Name: Fred & Julie Dahms and family
Location: On the Milwaukee River in Mequon, Wisconsin
Size: 2,300 square feet
Years lived in: 4½
Next time you step on a LEGO block and silently curse your children for leaving their toys all over the place, think of this home and smile. Fred and Julie Dahms built this bright, modern 2,300 square-foot home a few years ago, based on a LEGO design put together by Fred and the couple's son, Max. Of course, it helps that Fred Dahms is an architectural designer.
The focal point of the home is the open living room and kitchen area with its modern Parallam and steel staircase. Parallam? Fred explains that Parallam is a material used by builders in open spaces in place of steel. More cost effective, oftentimes stronger, and easier to join, Parallam is a material that reveals a surprisingly beautiful character when sanded down a little and given a subtle finish. Fred says he came across a scrap piece of the material on a construction site and had an "a-ha!" moment.
The gorgeous staircase aside, what strikes the casual visitor most about the home is how liveable it is. Yes, it is modern, spare and uncluttered, and yes there are a few Design Within Reach staples here and there, but you can tell a family lives here. Some of the framed art, on closer inspection, is the handiwork of Max and his sister, Mira, and the LEGO storage is right there in the living room — it is just well-hidden. Walk upstairs, and the children's bedrooms are filled with the usual flotsam and jetsam of childhood. Modern, well-designed, but thoroughly unpretentious.
The lack of pretense is owed, in part, to the influence of a certain Swedish company we all know and love. In the Dahms house, IKEA reigns supreme. From the bathroom faucets to the bedside tables and the modern lamps scattered here and there, IKEA has done its job beautifully; providing a family home with highly functional and modern pieces on a budget that leaves room for investment in other areas.
The obvious question to ask of the Dahms family is: "Can I see the LEGO model?" And of course, I asked that very question. At first, I was surprised to learn that Fred and Max had taken the model apart to use the bricks for a new project. But having given it a little thought, it only makes sense for this down-to-earth family that they didn't make a LEGO shrine for the mantel.
As a side note, the home is on the market! The Dahms family is off on their latest adventure, leaving this gorgeous space up for grabs.
Apartment Therapy Survey:
Our Style: Craftsman Modern — a mix of traditional details with modern minimalist style. Using light neutrals interspersed with fun, colorful accents. Bringing the outdoors inside as much as possible.
Inspiration: Julie's parents' traditional farmhouse in Bavaria, travels to Italy, the Pacific Northwest and Vegas!
Favorite Element: We love how our home is flooded with light. Also, plenty of hidden storage for our stuff, which helps keep the minimalist style pretty easily most of the time. And we can't forget the river!
Biggest Challenge: Keeping mass appeal for resale value, while still being unique.
What Friends Say: How do you keep your house so clean with two kids? Where is everything?
Biggest Embarrassment: First, the house looks a lot larger than it is. Also, the powder faucet is impossible to turn off with wet hands, as the knobs are a perfect circle without any grip!
Proudest DIY: Picking up a discarded piece of 3½" Parallam and thinking, "this would make a great stair tread! Or a great mantel! Or a great vanity!" And then using it for all of the above. Also, starting from scratch and seeing our landscaping come to life.
Biggest Indulgence: It is difficult not to indulge when building — we tried to hold back on most items and then pop for things that made the most impact — such as the floating steel and Parallam staircase.
Best Advice: Keep it small and simple, never forget about IKEA, and it is much less stressful to let your five-year-old eat a Popsicle on a Barcelona chair knockoff than the real thing.
Dream Sources: IKEA, knockoffs on eBay, Trends Magazine, Dwell, LEGOs!
Thanks, Fred and Julie!
Images: Liz Setterfield
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beautiful home, and such a cute story too. maybe i should start building my dream home with legos and save it till i can afford an architect to make it a reality. =)
Wow - The exterior of the house is absolutely lovely, and the staircase is an inspired choice...
...but the rest of the place leaves me cold - it just doesn't seem like the same house at all.
I want this house.
I really like this, but why no pics of the kitchen? Or did I just miss them somehow?
I'd like to see fewer closeups and more wide shots so we can see how it fits together. And I agree with KayinKCMO, I'd like to see the kitchen.
What a stunning home. I just love the outside. It's wonderful how families with children make their homes look so nice! I just posted about a family of 14 in a 2000 sq. ft. house that is so sweet. How do these people do it!
Thank you for the wonderful comments! Our home was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in late 2008 and the following link shows a number of rooms including the kitchen.
http://www.jsonline.com/photos/At_Home_with_Red_and_Julie_Dahms.html?c=y&index=1&page=0
ngnerd, thanks for the request.
fdahms, thanks for the additional pictures.
Thanks for posting the link. Very cool!
adds in comments are so creepy...
i really love the exterior. really cute.
Just once, I'd like to meet someone like the spammer P90X on the street... I'd take off my shoe and repeatedly hit him, grandma-style... LOL I love your philosophy on Ikea and Ebay. I also like your discrete use of art. Bright, but not lollypop-ish. The stairs are way cool...
Love this house and tour. The structure itself and the furnishings are stylish but wholly unpretentious.
Love the story, the exterior, and the use of reclaimed materials and Ikea fixtures. But somehow this house doesn't hang together for me. I don't understand the choices of interior doors or some of the other decorating decisions they've made. If they liked the Craftsman/bungalow aesthetic so much, why didn't they continue it on the inside?
And also, a note to the writer/photographer: it is virtually impossible to get a sense of this place from the shots you've chosen. Way too many vignettes and not enough wide establishing shots. The link the owner provided to the Journal Sentinel article is helpful, but AT also should help visitors understand the spaces you cover via both words and photos.
I like that they poured the money into the structure of the house and kept the furnishings simple.
A beautiful house, and so inspiring what you've done with IKEA. Truly gorgeous!
I agree though, with previous posters, I don't get a sense of the space with all those close-ups. They make sense for smaller houses where there isn't as much to photograph, but please, less vignettes, more pictures of the overall space!
Fun house, and I love your gorgeous blonde floors. I'm curious, what made you two choose Mequon?
Can you tell me where you purchased the light wood curtain rods in the living room? I love the play off of the white walls.
I agree with bepsf. There are some very pleasing elements, but as a whole, it feels like a showhome
I absolutley adore the outside of the house, but the inside just isn't doing it for me. I did like the master bedroom though.
While the house itself is perfect, I will raise one objection with regard to decor: the TV above the mantle. This is one battle where aesthetics should not win priority over ergonomics and function.
Either rearrange the decor to accomodate a new location for the TV or move it altogether to a family/entertainment room where it does not have to compete with the fireplace.
excellent selection of the Ikea items
Thanks for sharing. The neutral color pallet is just right. Your home has a minimalist look but still very warm and inviting. My son would also love the Star Wars and Legos theme. thank you.
Any pics of the original LEGO house? Love the parallam stair treads.
Thanks again for the great comments!
some quick responses to questions...
sally305 - The single exterior shot probably makes it appear more traditional than reality. Glass and aluminum garage doors, stainless edging, a dry stacked stone chimney, a modern white trellis and overall minimal landscaping help transition visitors into the modern interior (imho). A standing seam metal roof was on the wish list but simply didn’t fit into our budget. Similarly, our door choice was a compromise based on budget. We are still saving for The Sliding Door Company doors we really want!
greenmeansgo - As for location, Mequon really chose us. We found the perfect river lot at the right price in a great school district with a low tax rate, so the decision was easy. Mequon is certainly not a bastion of modern design, but river lots tend to allow more diversity in home styles which we tried to take advantage of.
mijsanfran - The light wood curtain rods are from (surprise) IKEA, however I believe they have been discontinued.
Pearmelon – I assure you this is not a show house. We have raised our 5 and 7 year old children in this house, and simply try to have a spot (hidden or otherwise) for everything we own. Since the house is for sale, we’ve simplified a bit more than usual, but overall it is a matter of cleanliness, restraint and organization. I’m sure that the floor was full of Legos and Playmobil sets about an hour before the photographer showed up!
What a lovely home. One of my favorites on AT. It's so easy on the eye, and seems so easy and relaxed to live in. I can't imagine why they're giving it up.
I liked the writing on this post, too. I'm not a great fan of "vignettes" and think many of the ones on this site are superfluous at best and often annoying, but here many of them are germane (e.g. the parallam, the faucet, the little lego man). I think different photo sequencing could've helped give some sense of the flow of the house.
I'm hoping that the link shows some photos of that hidden storage that Fred was talking about...
Oh Please, please, please... won't you share your paint colors with the AT community? I live in an 80's townhome outside of Washington, DC and have been searching for the right color palette to help me introduce my modern sensibilities to the "traditional" architecture. Your palette and simple style is right on!
I live in Mequon and have driven by this house before. I am not at all fond of the exterior, the proportions (especially of the garage-guesthouse thing to the actual house) are very odd looking. Also, as a landscape architect, I do think that you could have done 'modern' landscaping without all the flat, typical-suburbia lawn and predictable low plants lining the driveway. For such a 'shock-factor' house, the plain lawn just seems to bother me. However, the inside is a lot nicer than I would have expected. It does look a bit cold and staged, but I'm sure that's more due to the fact that the family is soon moving, and i'm sure they cleaned the entire place before taking pictures. It just doesn't seem very livable, to me. I do like the reclaimed materials, however... and that stairway is great.
Thank you@Illegal Danish- I couldn't agree more. I love every aspect of this home except the TV over the fireplace. I cringe every time I see one hung like this. It is just too high up on the wall for comfy viewing and is aesthetically unpleasing. However that is the only thing I can find to criticize here....wishing I was in the market for a Wiscosin home!