Name: Jason Weinbeck
Location: Richfield, Minnesota
Size: 1,280 square feet
Years lived in: 2
Jason Weinbeck fell in love with ranch style housing and after much searching, found one ready for some renovation in 2007. Since then he has transformed this fabulous piece of Mid Century architecture into an open, airy and modern space of his own. Plus, he did it all on a limited budget with hands on diy and is the man to beat, when it comes to finding a bargain...

You might have seen Jason's home in the recent Atomic Ranch magazine and for good reason, he's done a praise worthy job. After purchasing the home, Jason knew he had some work on his hands. There were walls to be removed, a fireplace to be fixed, a kitchen to be gutted and wall to wall (and then some) carpeting to be removed. But what he didn't know until he got going was an incorrectly installed subfloor. At this point Jason decided it was all or nothing, took out a second mortgage and started working on his renovation full time. Diligent in his ways he was usually putting in 12 hour days doing all the renovations himself.
Jason didn't just stop at doing the heavy lifting and labor in his home, he's also built several of the fabulous pieces throughout his home. Make sure to keep an eye out for his handmade wooden boomerang bench in the entry way, his kidney-shaped granite coffee table and walnut side tables in the bedroom. What he couldn't make or design himself he scoured basements and bargain bins for thrifty and frugal finds. The beauty of this home lies in the details, knowing every square inch was refurbished by his own efforts and hard work.

AT Survey:
My Style: A contemporary twist on mid-century modern.
Inspiration: A vision for bringing the perfectly hand-set brick peninsula fireplace to life.
Favorite Element: My favorite element in this home (and any space) is the lighting and the infinite amount of ways to use and direct it, natural or artificial.
Biggest Challenge: Working with a very modest budget.
Favorite Room: The living room, especially on a cold winter night with the fire going.
What Friends Say: My friends and family love it. I’m always happy when I hear people I don’t know say really positive comments, as well (like retired neighbors and the punk rock pizza delivery driver).
Biggest Embarrassment: The drapery rod in the living room. I should have made a baffle to conceal it. Surprisingly, even my design-savvy friends haven’t said anything about it.
Proudest DIY: I love the chandelier in the dining room. I made it from lampshade parts I ordered online. I brought the fabric (maharam) and the cages to a local upholsterer near my home (Carol’s Lampshade Wagon). She did an amazing job.
Biggest Indulgence: The white marble Saarinen Tulip table. It fits the small dining room size and aesthetics perfectly.
Best advice: Never quit. Never quit sourcing the perfect fabric, paint color, wood flooring, tile, lighting and faucets until you’re happy.
Dream source: hivemodern.com. This website is really user friendly and you can find a history and description for almost any product under the sun.
Reality Source: Ebay, Craigslist and the Room & Board Outlet store in Golden Valley, Minn.
Had Forever: A Danish modern lounge chair I found in my mom and dad’s basement and refinished about 18 years ago… it’s been re-upholstered twice.
Just Got: I just restored a vintage Telefunken radio. The case is real wood. I love the simple nostalgic design. My girlfriend and I take it on picnics to listen to the jazz or classical station. (see pics.)

Resources:
Dining room and kitchen:
• Saarinen Tulip table, Room & Board, Edina, Minn.
• Walnut radius stools and chairs, Room & Board Outlet store, Golden Valley, Minn.
• Stone head, Ebay
• Copper house model, a relic from my days as an architecture student at the University of Minnesota
Living room:
• Eames Aluminum series lounge chair, Ebay
• Vintage sofa, upholstered by Cy Winship Design, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Coffee table, designed and built myself
• Boomerang bench, designed and built myself
• Teak wood floor, Craigslist
• Danish modern chair, parent’s basement
• Vintage Bang & Olufsen stereo model 2000, Ebay
• Antique ceramic crock, parent’s basement
Lighting:
• Vintage kitchen island pendants, Rens Alta 0031-(0)13-54-24-952, alta-design.nl (Netherlands)
• Dining room chandelier, parts purchased on lampshademaker.com
• Living room antennae lights, Industrial Lighting, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Living room Tolomeo floor lamp, Artemide.com
Artwork:
• Living room, purchased in Mexico. Artist: Juan Ezcurdia. Titled: Jugando para el perro.
• Front entry, purchased in Mexico. Artist Juan Ezcurdia. Titled: Elefantigre.

(Thanks, Jason!)
You can read more about Jason's renovation process in further detail over here. Make sure to check out the before pictures, where his hard word becomes obvious when you see what condition his home was in before he set to work. Don't forget to swing by his website for more on Jason's other endeavors.
Images: Jason Weinbeck, Greg Jansen


Commercial Flour Sa...
I love it too, reminds me of my home, but mine needs work, I'd love to see a floorplan
Absolutely gorgeous. Well done.
really beautiful. all that gorgeous wood.
Clean, crisp and chic. I particularly liked the fireplace and lighting fixtures.
What I love about this renovation is that it is faithful to the spirit of the period without being slavishly hindered by not introducing modern (21st century) features. The new stuff fits right in -- the kitchen appliances, the bathroom fixtures -- they look great, and don't in any way diminish from the mid-century feel. Really, really nicely done and looks like a place that's for living, not just for showing off.
great place, but i'll take the 356 in the driveway.
LOVE!
Grrrreat 356! I really enjoy your esthetic sense. I'm still on the fence about the grantic kidney bean table.... I'd like a wood or, preferably, a glass top table there... but what a cool table you made :-)
Yo Richfield! Fantastic work! Love the fireplace...it really makes the entire space something special. What plant is the silver spiky things at the edge of the patio?
love the use of the coordinating, hanging ikea cabinets... how deep? 12 or 24? (curious as to how the drawers work if they're shallow)...
Amazing! I LOVE it!
I looove ranchers done right. Great job!
Well done. I love it.
one of my favorite cars and very well done house.
Fantastic!
Love it love it love it!
Are those ikea kitchen cabs in the living room that make up the floating credenza? I've always wondered what to do with the exposed screws on top of those cabs and you gave me the solution - put a slab of travertine or marble on top!
I have one word to say....scrumtrulescent!
Easy on the eyes simplicity with furniture basics, vintage, and custom designed pieces. Charming overall in a cookie cutter modern way, except for the way-too-bionic-retro kidney bean cocktail table stolen from the cartoon set of The Incredibles...
In love with the simplicity and that fireplace! Very well done, and worth all that effort!
I love your whole house! And the IKEA kitchen and use of the IKEA cabinets throughout the house. That door style fits perfectly with your home.
This tour left me wanting to see more! I kept clicking on picture #23 not wanting it to end. Great job.
A great tour. Take note, Apartment Therapy DC bloggers!
This is so well done. I keep waiting for people in my town to discover the fabulousness of this kind of house and start snatching them up to remodel rather than building generic, cheap boxes in the suburbs. The floorplan and room layouts would be great for a family, not just a single person. And it's all done so tastefully. Good job!
I must confess: I'm wildly jealous!!!! Great work.
Wow, it was liberating to see this house. It's terrific!
I never though I'd say this, but it makes me want to get rid of all my books and move to a ranch.
The extra work of installing lighting for the art really adds warmth to the hallway. I love the floating buffet with the granite top. Is it IKEA? Is the kitchen IKEA?
Did you treat the fireplace brick with anything? My brick is untreated and some bricks tend to look pink.
M. Weinbeck, you're my new hero!
I love the idea of hanging 3 separate pendants over the table--must put that in my idea file! ~Tracy @
http://www.dailydecorator.com
The photo of the car in front of the house looks exactly like a robert bechtle painting. really cool. i got this great book when his retrospective came to my town: http://books.google.com/books?id=89mVnB4ku0MC&printsec=frontcover&dq=robert bechtle#v=onepage&q=&f=false
I love everything about this home. One-story, modern, clean...it's just about perfect.
This is one of the only homes I've ever seen where stainless steel appliances actually look appropriate.
Awesome job.
I've seen this house before (don't know where) its gorgeous and well-loved. One of my favorite parts of his story is the car, it used to be his fathers, and he located it years later and purchased it back. I know this is APARTMENT therapy and many of the readers live without cars, but i'm suprised we don't see more DIY home people taking about vintage cars. I had a vintage vespa untill I bought a home (with tiny garage) and now I have a Fiat spider as well.
It seems like a logical extention of the DIY lifestyle, but I don't see alot of ink devoted to it.
This home is just lovely--the fireplace is probably my favourite feature. I don't love the coffee table, but its unique and allows the owner's individuality to come through. The hanging cabinets work very well. I like the tulip table and minimally voluptuous chairs, also echoed in the bar stools, that soften out a lot of the strong lines and angles of the home.
Love the house. Love the Porsche even more.
Gorgeous place. I'm jealous.
Please marry me.
my god i need that car. cool place too
I've seen this in Atomic Ranch and I absolutely admire Mr. Weinbeck's hard work and planning that went into the remodel. The home is wonderful as a result.
However, the overall effect is a bit too white/bare for me, almost rental-like. I'd love to see more of this gorgeous art and maybe a rug and some color on the walls.
he's cute
Um... can I be your neighbor?
The car *swoon*
LOVE! WANT! PLEASE!
Nice. One of my more favorite house tours. I think you could play with accessories to add, warmth, depth and color to the space, especially since mid century modern has such a delicious color palate.
Fabulous, but does anyone actually live there?
Lovely attention to detail. I love how the warm tones of the floor, brick and furniture all compliment each other beautifully. And yes, stainless appliances look appropriate! Ties in with the stools very nicely. I would add another large scale piece of art over the dining console, perhaps repeating the orange accent again.
(1) This guy has STYLE. (2) This guy is CUTE. (3) The guy drives a killer car. (4) Whatever is in his bank account, he is using for the maximum enjoyment possible.
What's next, the Great American Novel of the 21st Century?
Fan-effing-tastic renovation. I'm in the market for a ranch to remodel and this is incredible inspiration. You strike what is, imho, the perfect balance between mid-century and modern elements. This shows that good taste goes a lot further than expensive materials. I don't know you, but will you marry me? Just kidding. Maybe.
I think I'm in love...
(oh, and the house is fabulous, too.)
Kudos. I second the comments of eiw, firespitter and chuckolate. But I also agree with mlmclaron -- it looks soooo empty! It's gorgeous, but in 2009 you'd think a home has books or a computer or a tv. (Especially with those long cold Minnesota winters!)
Also... I don't really see evidence of the thriftiness anyplace. Is it in the way the remo was done and that's why it isn't evident in the house tour?
OK you're either mine or my husband's soul mate!--we had the same car (1964 356B), live in a similar house (1963 ranch, mostly original), now all I need to do is steal your orange front door and I'm set.
Dahlia Cactus, thanks for the background story on the Porsche 365.
There are countless Porsche kit cars on the road and it is always great to see the genuine article. Even better when it is parked in front of such a stellar home.
I want to move in.
I love how the same cabinetry was used throughout, nice.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to leave some feedback. It’s really encouraging to read so many positive comments as well as hear the critiques of the décor and the furniture design (also noting a couple of unexpected proposals). A lot of sweat and tears went into this house and it’s reaffirming to hear that it wasn’t in vain. I just think that design should stir people a little, hopefully in a good way. I’ll try to answer some of the questions:
To Splatgirl: the spiky silver plants on the patio are called Blue Clumping Wheatgrass or Elymus Magellanicus. It’s a sun perennial.
To redneckmodern: The Ikea wall cabinets are 12” depth. They do sell a 12” deep drawer. Get the drawer dampers they’re 4 or 5 dollars more and will help the face plates last longer.
To emmajay: The kitchen, living room and dining room cabinets are the Nexus line of cabinets from Ikea. The finish color is medium brown.
The fireplace brick is untreated. The fireplace was unusable when I bought the house so the brick looked like new. It has some earthier red and brown tones which I tried to emulate with the dining room chandelier.
To kushkush: The fact that there isn’t ”any evidence of thriftiness” confirms that all the countless hours of sourcing nice finish materials for the lowest price possible was worth it. The 3/4” solid teak flooring in the living room and hallway was purchased on Craigslist from a floor installer who had just enough sq. footage left over from a project.
I think I paid around $3 dollars a sq. ft. unfinished. He even delivered it. The limestone tile in the kitchen was purchased at a local closeout warehouse. All the kitchen appliances were bought off of Craigslist. This took the longest and was extremely frustrating to drive to someone’s house only to discover that the images posted didn’t properly represent the true condition of the appliance. I installed all the floors, tile, cabinets, light fixtures and did all the painting myself to save money.
Thanks again, jason
It's a nice apartment, but it looks and feels way too magazine-like to me.
Don't get me wrong, it's well done, and looks very stylish and sleek, but it just doesn't feel like a "lived" in home to me. I like all the furniture on it's own, but put together I find it a bit (uhm, dare I say it...?) boring.. Where are your books and magazines?!?!
Naturally it is personal to you, you put in all the hours of hard work, making it a beautiful house. But to me it doesn't feel or looks like a real "home".
But that's the beauty! I don't live here! And the person who does loves it! And that's the most important thing!!!
I'm even more admiring now that I've read the details from the owner Jason Weinbeck.
Wow wow wow well done!
This is inspiring. My home is about the same size and I am decorating in about the same way. I wish my space were larger but at the same time, I don't think I could handle renovating a larger place. I have my hands full as it is. (I'm sure you know the feeling.) Anyway, the slender furniture is perfect for the size of your space. Bravo.
My favorite rooms are the living room and the kitchen. I can't say I like your coffee table in the living room, but it's just my opinion. Imagining a different piece, I think a surfboard coffee table would look pretty cool and add some extra color in the room. Or some kind of oblong wooden table.
Regardless, your house has a nice, welcoming feeling. I think it's all the wood and the fireplace. Plus you've got furniture in your living room that actually looks comfortable to sit in.
By the way, if you need extra money for further renovations, you could model for the kitchen company. Ha ha - just an idea. Looks like a model home shot, though.
Thank you for sharing so many details! Could you offer a little more info on the interior paint you selected, headboard/nightstand in the bedroom please? You have achieved the perfect balance of interest and calm in your home.
Hi, thanks for the comments and inquiries.
to: henrietta the terrible
Interesting code name. Thanks for the 3 wows!
to: jc1010
The paint color used on the walls is:
- Benjamin Moore, Regal Wall Satin,Latex
Swiss Coffee OC-45
The fabric used to make the headboard is made by
majaram fabrics here's the specs:
-Hallingdal by Kvadrat 163,Hallingdal by Kvadrat 460760
Seating
70% Wool, 30% Viscose
51" wide
100,000 cycles, Martindale method
-The walnut night stands, no stain just 3 coats of WaterLox oil finish.
The night stands were made by myself. I couldn't find something that fit the aesthetic of the house as well as the fact that I had run out of money. The answer was in a salvaged walnut table top that I found at a furniture warehouse. I built the night stands with drawers because ( as you've probably noticed) I'm a bit of a neat freak.
this is my favorite house tour so far. i like how you made everything the way you wanted it and you didn't spend a ton of money. the interior design is origninal and it seems like it would be a relaxing place to reside. i don't like ikea pices but yours look good - especially with the marble on top. i think you place is amazing!
-jlb
Phenomenal job - I especially like the kitchen and landscape design.
Jason, you are incredibly talented and I'm truly inspired by this house tour. I am impressed with your style, attention to detail and the simplicity of your rooms. You obviously have great taste and are passionate about design and transforming spaces. I just checked out your website at jasonweinbeckdesign.com and your images are AMAZING. I love, love, love your work! The Longfellow house and Harrison house are gorgeous renovations, and your handmade furniture is stunning - my favorites are the bedside tables and the dining room benches - the quality of your work is visually evident. I can see you hosting your own HGTV show - you have it all - talent, good taste, good looks, an amazing eye for design, a degree in Architecture, a background in construction - that's hard to find! I wish you continued success. I'm your biggest fan!
Hello again,
Thanks for posting comments about my ranch redo.
To Judylisabrenner: Thanks for the nice compliments, Ikea's
stuff can definitely be dressed up to suit your needs. If if doesn't work you can always sell it on Craigslist. I do like their hardware, they use some well designed hinges and drawer glides that should last you a long time.
To rios100: Thank you for commenting on my hand-made furniture. I love to design and make my own pieces when I have the time. Also, thanks for looking at my website. I just updated it with more of my work so if you're interested check it out, Jason@jasonweinbeckdesign.com
Kind Regards,
I love the flow and the airy, open feel. It appears to be such a comfortable but classy, seamless environment. Your attention to detail is tremendous, but my absolute favorite part is the lighting. The lighting you've created throughout the house is super, warm and perfectly placed, with gorgeous tones being cast in the right areas.
And the bathroom! I'd like this duplicated in my 1950 ranch home, please! (Oh, and if you can send a contractor who is as cute as you, that would be great.)
Fantastic to see this home again, so very well done.
I googled the owner Jason Weinbeck, and learned that he is an architectural designer, which explains the attention to detail, clean straight lines, minimalism, and also the insanely clutter free home. Most people can't live that way, but these guys make a profession of it. I rescind my question as to whether anyone lives there back in August.... Beautiful work.
Yeah for MN!!!
Pretty cool house, I too own a 1953 Ranch alittle smaller than yours at 900 sqft. My question though is about the vaulted ceiling and the over hangs with the down lights on your credenzas, I don't believe this was typical of ranch homes, did you take the ceiling up yourself? The long gray cross beam adds the perfect amount of architectural substance, but also makes me think the rooms where closed off before. My house is similar with a long load baring wall down the middle of the house like that.
I was about to leave my husband, until I saw the fugly drapery rod. Just kidding. This house is a lovely example of how ingenuity (okay, and likely an advanced degree) and work can transform a (probably) not-so-special box dwelling into a well designed home, and it's especially impressive that it was done on a budget. What a nice way to fix up a house!
I couldn't wait to take the tour of the house just from the first photo of the outside of the house. I'm a big believer in homes having good vibes and this one does. I love that the design is minimal but yet the house to me still seems incredibly personal, like each piece was chosen for a reason and a purpose, we could all live a bit more like this. Indeed less is more! Beautiful space!
jason,
i think i just died and went to heaven!
PERFECTION!!!
~victor
http://urbanshedstudio.com/victor.cfm
Really, really nice! And it's in the town I grew up in, so it's extra special to my eyes. :)
Beautiful place. I especially like the "bachelor touch" of the 356 parked in the driveway. Gives it a more masculine feel to the property.
Wow, Jason: really, really nice job! Love that you went with quality and style and ended up with a house that doesn't look like it's stuck in a time warp. Furniture is very cool too. Makes me want to spend more time building, less time refinishing.
Lisa
Thanks for the nice comments, It's inspires me to keep
doing my best work always. Sometimes efforts really can go
unnoticed, so any and all comments are much appreciated.
Jason