View Finder: Designing a Dream Home with a Minimalist Aesthetic

When designer Brittany Blunt of Sustainable 9 Design + Build began working with her clients, they were planning the “forever” home where they’d build their family. By the end of the project, they’d fulfilled both those goals: They not only got their dream home in a leafy enclave, they’d welcomed two children. “You can imagine that some design choices changed along the way,” says Blunt. “We’d originally planned a golf simulator in the basement—now that’s a playroom.”

Unchanged was the couple’s minimalist design aesthetic and their desire to emphasize the nearly floor-to-ceiling views in many rooms. “When you have an amazing vista, that’s what you want to see—it’s all the art and design you need,” says Blunt. “We intentionally kept the interiors very simple and neutral to avoid competing with those views.”

In the kitchen, that meant careful material choices, but also a creative approach to storage. “You can’t have both floor-to-ceiling windows and upper cabinets,” says Blunt. “So, you have to rethink your approach to kitchen design a little bit.” To provide plenty of prep and cleanup space and all the storage the family would need, she designed a large pantry behind the main workspace and lots of under-counter storage, including a long run of cabinets that extends into the dining area.

Pale finishes—rift cut white oak on the floors and cabinets plus Cambria’s Hawksmoore in a matte finish on the countertops—keep the look light and airy. Black cabinet hardware echoes the black window frames and accents in the adjoining living space and throughout the house. “Consistency was very important to us,” says Blunt. “We used the same materials throughout the house—all the stone surfaces are Cambria’s Hawksmoore design, for example—for a very clean, modern effect.”

Despite the pared-down aesthetic, the home feels warm and inviting, thanks to the layers of natural materials—warm wood, rich stone—and to cozy touches like the dining nook in the kitchen and the living room’s focal-point fireplace, which is finished in plaster, as is the kitchen’s range hood. All the design choices are as kid-friendly and easy to care for as they are beautiful with one exception: that spectacular glass staircase. Blunt says, “It’s a showstopping feature, but it’s definitely a magnet for little fingerprints!”