A White and Bright House Tour

Winter hibernation starts about mid-October for Minneapolis, MN, homeowners Mekea and Tim Duffy. With the short, dark days already in full effect, they’re hunkering down inside their five-bedroom, 3,700-square-foot home that they purchased new in 2012. But becoming seasonal shut-ins doesn’t induce claustrophobia, thanks to airy rooms with mood-boosting colors and crisp white walls (Super White by Benjamin Moore). An attached two-car garage doesn’t hurt either.

“When the Minnesota cold is numbing, you can be stuck indoors for weeks,” says Mekea. “I didn’t want to feel like we were cooped up in a cave.” Unafraid to mix prints in adventurous combos or throw in a decor curveball such as a well-worn vintage piece, she’s designed a comfort-first home that can accommodate the antics of three daughters under age 9. It’s also great for casual get-togethers with her younger brother, older sister, and parents, all of whom live in the neighborhood. “For entertaining and real life, this place is perfection. It’s our forever home.”

In the open-plan living room, a sophisticated zebra stripe rug is teamed with mod geometric prints, including those on the Room & Board armchairs, chevron pillows from Target, and Duralee fabric shades. Piling on vibrant, nonmatching pillows helps loosen up the straight-lined sofa, which is from the local Room & Board outlet. The battered trunk, scored at a local antiques mall, stows extra blankets and is painted Mekea’s favorite shade, a citrus orange. The two-tier coffee table is from IKEA. Sleek Carrara marble is installed around the fireplace.

Outfitted with nook-spanning Carrara marble and a CB2 stool, a niche off the living room is Mekea’s command-and-control central. “I keep track of everything here,” she says. Magnetic paint turned the wall into a thumbtack-free bulletin board for the girls’ artwork.