A Unique, Neutral-Chic Home Ready for the Holidays

Designer Nicole Botsman fell for her Minneapolis, MN, home the second she walked through the door.

“When I saw the checkered stone floor, which is original to the house, I thought, It’s perfect!” she says. “I’m happy to use lots of color with clients, but I love how classic and versatile black-and-white is.”

Much of the rest of the 1920s Mediterranean-style home was also old…and not in a good way: There were frayed carpets, blah light fixtures, and fussy window treatments. It had good bones, though, so Nicole and her husband, Lucian Bondar, decided to freshen it up using her favorite color combo. She worked it into every room, with variations in tone, texture, and pattern to distinguish each space.

The results, she says, show the range of looks you can achieve with black-and-white: “It’s modern, it’s traditional, it’s everything.”

Living Room

Since it’s one of the first rooms people see, homeowner Nicole Botsman wanted it to set the tone for the rest of the house. She put in a statement floor: black engineered oak (from WD Flooring) laid in a herringbone pattern. She balanced it with white walls, a light linen sofa by Noir, an off-white Pottery Barn rug topped with a zebra one from a local store, and framed art from HomeGoods. The spiky wood sideboard, also by Noir, holds the kids’ toys.

Dining Room

It’s not every day that someone pulls up to an auto body shop with eight chairs they want spray-painted, but that’s what Nicole did to ensure hers would have a professional, durable finish.

“I’d spent a couple months collecting molded plastic Casalino dining chairs by Alexander Begge from vintage stores, Etsy, and chairish.com, and they were all different shades of white,” says Nicole. She paired them with a sleek black-stained dining table from Design Within Reach. The Renwil light’s brass finish picks up the gold tones in the oak floor.

Kitchen

A total overhaul wasn’t necessary—still, Nicole didn’t want to live with a bright blue ceramic tile floor. Instead of ripping it out, she had it professionally redone in her go-to color, Tricorn Black by Sherwin-Williams, using a paint formula made for tile. To brighten up the island, the couple swapped its gray granite top for white quartz. They also added five lights in one with a fixture by Renwil, upgraded the melamine cabinets with new black metal pulls by Emtek, and replaced a 60-inch-wide monster range (“Like one you’d see in a diner,” says Nicole) with two standard-size ranges that are easier to use.

Kitchen Nook

That’s not just amazing DIY art, it’s also a cover-up for an annoying off-center window. A handyman built Nicole a wood canvas double the window’s size, which she painted white. One night after the kids went to sleep, she went all abstract on it. Lucian created ample seating around the Room & Board table by building a bench; it’s topped with a cushion and pillows made with two different Pindler fabrics.

Sunroom

Nicole found the roomy 98-inch-wide sofa with a brass base at local store Retro Wanderlust. Its rust-color fabric was in bad shape, so she had it reupholstered in green velvet by Duralee. “I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and this became my bold foray into color,” she says. She went back to black—the same shade as the kitchen floor—for the ceiling, and it adds a surprisingly cozy feel. The fuzzy rug is from West Elm, and the coffee table is from CB2.

Master Bedroom

Black-and-white gets a serene spin with a dark olive velvet headboard (from Crate & Barrel), soft pink accents (a throw from West Elm and shams from Pottery Barn), and a Four Hands bench topped with a sheepskin throw. Nicole picked up the pair of vintage burl wood nightstands on chairish.com. The offset-stripe PBteen rug coordinates with the black-trimmed shades by Smith & Noble.

Finn’s Bedroom

Some parents go overboard in their kids’ rooms with out-there themes, but Nicole let her son’s imagination flourish with a neutral scheme. “I’ll go in and find every surface covered in Lego creations,” she says. Finn’s Pottery Barn Kids bed has a trundle (great for sleepovers) and cute sheets; the final touch is a lumbar pillow from Target.
The rug is from Lulu & Georgia, and the moon prints on the wall reflect Finn’s interest in outer space.

Zara and Tessa’s Bedroom

At 5 and 7, the girls may play differently—Zara is into dolls, Tessa has moved on to making forts—but a room decorated with fun metallic touches and patterns works for both. Nicole designed the bunk beds, which their contractor built, and she spray-painted a light from Urban Outfitters to match the brass steps.

The antique love seat is an estate sale find she had reupholstered in a graphic fabric by Miles Redd for Schumacher. The stuffed tiger, by Melissa & Doug, doubles as a party trick: “Sometimes the girls bring him downstairs when we have guests,” says Nicole, “and people do a double take.”