Newlyweds Gina Wolleat-Zorn and Darrell Zorn built their dream home in Ham Lake to accommodate her interior design business, his love for cooking, and their blended family of adult children.
Being an interior designer, you would think designing your own home would be a simple process, but for Gina Wolleat-Zorn, who owns Room Reimagined Design, she found the opposite to be true.
“Selecting finishes was so much harder, mainly because I love so many different colors, styles, and materials. I wanted to choose them all,” says Gina.
With help from her new husband Darrell Zorn, whom she married this past October, the pair were able to identify the aesthetic they wanted for their first home together. “He prefers a traditional style and loves the color blue,” says Gina. “I’m not traditional, so we kind of had to meet in the middle.”
They compromised and landed on a transitional style that blends traditional and contemporary elements. “I would describe the style of the home as timeless, not trendy,” says Gina. “In all of my designs, I strive to create a look that will stand the test of time and not have a time stamp that becomes obvious in a few years.”
Choosing Ham Lake’s Hidden Forest development for its “country feel with lots big enough for a little privacy” — plus the proximity to Gina’s parents and many of her design clients — they hired Parent Custom Homes after seeing the builder’s work on a previous Parade of Homes tour.
“Gina and Darrell took a lot of time to get all the details right, starting with the blueprint,” says builder Brent Parent. “They worked with myself and our plan designer to map out exactly how they wanted every room. The attention to detail they had right from the beginning made the build process go a lot smoother.”
The floor plan began by merging two of Parent Custom Homes’ rambler-style plans and giving the architect a list of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and idea sketches. Once the first rough draft was developed, Gina and the architect went back and forth many times, tweaking each area to maximize every square inch of the floor plan. “My tape measure was constantly in motion, making sure that the sizes of the rooms were adequate but did not include more space than we really needed,” says Gina.
The result is a 3,500-square-foot home that features four bedrooms — two of which are used as home offices and a design studio — three bathrooms, and plenty of space to entertain their blended family of four adult children, like the gourmet kitchen and lower-level wet bar.
When it came to the design, Gina leaned on her experience as an interior designer to guide the process of bringing each space to life. “I firmly believe that the best furnishing designs come from working with an inspirational piece,” she says. “When working with my clients, I try to hone in on something inspirational for each room or area. It may be an existing bold accent color on the wall, a favorite piece of artwork, or a beautiful throw pillow. From there, I choose the rest of the furnishings, taking great care that everything complements the inspirational piece.”
For her own home, that inspirational piece was a slab of Venchi Fusion granite from Brazil. “Once I laid eyes on that slab, I knew we had to have it,” she says. “I won’t lie, I lost a little sleep thinking about the ‘HOLD’ sign slipping off and it being sold to someone else.”
Featuring a combination of black, slate, blue, cream, salmon, and gray, each room was designed to complement that countertop, and all furniture, draperies, artwork, rugs, and other decor was chosen to coordinate with the slab.
“We are lucky because the decision making at every level was super easy. Basically, I would present Darrell with what I thought was the best option and let him approve,” says Gina. “A few times I had to go back to the drawing board, but honestly, his input made me think outside of the box and allowed for his personality to shine through as well.”
This can be seen in details like the authentic Wagyu horns that adorn the wet bar and a gourmet kitchen complete with a pot filler and “red knobs on the range,” says Gina, referring to the Wolf appliance brand’s signature design. “Darrell is an amazing cook, and he has always dreamed of a Wolf range. We love hosting holidays and dinner parties. We cannot wait to utilize the gourmet kitchen and dining table that seats 12, and mix up some fun drinks in the amazing wet bar. The most fun part of the project was creating a vision — not only for the aesthetics of the home and how it will function but having a vision for living in our first home together.”
Photos: Spacecrafting | Written by Taylor Hugo
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