Craftsman on Moose Mountain

By Andrea Busche

This month’s home is all about the views. Located on Duluth’s North Shore, this 4,555-square-foot home sits high on a hill, with 3.42 acres of property overlooking Lake Superior.

“Our development is at the base of Moose Mountain,” the homeowner shared. “The view is fantastic, especially in the wintertime when the leaves have fallen off the trees. We have panoramic views of Lake Superior from nearly every room in the house.

“The sunrises are beautiful,” she added. “Our house faces east, so we’re perfectly positioned to see the sun rise over the lake. Sunsets are beautiful, too, when the sun illuminates the clouds over the lake, turning them brilliant colors. It’s also fun watching ships come and go, especially at night when they’re all lit up.”

Featuring six bedrooms and 3.5 baths, this “rustic craftsman with touches of modern farmhouse” is spacious enough to accommodate the entire family, including a married couple, three young children, two dogs, two cats and three geckos. Accommodations for an active, growing family were prioritized in the design of this home, including easy-care flooring — and even a dog wash.

New to Duluth

The homeowners, originally from the Twin Cities, moved to Duluth in 2018 for the wife’s job — as a physician at Essentia. Her husband works remotely as a data engineer. They shared why they chose Duluth for their new home.

“The North Shore has always been a special place for us,” she said. “We both

Continued on page 44 spent many summers as children traveling to the North Shore with our families. And we spent our honeymoon at the AG Thomson House in Duluth before hitting the Superior Hiking Trail for a backcountry camping trip.”

Inspiration

The inspiration for this home came about through places well-loved, paired with functionality.

“The inspiration for our floorplan came from a vacation

Continued on pages 46 rental near Bayfield,” the homeowner shared. “It was a beautiful family home with a rustic vaulted living room and large picture windows overlooking the South Shore of Lake Superior.

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Taking inspiration from a vacation rental, this craftsman home features a vaulted living room and large picture windows overlooking Lake Superior. The wood-burning fireplace is surrounded by natural stone, with a custom-made mantel and corbels, and flanked by built-in shelving and storage space.

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Oversized windows and engineered hardwood flooring are featured throughout the home, including the master bedroom. The master bath includes a soaking tub and walk-in shower.

“Functionality was also very important to us,” she continued. “With kids and dogs, we knew we wanted a large mudroom with lots of storage and a dog wash. And since we were moving away from family, we designed the lower level to be a comfortable space for family to stay when visiting from out of town.”

Team

When selecting a team to design and build their home, these homeowners selected Heather Hiner of Hiner Home Designs, LLC, and Mike Hoops of MD Hoops Construction & Contracting, Inc.

“We started with a concept of what we wanted, and Heather did an amazing job making our dream become a reality,” the homeowner noted.

“She took our descriptions, pictures and sketches and put the floorplan together in a way that was beautiful, functional and structurally feasible, while making sure it fit within our budget. We eventually landed on a final design that met all our requests and was the perfect home for our family.

“And Mike did an amazing job with our house and gave 110% to the project throughout the build,” she added. “He was very flexible with any ideas or requests we had. We had an aggressive build schedule and Mike rose to the challenge and finished the project on time. Mike stayed in contact throughout the process and was always happy to show us around when we visited.”

The family bought their lot and started planning in September 2018. They broke ground in late winter/early spring 2019, and they moved in October 2019.

Layout and special features

The front door leads into a large, open space including a foyer, living area, kitchen and dining area. A door from the dining room leads to a covered deck with a fireplace.

The kitchen takes you past a walk-in pantry into the mudroom with a separate laundry room on one end and the entrance to the attached three-car garage on the other. Next to the foyer is an open staircase and entrance to the master suite.

The children’s bedrooms are upstairs, along with a loft/workspace area. The basement includes the family room with a walkout, a kitchenette, guest room, bunk room, play room and mechanical room, with plenty of space for storage.

Interior

The home’s interior features warm, gray walls (in the shade “Anew Gray” by Sherwin Williams), and white trim with rustic wood accents.

“All our interior wood accents — kitchen island, range hood, beams, mantle, built-in shelves, mirrors and vanities — were custom-made by Resurrected Furniture & Cabinetry, using reclaimed wood,” the homeowner said. “We wanted rustic touches throughout the house, and each piece turned out beautifully.”

The countertops are a “leathered” granite from Duluth’s Granite Works. The kitchen island features a doublethick edge with a chiseled finish.

The kitchen appliance package, sourced from Johnson Mertz, includes stainless steel Monogram appliances: an induction cooktop, range hood, side-byside built-in refrigerator, double-wall oven, built-in drawer microwave and dishwasher. The other appliances are GE brand, including a smaller refrigerator and a microwave in the kitchenette, and a front-load washer and dryer.

The home also features a cozy fireplace.

“Our living room fireplace is a wood-burning unit by Quadra-Fire. The stonework was done by Elias Masonry,

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The homeowner shared some of her favorite features.

“The washing station — or ‘dog wash’ — in the mudroom has proven to be incredibly useful. It’s been super convenient having a place to wash muddy boots and dog feet, or to quickly rinse off after working outside,” she said.

“And our covered deck is a fun, cozy place to gather. We like to have dinner out there and roast marshmallows in the fireplace.”

Utilities

The homeowner explained how their utility systems operate.

“We have solar panels over the south-facing roof of the garage, and a geothermal loop field system for heating and cooling. These ‘green’ energy systems allow our home to operate efficiently and sustainably.

“We received local and federal grants and rebates to help offset the upfront costs for installation, and have saved significantly on our monthly utility bills,” she added. “We hope this demonstrates that it’s possible to thrive in our northern climate without relying on gas or oil, and inspires others to install similar energy systems in their homes, too.”

Exterior

The home’s siding, constructed of LP SmartSide, is a blue-gray shade called “Smoky Ash,” featuring white trim and cedar accents. There are a number of metal-and-glass sconces decorating the outside of the house, in addition to a hanging lantern-style light in the entryway, and recessed lights concealed in the gables.

The couple plans to install two flagstone patios — one in front of the basement walkout with room for seating, and a smaller, more private one at the bottom of the stairs leading to the deck. Boulder walls on both sides of the house were built by Saline Landscape & Design.

“The walls lend a terraced structure to the steep hillside around the house, providing nice planting areas we’ve been filling in over time,” the homeowner said. “We worked with Prairie Restorations, Inc., to prepare a drought-tolerant and pollinator-friendly lawn, and to re-establish native plants and trees in areas that were disturbed during construction. We’ve been working on the rest of the landscaping ourselves. It’s hard work, but satisfying to see it come together.”

The property is surrounded by quaking aspen trees, along with some birch, white spruce and balsam fir.

Inc., with ‘Rustic Rubble’ natural stone from Great Lakes Stone. The mantel and corbels were done by Resurrected Furniture & Cabinetry. We don’t technically need the fireplace for heating, but it produces ample heat for the living room when we use it in the winter,” the homeowner explained.

A variety of lighting options are utilized throughout the home, including chandeliers, pendants, under-cabinet and concealed lights.

“All of our lights use soft, white LED bulbs, which are energy-efficient, last a long time, and look great,” the homeowner noted.

The home features Andersen Windows, sourced from Hagen’s Glass in Cloquet.

Low-maintenance flooring

When selecting flooring, easy cleanup was a must.

“Spills and accidents happen all the time in our family, and we swore off carpet after our last home,” the homeowner noted.

“We wanted wood and stone throughout the house, and found a beautiful engineered hardwood. It has a real wood veneer with random saw marks that give it a rustic look. Overall, it looks great, feels great, and is easy to clean. The floors in the mudroom, laundry room and bathrooms are tiled with natural slate. One nice feature is that, unlike other types of tile, they don’t seem to be very slippery when wet. The dark, rustic slate creates a nice contrast with the clean, white subway tile found in these same areas.”

Team reflections

Hiner and Hoops reflected fondly on this ambitious project.

“The homeowners said they wanted a mix of architectural styles including rustic, farmhouse and craftsman, which are slightly different, yet share similarities,” Hiner noted. “I feel we were able to capture that combination into their home with a mix of gable roof ends, wide white trim, and timber and stone accents. Once inside, the white trim and wood accents continue throughout the house with interesting design details, including the rough-sawn wood island and range hood that make the home unique.

“One obvious feature of this home are the sweeping views of Lake Superior from every room in the home, which, of course, is by design,” Hiner added. “The site sits high up on a hill overlooking the lake, so with the exception of the basement bunk room, all living spaces and bedrooms are situated on the lake side with oversized windows, capturing those magnificent views.”

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“One of the things I think is really neat about this house is the covered porch off the kitchen, with access from the mudroom,” Hoops said. “And the large mudroom is perfect for a young family. The homeowners also wanted their own dog wash — it’s elevated and was custom-made.

“The family was very easy to work with,” Hoops added. “That really stood out to me. Many homeowners can get lost in the decision-making process, but this couple both really knew what they wanted.”

Enjoying their dream home

The couple is ultimately very pleased with their choices.

“Every space is beautiful and functional for our family,” the homeowner noted. “With most of the interior work done at this point, we’re shifting our focus toward patios and landscaping so we can enjoy the nature around us even more. For me, it comes down to this place — the woods and the lake make this such a beautiful place to live. We love our home.

The large kitchen is both rustic and modern, featuring a custom-made island with leathered granite, custom-made range hood and ceiling beams, under-cabinet lighting, and a GE appliance package. The dining space is flooded with natural light from the large windows, and has access to the covered deck with a fireplace, which is featured on pages 42-43.

“We kept an inspiration board on Pinterest throughout our build, and it’s amazing to look back at the pictures and see how closely Mike and all our subcontractors were able to recreate our vision,” she added. “It truly is our dream home.” D