Take Notes: This 1930s Tudor-Style Home Has the Coziest Living Room

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Credit: Brooke Bundy
I was terrified to paint over this original fireplace but I hated the orange-y color of the stones, and despite the details, it just didn't have much of a presence in here. Now it gives major drama and a moody vibe to the otherwise bright room.

Name: Brooke Bundy, husband, and three kids
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Type of home: House
Size: 1700 square feet
Years lived in: 3 years, owned

Tell us a little (or a lot) about your home and the people who live there: My home is a 1930s Tudor-style house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that I share with my husband and our three kids. The house needed a lot of work when we bought it but as soon as I walked in I felt at home. I love the creaky floors and the glass door knobs and the radiators. I would love to have a real laundry room and a master bedroom with an ensuite, but the nostalgia I feel from all the character of an old house is worth the sacrifices you have to make to live in one. I have always loved old things and old places, so I really enjoy living here.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
I am super proud of those flowers on the coffee table because I planted the bushes they came from myself in our backyard!

Describe your home’s style in 5 words or less: This is so hard! Lets go with slightly Southern eclectic transitional.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
We have lived in several houses (both owned and rented) but this has been my favorite one to decorate. I think that's because it's the first one that we have renovated so extensively, and because it's our first time owning an old home, and the details make such a beautiful backdrop to decorate against.

What is your favorite room and why? The main floor bathroom, because it is the room that came out looking the most like I had originally envisioned. I absolutely love how the whole house came together, but because of budget I had to keep changing a lot of my plans in other rooms during the remodel. Luckily in the bathroom I had put together a design from the beginning that used very affordable finishes that also make a major impact. I just love the drama of the black ceiling with the heavy crown moulding combined with the black floor, and how the black grout on the subway tile walls connect the two.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
This bathroom was a complete gut job. My favorite part about it is the black ceiling and pink door!

If you could magically change something about your home, what would it be? The basement would be finished. That’s probably a really boring answer but it’s a project that we don’t plan to tackle and every day I think about how nice the extra space would be. Also, I would magically make a third bathroom appear somewhere.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
The doorway between the living and dining rooms is original to our 1930s house and to me looks like it belongs on a castle.

What’s the last thing you bought (or found!) for your home? The last significant thing that I’ve bought for my home was a wooden sculpture that I found while my husband and I were on a trip to San Francisco. I had it stuffed into my carry-on for the flight home and TSA sent my bag back and forth through the X-ray like eight times, then searched my bag while my husband kept sighing and giving me side eye. But I think a little extra time getting through security is a small price to pay to bring home something awesome from a trip!

Credit: Brooke Bundy
I wanted our dining room to feel like an art gallery so I covered the walls in frames. It's a complete mix of local art, inexpensive prints from online, mementos, and sentimental objects (like my wedding veil), and pieces my kids have made.

Which fictional character would be most at home in your place? Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” I have plenty of books that she could read in front of the french-style windows in the living room.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
Our kitchen was also a complete remodel and was the first project we tackled when we moved in. I used to think that I didn't really like galley kitchens but this one has changed my mind.

Any advice for creating a home you love? Gather up every single thing that is meaningful to you, whether that is mementos, souvenirs, or things passed down from family members, and then get creative with displaying them everywhere. I love the decor that I have purchased over the years, but what I love the most is seeing things like a piece of my wedding dress framed in the living room, beads my kids made out of salt dough hanging on our dining room wall, and a palm frond from my home state of Florida standing in a corner of my bedroom. Those are the kinds of things that really make it feel like home.

Credit: Brooke Bundy
Our little entryway is small but does a great job welcoming our guests. That arched doorway sold me on the house!

Of course there are always those things that I really want to keep because they mean a lot, but they just aren’t pretty enough to display. In that case, I buy a really beautiful container or box to keep them in and display that—that way the things inside are easily accessible and I can still look at them whenever I want to. I have a really pretty geode-topped box on my dresser with the most random things inside—one being my dad’s old Blockbuster card from 1996!

Thanks Brooke! See more on Brooke’s interior design website.

This submission’s responses have been edited for length and clarity.


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