.
Her affection for the discarded extends to their neighborhood Buy Nothing group. She tries to scoop up the old, quirky things no one else wants.
The striking houndstooth chairs in the sunroom were an exciting find from Buy Nothing. The group is about more than stuff, though. Michelle and Eric appreciate the community the group fosters and the people they’ve met.
The black houndstooth chairs were a “gift” from Michelle and Eric’s Buy Nothing group.
“We love the location of our house and the people in the neighborhood, which is one reason we’ve put so much work into getting it here,” says Michelle.
Michelle says renovating their basement is next on the list.
Sources
MCM Bar Cart – Find Furnish
MCM Hutch – Find Furnish
Barrister Cabinet – Made by Michelle’s father
Houndstooth chairs – Buy Nothing Group
Powder Room Wallpaper – Borastapeter
Dining Room Wallpaper – Rifle Paper Co
Gray couch –West Elm
Brown leather couch – West Elm
Yellow chaise – Apartment 2b
Blue velvet chair and ottoman – Gilt.com
Dining table and chairs – West Elm
#colorful, eclectic home #mid-century modern
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