I wouldnt buy that with *your* money.

Plus, it is also "soft" contemporary according to the realtor. Yikes.

And this staircase really bothers me.

What is it? Is it really called minimalist? Surely it's not Mark Bittman's house? Link to the listing, please!

It's difficult to say anything complementary about this house although we can safely call it "roomy. I'll abstain from further comment.

Who designs these things? It seems like it could have been nice if only the designer had shown some restraint.

This was an architect, according to the listing.

Architect? That explains it. It's a window showroom.

I feel ill... but it was like a train wreck. Had to look at all 64 photos.

I only see two photos - where are the other 62?

The exterior is hideous, but I sort of like the staircase, however scary it might look - it looks sculptural to me, and I like its curves. If I saw it in person, I might have a different opinion.

The exterior looks like ten different townhouses, and so it makes it look like a mismatched colony of warring neighbors. I cannot see how anyone would want to drive up to that - it really is a nightmare, and I already have enough of those.

There are plenty of bad architects, just as there are plenty of bad interior designers.

Here is a link

2011 minimalist

How is this a minimalist house? I guess that's why it's here for the view-and-discuss.

I can't make sense of this room. It's like the hotelling set-up we have for visitors at work, except with a sink.

The empty space between the vanity and tub is wider than most of the rooms in my house. I like the cabinets, but hate the shower tile.

Did you notice how they put a pic of the house on all the TVs?

I love this staircase.

As to office, maybe they ran a biz from home or had several kids and mom had designated homework time or homeschooled

i wouldn’t buy it but I think it is not fuzzy or emulating Tuscan villas or English manors, so yes, minimalist, in that way.

A lot of pennies were wasted in the process.

It is listed at Sothebys.

I'm thinking I would rather have a house designed and decorated by Mark Bittman,

It's hard making it past the exterior.

The finishes do effectively distract from the layout, especially the kitchen backsplash that echoes the exterior brick.

Here's the floor plan,

http://m.sothebysrealty.com/1103m0/t0x1q54y2yyhmd6sz5wpx7a596i

Am I correct in thinking that the room with the desks and sink is "The Everything Room"? Very apt : ) .

This 2011 minimalist inspired ‘soft’ Contemporary

To paraphrase, you keep using those words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean.

Oh my. The magic of Google. I think this house was built for the guy who invented Siri. The family is moving to a Chicago penthouse condo.

According to another article,

One key thing the two properties have in common: "They're both high," Kittlaus said, "and I'm a total weather fanatic and a storm tracker. I like to be up high for my weather (monitoring) equipment."

In North Barrington, the house sits on a relatively high site. Kittlaus' weather-watching room is on the third floor, surrounded by windows and with a rooftop deck attached.

Here's the condo listing.

If they are calling this house "minimalist -inspired" they don't mean what they think they mean. And not so much "soft-contemporary" inspired either.

This is minimalist inspired: not quite full-on minimalist because it's placed in a shell with traditional exteriors

That spiral staircase is pretty, but definitely won’t work if you have small dogs.

If they are calling this house "minimalist -inspired" they don't mean what they think they mean. And not so much "soft-contemporary" inspired either.

I think the real estate agent was desperate to try to disguise a McMansion on a golf course and started grasping at straws.

And soft contemporary, this:

This is why, despite the "you do you" crowd's insistence that labels are for fuddy-duddies, or that you can come up with your own name for a style or shoehorn a hodgepodge of details into an existing very different style/aesthetic, that insistence never translates into reality.

With three kids of my own, I kind of like the everything room and the possibilities it represents, plus the location just off the kitchen, so you could keep an eye on the kids while fixing dinner.

I know there's no getting away from the exterior, but I think this is one house where a decent staging budget, for paint, different furniture, and a few new countertops, might be helpful.

I love the way the listing spelled "pièce de résistance" as "piece de' resistance". I'm sure they spelled it the way they pronounce it.

I like the dark cabinets in the kitchen but not the backsplash. There does seem to be a fair amount of storage, and it has a nice warm look to it.

Beckysharp - I think you nailed it! I was thinking of that line from The Princess Bride as well.

The only minimalism I see is the furnishing of those bedrooms - some sad staging there.

I couldn't help myself; I just submitted this listing to the McMansion Hell blog (mcmansionhell.com) - hope chijim doesn't mind - and noticed there is a real architectural term called 'minimal traditional'. So I'm guessing perhaps the agent might have been trying to say that?

http://mcmansionhell.com/post/162212185966/looking-around-the-curious-case-of-minimal

That blog is very educational, BTW.

If they are calling this house "minimalist -inspired" they don't mean what they think they mean. And not so much "soft-contemporary" inspired either.

Well, it could mean they were inspired to a vehement reaction against those things.

For a while rooms like "the everything room" were also being called "the jumble room". That doesn't inspire confidence anymore than a drawer actually marketed at "the junk drawer".

and btw, don't show my DH that weather room. He loves weather, too, and plane-spotting. We've joked that we'll retire to Norwood Circle in Chicago, a tidy little neighborhood nestled directly under the approach path to O'Hare.

Compared to the heavy Tuscan look that I think is popular in upper end houses in the midwest this house is a little more restrained. But definitely not minimalist or modern.

I associate "minimal traditional" with traditional mid-century homes. Like pretty much all mid-century homes, they seriously pared down on trims and millwork compared to the pre-war period (cynical me thinks that they cheaped out, but tomato, tomahto). So you have a 1950 brick ranch wannabe Colonial, but 3 inch baseboards and pretty much no other trim work, and slab-door cabinets.

Only there was plenty of minimal traditional in the early 1930s, too, cawaps. I've always thought of it as a Depression style that lasted because it was cheap to build.

More like...Minimal restraint

Ha! I was thinking minimal tastefulness.

there is a real architectural term called 'minimal traditional'. So I'm guessing perhaps the agent might have been trying to say that?

Possibly, except for the fact that it's not minimal or traditional, or traditionally minimal, or even minimally traditional lol. But definitely a good candidate for MH : ) .

I'm a huge fan of minimalism, but i probably don't think this is as appalling as others on here do.... The exterior is terrible. But the interior is actually fairly "minimal" in the true dictionary sense (versus the design sense) -- the only things burning my eyes are the main staircase railing, the backsplash, some of the bathroom tiles, and the overhead lighting. But the fireplace is kind of modernist cool, and the kitchen is pretty sleek lines relative to your typical mcmansion.

What I see is fairly minimal craft on the interior. It essentially has the same randomized drywall shapes, basic trim and other details seen in a house that cost 1/8th the price. All it has is volume. I am not promoting an interior as overwrought as the exterior, but on the other hand, the interior is mostly banal.

It's common here that most of the gigantic new houses here have no better materials (excluding "manufactured" goods like appliances, cabinets and such) and no better level of craft than the interiors in a decent townhouse development.

Imagine Victorian and pre war Tudor or Cotswald revival house in fashionable neighborhoods of the past outfitted with the same interiors as the foursquares built for the random low level white collar worker. I think most people could understand that disconnect in a historic context--but that's what we have here.

Sad. Just sad. If that is what they call minimalist then I do not know what non-minimalist is.

<mean comment>
So apparently in this context, "minimalist" = "I don't own any art".
</mean comment>

What I see is fairly minimal craft on the interior. It essentially has the same randomized drywall shapes, basic trim and other details seen in a house that cost 1/8th the price. All it has is volume. I am not promoting an interior as overwrought as the exterior, but on the other hand, the interior is mostly banal.

In other words, minimalist means builder basic.

It's a disconnect not only given the typical McM exteriors which are generally "lavished" with a variety of materials and planes, but also the budget at the disposal of the previous owner, though of course everyone has their own priorities. Even without that budget, money could have been redirected from the exterior's envelope (esp the roof) and finishes.

This project is a good lesson for those considering overwrought, overblown plans, how one would be so much better off with something simpler and more effective, and then spend the $$$ instead on better quality finishing.

I like the fireplace quite a lot. And the flying staircase, if only there were some walls nearby. Come to think of it, I think walls, rather than skinny columums, would improve several areas in that house.

I never like McMansions, but the interior seems reasonable, with the exception that some open-concept rooms would, IMO, look a lot better as closed or semi-closed.

I sometimes wonder if all those horrible rooflines are a result of CAD (computer aided design) that makes it easy to throw a roof over any volume. I'm no architect, but it seems to me that architects used to consider rooflines early on in the process, and simple and weather-appropriate was the goal.

The outside is not quite Howl's moving castle, but close...