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Loving Life in a Loft Classic lines, comfortably elegant, aged wood, timeless architecture, and traditional furniture pieces. That’s what Walter and Valerie Broughton had in their 3-story, traditional, 100-year-old home in Duluth, MN for the past 12 years.

The 90-square foot curved kitchen is hard to miss once you walk through the door of this issue’s dream home. But you wouldn’t want to miss it: it has all of the amenities that this couple needs to prepare dinner for themselves, and to entertain. With the exception of the Wolf range, all of the appliances are GE Monogram, in a stainless-steel finish. A Sharp LCD television is suspended above the countertop. There are two sinks, one in the center island and one in the main island next to the dishwasher. (Above) All the appliances are lined up on both counters in the kitchen. On the back counter is a dishwasher, the range, the range hood, and the refrigerator. On the center island is the built-in warming drawer and microwave oven. At the end of the long space is the baking center, which houses a built-in wall oven (under the countertop) and a stand mixer. The countertop on the left is stainless-steel; on the right is White Carerra Marble. “We had both function and design in our minds when selecting surfaces, especially in the kitchen,” Valerie says. “We valued the look of the marble in the kitchen and were willing to give up ease of maintenance to achieve that look. Also, the marble on the bake center countertop achieved both the function and look we wanted. The stainless on the main island achieved a sleek look, and an unbelievable ease of maintenance that we love. We chose a sort of brushed, circular design on the kitchen countertop to mask scratches. We think it’s working!”

But when the opportunity came to grow their businesses and move 150 miles south, they didn’t hesitate. Valerie is president and founder of College Connectors, a company that helps high school students find the best possible college fit, prepares students for admissions into colleges of their choice, and helps parents simplify the college application and financial aid processes. Walter heads up The Broughton Group, an investment boutique of Merrill Lynch.
And yet they didn’t simply pack up their belongings and move. Along with their home, they sold almost all of their furniture and essentially started over in a contemporary loft in a new building in Minneapolis.
Going from one style to another and from an suburban life to a urban one can be an intimidating experience, but Walter and Valerie say it didn’t phase them at all. “We weren’t apprehensive,” Walter says. “In this setting and this building, it just wasn’t an issue. If we had started with a different building it might have ended differently. I didn’t want to have a home that didn’t fit the building, and this building has unusual shapes with many different textures on the outside. We wanted our home to fit that.”

The Big, Big Move

For many, moving to an urban location is about tapping into the cultural and business opportunities of the city and usually allows a shorter commute to work, which is something that Walter and Valerie desired. “We didn’t want a long commute to work, shopping and cultural events,” she says.
But finding a place in a city can mean sacrificing the larger living spaces found in the suburbs or the country. Not so in this case. Walter and Valerie found a 4,260-square-foot space in a new building in Minneapolis.
“I never wanted to live in the suburbs of Minneapolis, and the thought of living in town was exciting,” Valerie says. “However, I did have some criteria: I wanted to be able to look out my window and see kids walking to school, to be close to a church, and to be in a neighborhood with friendly places to eat and hang out. One of the things that I liked about living in a small town was getting to know people, and I wanted a neighborhood in the city where I could recreate that. So this location is perfect. There’s a high school directly across the river from us, there’s a church a block and a half from us where our son was recently married, and there’s restaurants and shops close by.”
Walter had some criteria as well. “The whole place is based on a combination of original cement, glass, sheetrock and steel. Valerie wanted to see as much
as space as she could, and my desire was to give a ‘wow’ factor using curves, steel and marble.”

The 15 1/2-foot long wet bar with a beautiful marble top separates the library and the living room/dining room, yet still allows people to congregate. “It not only helps to have the refrigerator drawer and DishDrawer in there, but we also have a small sink and bar stools. It’s a great helper,” Valerie says. “We had a rehearsal dinner here with 90 people and a gift opening with 120 people, and it just worked.” The lighting above the wet bar and throughout the home is interesting. “Valerie recently had a book group over that included two interior designers. Both women commented about the lighting, and asked us if it was hard to accept this lighting,” Walter says. “We said ‘No, we knew what kind of lighting we were getting relative to what we wanted to illuminate.’ Both designers said that they’d always wanted to introduce more low-voltage options, but so many clients are reluctant to take the risk. Since the place looked edgy already, I thought that this lighting would not have a negative impact.”

A Grand Entrance

Walter and Valerie walked into their loft before any walls were put up, something that can prove to be a bit daunting to some. Without some creative vision, it’s difficult to see how an empty space with exposed concrete, plumbing, and not much lighting can become a home.
But Valerie says she enjoyed the process. “We had built a home before and had done remodeling in our home in Duluth, so we knew how the process works. My perspective on building is different than some people: for me it’s very exciting. I liken it to a courtship where you just can’t wait to come home and talk about the new ideas that you have. So I saw the fact that it was an empty space as a plus; we could shape it to our tastes.”
Since the place was bought from a developer, Walter and Valerie first had to find a builder. “The more I spoke with builders, the more I became concerned that the traditional residential builder may not know how to proceed with this,” Walter says. “They would know how, but it wasn’t routine for them. Since there was so much glass, steel and cement I decided that we had to work with a commercial builder who works with those materials on a regular basis. So we hired Crawford-Merz. And that was one of our best decisions ever.”
The Broughtons then hired Jeff Sweitzer, an architect with Sharratt Design in Minneapolis who specializes in contemporary loft and condo design, to design the space and create a home and work with Crawford-Merz.
“Before the Broughtons, someone else had bought the space and had some very preliminary work done to it before walking away from the project. So we had a few plumbing and supply lines to contend with as potential design constraints. But for the most part, it was raw space when we entered the project,” Jeff explains. “To accommodate certain programmatic design requests we needed to relocate a number of waste and supply lines.”
Jeff helped the Broughtons establish their home’s program, which includes 2 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a gourmet kitchen, a dining area, living area, library, media room, laundry room, office, and several large storage spaces, all in 4,260 square feet of free-flowing space.
He also capitalized on an existing curved wall of the space by developing a sweeping “art wall” for some of the Broughtons painting collection. This “wall” adds curves to the kitchen, behind it that leads to the media room, and another curved wall in the wet bar and library.
“The Broughtons didn’t have any preconception of shape,” Jeff explains. “Valerie said she liked patterns, color, and texture. Walter wanted to move the place in a contemporary vain, to keep it in the style of the rest of the building. That included adding curved walls instead of traditional square walls to allow anyone in the home to see as many vistas as possible.” Other features important to Walter were a reveal treatment to the wall instead of baseboards, in addition to clean and consistent lines and surfaces.
“I like to practice in a more contemporary, ‘cleaner’ style utilizing simple geometric shapes with elegant surface finishes” he adds. “That’s been my career-long genre that I like to work with when the opportunity presents itself and the client’s taste will allow it.”
Valerie adds, “I give credit to Jeff. I told him that I like things to be geometric, parallel, simple, and that I like openness, and that is almost what we have. So I didn’t agonize over the sketches. We had some debates about whether or not to have 2 or 3 bedrooms, or an exercise room or more storage, but in the whole scheme of the project those were minor details.”

This couple doesn’t dread laundry day, because they have the Whirlpool Duet front-loading washer and dryer. What does Valerie like most about the pair? “They’re quiet,” she says. “My office is just a few feet from the laundry room, and I spend a lot of time in there. But I never hear my washer and dryer, they’re that quiet. Plus, they’re suspended on pedestals, which help me to reach in and out without having to stand on a stool.”

Stainless Curves

The kitchen has clean, uncluttered lines of contemporary design, but also is inviting. The stainless steel appliances actually look cozy because they’re teamed with Anegre cabinetry, which helps to give a warm look.
Valerie worked with interior designer Jackie Wulf of JK Interiors on the kitchen layout and the appliance selection. “I didn’t use a kitchen designer because I didn’t know of anyone in Minneapolis. A colleague of Walter’s introduced us to Jackie, who, in addition to doing all of the interior selections, like the furniture, paint, flooring (carpet, stone and wood flooring), the countertop, lighting, and fabrics, also helped with the kitchen design and appliances.”
“Valerie and I spent much time selecting the appliances,” Jackie Wulf says. “I knew that Valerie wanted a commercial range, so there were only so many options that had the true simmer feature. The refrigerator ended up being a price point issue. We decided on the Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer combination drawers because there wasn’t a lot of space in the bar and we wanted the appliances to disappear.”
“We picked GE Monogram for the other appliances because of the design of the handles and because they are reasonably priced. The handles on the other appliances were too big and clunky, and I wanted this to match my cabinets. Plus, 2 months after we moved in, the compressor on the refrigerator broke. We had a loaner refrigerator and then a new one within 1 week, no questions asked. So instead of looking at it like our refrigerator completely broke down, I view it as we got the most fabulous service.”
The 90-square-foot kitchen has two sinks, a baking area, a cooking area, a prep area and an eating area with four bar stools.
At the center of the cooking area is a Wolf 36-inch gas range with six dual burners and a stainless exterior and porcelain oven interior. The oven’s infrared technology distributes heat more evenly for better cooking results. The convection oven has an infrared broiler that starts cooking the moment you turn it on. The cooktop can be configured with everything from six dual burners to a combination of burners with infrared charbroiler or infrared griddle. The large red burner control knobs have 4 position settings. “We chose the range because we can control the simmer and because the size allowed it to be flush with our cabinetry and countertops,” Valerie notes.
The Wolf range requires proper ventilation, and a GE Monogram wall hood takes care of that without being too obtrusive. The hood has dual blowers, electronic touch controls, 4 halogen lamps with 6 levels of intensity and 3 removable filters with a filter cleaning reminder. It works well without demanding attention.
To the right of the range is a GE Monogram bottom-mount, built-in, stainless-steel refrigerator/freezer. The convenient configuration of Monogram’s bottom-freezer is increasingly popular. The eye-level accessibility (and visibility) of the top compartment eliminates the need for bending to reach lower shelves. Storage options preserve freshness, while letting you customize the shelving. It has 20.6 cubic feet of capacity, electronic controls, 2 adjustable humidity vegetable/fruit pans, 2 sealed deli pans and 4 adjustable glass shelves.
On the other side of the range is the stainless-steel GE Monogram dishwasher, which also blends seamlessly into the kitchen and the stainless-steel countertop above it. The fully-integrated design with concealed, top-mounted controls installs nearly flush with the surrounding cabinetry as well. Inside, a 3-arm wash system and spacious interior handle everything from large colanders to fine stemware. “I love my dishwasher,” Valerie notes. “Because our kitchen is open, I was concerned that it would be loud. But I never hear it running. During a dinner party, I can clean up after preparing a meal, clear the table, run the dishwasher, and put the next load of dishes in without anyone noticing.”
Across from the dishwasher, in the kitchen island, are a GE Monogram microwave oven and warming drawer. They’re both built into the cabinetry and they’re placed only a few feet off of the floor. They’re so well hidden that it’s easy to miss them.
A warming drawer has become the newest necessity for the practical cook’s kitchen. They keep foods warm and moist until serving. The 30-inch GE Monogram warming drawer is stainless steel, and can be set anywhere from 75-230 degrees F. You can control the humidity, from crisp to moist, and both a half rack and stainless pan are removable.
At the entrance to the kitchen is Valerie’s baking station, with a GE Monogram wall oven. The 30-inch stainless steel wall oven is built into the cabinetry below the countertops. It has electronic dial controls, self-cleaning full-extension racks, 4.4 cubic foot capacity, and a reverse air convection system that uses a dedicated third heating element and a bidirectional fan to provide a consistent temperature throughout the oven.

Open or closed? Sliding door panels give the flexibility of an open space or cozy quarters in the media room, which also has high-tech equipment, like a Fujitsu 55-inch plasma television, Monster Power home theater system and Denon CD player and AV surround/receiver. “We call this room ‘mission control’ because it’s where we can load CDs, watch television and movies, and control the sound throughout the house,” Valerie says. “We like the TV because it’s easy to use despite having a lot of different functions. But mostly we like the design of the space: we didn’t want a TV room to be the centerpiece of the house. But it’s an interesting shape, it’s funky, and the light fixtures are interesting. It’s become ‘overflow space’ when we entertain instead of ‘the’ space to be.”

Sleek and Contemporary

Just outside of the kitchen is a 15-1/2 foot long wet bar that separates the dining room from the library. Despite doing renovations to their previous home, this is the first time that the couple has had a wet bar. They’ve come to really enjoy having it, especially when they entertain. “We used to have to haul everything back and forth from the kitchen and it was not convenient at all,” Valerie notes. “The refrigerator and freezer drawers and the dishwasher have made entertaining easier.”
The model 700BC Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer drawers give convenient refrigeration and freezer storage in a compact footprint. They fit under the wet bar countertop, and they store a lot of soda, water, and other beverages. Temperatures are easily controlled via the control panel in the top drawer. The top refrigeration drawer also comes with a removable crisper cover. Both drawers have bright lighting in the storage drawers. An alarm lets you know with an audible beeping if a drawer is left open.
For cleanup, there’s a Fisher & Paykel Dishdrawer, an ergonomically designed dishwasher that’s also housed in a drawer—at waist height—so it’s easier to open, load and close. The DishDrawer uses different water pressures and a flow-through detergent dispenser with wash temperatures for a better wash. You can place pots and pans in the DishDrawer, in addition to delicate china and stemware.
The wet bar is not only functional, but it looks good as well. The top of the wet bar is Black St. Laurent marble, the same marble as the countertops in the hallway, library, and other areas of the home. The countertop is only slightly higher than the library floor, so it acts as a drink ledge from the library side and a server from the dining room side.

Carved Out for Laundry

At the far end of the main hallway, near Valerie’s office and the guest room, is a small laundry room. Tall, heavy doors keep the noise out, while dozens of shelves around the room help keep things organized.
A Whirlpool Duet front-loading washer and dryer is the center of attraction, and rightly so. The Duet pair is renowned for how well they treat clothes, both washing and drying. The pair is large capacity, so the couple can save time by washing fewer, larger loads as well as the larger items like pillows and comforters that they couldn’t wash before. For example, the washer can hold 22 bath towels or 16 pairs of jeans in a single load.
The washer automatically adjusts the settings, so all you have to do is load it and turn it on.
Valerie likes the fact that the pair is on pedestals, which lift them both an extra 15 inches off of the floor. “I’m only 5’1, so I appreciate not having to reach down into the washer and dryer.”

What a view! The main patio (there are two others; one in the main bedroom and the other in the guest room) offers a generous view of the Minneapolis skyline, which is even more impressive at night. A DCS 48-inch outdoor grill with four burners, double side burners and a rotisserie is perfect for cooking favorite meals and enjoying the view. “Even though I grill all year long, a smaller grill would have been fine for the two of us,” Walter says. “But having the right grill, a larger grill was necessary to be reflective of the large space. If you had a ‘normal sized’ grill there, it would not look right. Plus, we entertain 3-4 times a month, and if we have a professional chef do the cooking, he would need an appropriate grill to cook on.”

A Sense of Space

The process of moving from raw space to their new home was smooth and relatively effortless since the Broughtons were great at communicating their thoughts and ideas, as well as being interested listeners. It also helped that they were open to the idea of creating their new home with atypical and elegantly finished spaces with special one-of-a-kind architectural features, including specialty lighting fixtures and controls.
Walter says, “We wanted to design a place that’s functional for us living in a city and I think it covers it. I pulled out the original sketch from Jeff, and it’s not too different from what’s here. It is a feast for the eye.”
“We’ve lived here now for 8 months, but it seems like it’s been longer than that,” Valerie adds. “We wouldn’t change a thing about it, and I don’t want to move anywhere else. Of course, we thought that of our house in Duluth when we went through the remodeling process. We always thought we would be there forever. But I’m someone that when I arrange the furniture, that’s how it’s going to be; I won’t rearrange it every 2 weeks, so I expect us to stay here. Plus, my newly-married son and his wife are building a loft a block and a half from here, so that’s another reason to stay. I think there’s a great chance that we’ll be here for a long time.”

Take a Closer Look

Steel Accessories
Mark Bouchard of Islero built all of the metal doors, the extensions to the light fixtures, the pipe coverings that disguise plumbing and piping lines, and a free-floating glass drink ledge—so many one-of-a-kind metal, plastic, wood, and glass elements. His work helped to the Broughtons to keep their theme of curves, steel and marble throughout the home.
“I wanted to make sure that it had an urban feel,” Walter says, “and I didn’t want arts and crafts doors in a contemporary setting. I had done research on the minimalist look and found that steel doors were always incorporated. So I gave Mark some pictures of what I liked and he came up with the design.”
“The steel throughout our home is hot-rolled steel,” he adds. “Cold-rolled steel is veneered and perfect and looks like aluminum. Hot-rolled steel shows blemishes and it picks up your hand prints. You can see the waves in it, which is part of the craftsmanship. If you want something perfect, you remove the craftsmanship and you use cold-rolled steel. But if you are willing to accept imperfection, then it will look crafted, and that was what we wanted. The pipe coverings are wrapped in aluminum sleeves. We could have completely covered the pipes, but we wanted to be able to see them; that was the look. So whenever we had a choice to hide it or not hide it, the choice most of the time was not to hide it because it’s a loft.” More Editorials