A Chagrin Valley Home’s Minimalist Design Romanticizes Living With Less

Some parents lament the idea of becoming empty nesters. Wendy Berry’s clients embraced it. The couple had raised their two children in a 7,200-square-foot colonial and were ready to downsize after the kids graduated from college.

“They just wanted to purge and have this very turnkey living,” says Berry, the owner of Chagrin Falls-based W Design.

To facilitate that lifestyle, Berry worked with Chagrin Falls architect George Clemens to create a 5,800-square-foot white brick modern farmhouse overlooking the Chagrin River. The first-floor owner’s suite and two upstairs bedrooms with ensuite baths allow the couple to age in place on one floor while accommodating visiting adult children and other guests. An elevator ensures safe access to the lower level garage, his and hers offices and the TV room. The minimalist interiors eliminate the bulk of unnecessary finishes, fixtures and furnishings while concealing essentials without compromising comfort and convenience.

“It’s almost like a very sophisticated, casual feel,” Berry says.

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One of the few things the clients requested was an airy, open floor plan. Clemens responded with a layout in which spaces are defined by varying ceiling heights rather than walls, and enormous windows showcase views of the river and surrounding woods. The windows’ black metal casings and the house’s white exterior and architecture — “really the star of the minimalist,” Berry says of the last — set the stage for a sleek, monochromatic white interior warmed by strategically placed woods.

Berry began implementing that color scheme by painting the walls white and finishing the floors in white oak. She then covered vertical and horizontal support beams in walnut-stained white oak, a move that visually separated spaces yet “tied the entire structure together.” Paneling the dropped foyer ceiling in the same stained wood directs the eye to the front door, while adding a walnut wet bar in the living area serves as a foil for a fireplace simply finished in white plaster — another texture that adds interest to a monochromatic decor.

“We wanted [the fireplace] to just vanish into the walls but have a presence in bulk,” Berry says.

The black metal casing the windows was repeated in the metal rod staircase railings and spare lighting fixtures. A tiered round chandelier in the living area illuminates a large coffee table surrounded by an oatmeal chenille sectional, two gray leather chairs and a pair of charcoal-stained benches topped by taupe ribbed chenille cushions. Guests entering the dining area to sit at a round oak table in nubby heathered cream chairs can see through the space’s lantern-style chandelier to three surrounding windows.

“You feel like you’re looking at a treehouse,” Berry says.

Pendants with white plaster shades hang over a quartzite-topped walnut-stained island that separates the living area from the kitchen. It stands out against banks of white Shaker-style cabinetry customized to organize everything from pots and pans to various utensils and tools. The refrigerator, dishwasher and pullout trash bin are all hidden behind matching cabinetry panels, while a pantry keeps a microwave and other small appliances behind a closed door. But a Thermador stainless steel range stationed in front of a window that extends up through the second floor serves as the kitchen’s focal point. Pitted, fire-glazed tile was laid and grouted to create a backsplash that mimics the white brick exposed on foyer walls and, as Berry puts it, “bring the outside in.”

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Berry chose to paint the owners’ bedroom a light grayish beige. “When you do it in a large, open space, it just becomes a warm white,” she says.

Furniture was limited to a bed in a light taupe suede frame flanked by ivory nightstands and anchored by a bench cushioned in mottled gray chenille. Although Berry put a simple wooden chest under a wall-mounted television, most clothing is kept under wraps in his and hers walk-in closets.

Closets incorporated in his and hers bleached walnut vanities on facing bathroom walls store extra towels and grooming necessities. A gray marble steam shower and white soaking tub with filler mounted in the white marble basketweave tiled floor separate the two. Berry finished the ceiling in walnut paneling, just as she did in the foyer, to set off a fixture dripping white onyx disks.

Accent pillows on the living area sectional and a few accessories on tabletops are lapses in the minimalist decor. Open kitchen shelves keep frequently used items within easy reach.

“[The homeowners] wanted [the house] to feel lived in, not completely barren,” Berry explains. But they have found that the minimalist decor suits them at this stage in their lives.

“[One homeowner] said, ‘It’s exactly what I wanted — and I didn’t know what I wanted!’” Berry says.

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