Erin’s “Handmade Modern” Tudor Duplex

Name: Erin
Location: Tangletown — Minneapolis, Minnesota

My husband, Ken, and I purchased our 1934 Tudor-style home in July 2015 and spent late summer and fall last year renovating much of the house.

My background is interior design, but I’m currently a freelance writer and DIY blogger at francoisetmoi.com. Ken manages commercial construction projects, so naturally we were looking for a project to sink our teeth into with our first home.

The unusual thing about our house is that it’s actually a duplex! We live on the 1600 square foot, three-bedroom main floor, and rent out the apartment upstairs. We chose to purchase a duplex because we knew it would be a great investment in both the short and long term.

Our goals for the home were to update the look and feel through bright, crisp finishes and bring the 90-year-old Tudor into the 21st century with smarter, more efficient technology, all the while respecting the time period of the home.

Having just purchased our first home, we were working with a very tight renovation budget that was a challenge to stick to at times, but doing a majority of the work ourselves saved quite a bit. Not to mention, much of our home decor and furniture is either DIY’ed or thrifted, which also helped a ton!

I’d say my style is handmade modern. I love visually clean spaces that are softened and made approachable by handmade, imperfect pieces. These pieces add soul and give off a relaxed sensibility, setting the scene for how we interact in the space and how we feel when we’re in it.

Thanks, Erin! Stop on by Erin’s blog for more photos.

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