--- title: "Sarah Nettleton Architects — Architects & Building Designers | Houzz" canonical_html_url: https://www.houzz.com/professionals/architects-and-building-designers/sarah-nettleton-architects-pfvwus-pf~1577173156 markdown_url: https://www.houzz.com/md/professionals/pf~1577173156.md entity_type: LocalBusiness business_name: "Sarah Nettleton Architects" category: ["Architects"] image: https://st.hzcdn.com/fimgs/922352d10f0e87d7_6155-w400-h400-b0-p0--.jpg address: "Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401, United States" latitude: 44.9835 longitude: -93.2683 phone: "(612) 812-6075" website: http://www.sarahnettleton.com/ rating: 5 review_count: 6 best_of_houzz_awards: 1 followers: 96 last_updated: 2026-09-02 --- # Sarah Nettleton Architects Original Houzz profile: [Sarah Nettleton Architects](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/architects-and-building-designers/sarah-nettleton-architects-pfvwus-pf~1577173156) ## Professional summary - **Primary category:** Architects - **Location:** Minneapolis, MN - **Serves:** Minneapolis - **Houzz rating:** 5.0 out of 5 (6 reviews) - **Best of Houzz:** 1 award (2014), for Service. ## About ### Houzz Badges - Recommended on Houzz - 1,000 Ideabook Saves Sarah Nettleton Architects is an award-winning architectural and landscape design firm based in Minneapolis, MN. Sarah Nettleton, founder and principal, is Leed certified and is a pioneer in sustainable design and build practices. Her Tofte Cabin was one of the Top 10 Environmental Designs honored in 2002 by the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment. Sarah Nettleton is renowned for combining architecture with landscape design to “build with nature.” By considering the wind, sun, the change of seasons, topography and soils, Sarah Nettleton Architects optimize energy efficiency in each project. Creating sustainable living as supported by science, engineering, art and craft. In addition to her built work, in 2006 Sarah Nettleton wrote The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough. Working with writer and historian Frank Edgerton Martin, the book explores wonderful and varied simple houses around the country today. ### Services Provided - Architectural Design - Building Design - Home Remodeling - Custom Homes - Home Additions - Home Extensions - Kitchen Design - Sustainable Design - Kitchen Remodeling - Energy-Efficient Homes - Bathroom Design - Green Building - Universal Design ### Areas Served - Minneapolis ## Business Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Business Name | Sarah Nettleton Architects | | Address | Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401, United States | | Phone | (612) 812-6075 | | Website | http://www.sarahnettleton.com/ | | License Number | Available upon request | | Followers on Houzz | 96 | ## Contact - **Houzz profile:** [Sarah Nettleton Architects](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/architects-and-building-designers/sarah-nettleton-architects-pfvwus-pf~1577173156) - **Website:** http://www.sarahnettleton.com/ - **Phone:** (612) 812-6075 ## Credentials **Certifications & Awards** - FAIA - LEED, AP - **Best of Houzz:** 1 award (2014), for Service. ## Reviews **Overall rating: 5.0 out of 5 — 6 reviews** ### All 6 reviews **★★★★★ — Jeffrey L Edleson, July 2013** > Sarah "Sally" Nettleton planned our garden renewal and worked with us to implement the changes over time. The garden grew into a beautiful space where we and our friends enjoyed many wonderful meals and conversations. **Comment from Sarah Nettleton Architects:** > Jeff, > Beautiful picture of your wonderful shady garden! It was a pleasure working with you, > Sarah **★★★★★ — salwestby, April 2013** > Thank you Sarah - You have changed our life. The redesign our 1970's townhouse kitchen, den, dining and living room is terrific. It is amazing how our kitchen has been transformed without adding any square footage. We have incredible storage and workspace and wonderful light and shelves. Everything is perfect. We cannot thank you enough **★★★★★ — Medora Woods, April 2013** > Starting at the end of the 90's, I worked with Sarah on two personal sustainable design projects, the renovation of a 50 year old summer cabin (under 1000 square feet) on the shore of Lake Superior and a house in a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis (about 2200 square feet), completed in January of 2005. Sarah designs inspired spaces: beautiful, livable, convenient and sustainable. Sustainable isn't just about technology. It's about working with the particularities of the site, the forces of nature and the spiritual connection to the land on which the project sits. Sarah is a rare architect; the needs, desires and sensibilities of the client are paramount. The ultimate design emerges out of the relationship with the client and the site and isn't imposed from outside by the architect's ego or sensibilities. Sarah and her collaborators are delightful to work with. I had as much information as I needed at every stage of the projects. I have never hesitated to recommend Sarah. **★★★★★ — maryspear1, April 2013** > My husband Jack and I hired Sarah Nettleton Architects to design our home three years ago. We wanted the home to be sustainably built so it would conserve energy and the design would last us into our old age. Many of the features of our home were new and innovative but Sarah was with us the whole way working with our general contractor and others to guarantee we got the home we wanted. The design and layout of our home continues to serve us well and we look forward to many years of comfort and repose in this place. **★★★★★ — helenwarwick, April 2013** > Sarah Nettleton Architects re-landscaped our central Minneapolis (Lowry Hill) property. We were delighted with the design and the careful supervision of the implementation. We enjoyed the environment and the beautiful plantings that were so carefully planned for the Minneapolis climate for several years before we moved in September 2012. **★★★★★ — olsonjm, March 2013** > Sarah was great to work with - listened to our dream house ideas, captured what was important about how we lived and had the skills/expertise to design it on a challenging hilly lot. Our library house, with a perch (breakfast nook overlooking our wooded bog), and LEED qualified is now our home to enjoy. Sarah helped navigate the journey from bubble drawings to a green home and made the almost 2 year process fun. ## Selected projects - [A New Kitchen - Finally](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/a-new-kitchen-finally-pj-vj~1621490) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: I have long considered redoing the kitchen in my 1942 colonial home. The old kitchen wasn’t entirely bad, just inconvenient and outdated. Enlarging the space would have required eliminating the driveway or stair to the second floor – oops. Instead, a simple, efficient strategy: the design rearranges the floor plan within the small space, offering better-arranged counter space and better flow in both the kitchen and throughout the rest of the house. New lighting enlivens the space, creating a coo… - [Updated 1970s Townhouse](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/updated-1970s-townhouse-pj-vj~1151999) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: In a walkable downtown neighborhood, this home is transformed by three simple architectural moves. We began this design by replacing an awkward, sheetrocked complexity in the main entryway with a new sculptural metal stair railing. In the living room, a modern shelf takes the place of an outdated entertainment center, and an underutilized corner is transformed into storage space next to a new, anchoring fireplace surround. These three simple moves solved an awkward entryway, brightened the main… - [House on a Quiet Bay](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/house-on-a-quiet-bay-pj-vj~1006144) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 17 - Description: Drawing from the nearby lake, farmlands of childhoods past, and light-filled industrial spaces, this new house is a quiet, solid expression of home. Steel trusses, bluestone, and a real shoji screen combine to captivate homeowner and guest alike. Nestled into its site with a modest yet inviting presence on the street, interior spaces align with the site’s stunning landscape to visually open the home while maintaining privacy. Combining high design and high performance, the design affords a 53% r… - [A Garden and a Library](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/a-garden-and-a-library-pj-vj~322403) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 16 - Description: Perched atop a hill overlooking Theodore Wirth Park, this house takes advantage of a challenging site by maintaining an efficient footprint and opening up to the sun. This is a LEED Gold certified house that leans on simple strategies for increasing efficiency, including an earth tube to temper intake air, radiant in-floor heating, and sliding solar shades on the exterior. A collection of spaces that live large but feel intimate, the house balances a traditional Swedish color palette of blues, g… - [City Creekside Home](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/city-creekside-home-pj-vj~86041) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: A steep hillside overlooking a city stream offered the chance to design a compact, elegant home capable of merging with the landscape. Designed around light and circulation, this home is organized by a single stair with spaces expanding outward toward the surrounding stream and oak trees. By combining serene modernism with pioneering energy conservation, this house sets new standards for sustainable design by exceeding the Minnesota Energy Code by 35% and meeting the Kyoto Protocol for minimizin… - [City Walled Garden](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/city-walled-garden-pj-vj~643345) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 10 - Description: Organized around a sunken lawn with a small fountain at its center, this modern garden uses a central axis to play a subtle game of symmetries. While the stone wall and the blooming perennial beds they contain are symmetrical about the axis, a garden shed and screened in porch sit as anchors opposite the house. On summer evenings, the screened porch becomes a refuge across the green lawn and gravel path. A short journey without traffic or planning ahead takes visitors to a private retreat. The n… - [Craftsman Modern](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/craftsman-modern-pj-vj~636201) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: Tucked into a wooded hillside and wrapped around a wetland, this house recalls Frank Lloyd Wright’s Usonian homes - without the low ceilings. Built in a suburban neighborhood of large, gable-roofed houses, this Craftsman house stands out with its flat roofs, narrow footprint, and restored front yard wetland. Through careful details, quality regional stone, and balanced proportions, this new neighbor fits in well, making the most of a small site with grand views. - [Croquet Gardens](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/croquet-gardens-pj-vj~86043) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 6 - Description: By building on the colonial revival style of our clients' early twentieth-century home, we designed an elegant landscape of seven themed gardens, perfect for summer outdoor living. Stone steps curve gracefully down from the terrace to the swimming pool. A stone path winds downhill to a croquet court bringing visitors further into the landscape. On the south lawn of the house, perennial beds frame the edges and surround an orchid house. This glass pavilion and its vegetable garden are steps from… - [Fountain Garden](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/fountain-garden-pj-vj~648057) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: At Sarah's own home, she values outdoor space, nature, and the change of season as an extension of the house. This backyard becomes another world with understory trees sheltering the space while providing vistas to the neighborhood's dramatic oak canopy. Curved forms repeat in the bowed terrace edge, the steps down to the lawn, the oval lawn, and the round water feature. Pots at the terrace edge, steps away from the kitchen, house an edible landscape of tomatoes, eggplants, and herbs. Planned wi… - [Gabler Kitchen](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/gabler-kitchen-pj-vj~86042) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: This design connects home and garden by creating an eat-in kitchen that look out onto a private garden. By removing an awkward staircase, the renovated kitchen is now large enough for two to cook and many to socialize. Better still, breakfast is now served under a recessed cut in the ceiling with a distant view of Minnehaha Creek. A curved hedge at the far end of the garden is carefully placed to create an outdoor room, expanding the kitchen without the need for a massive addition. The delight o… - [Garden Around Sculpture](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/garden-around-sculpture-pj-vj~644597) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 6 - Description: A small unkempt urban backyard is renovated to focus inward. This new garden is paved with dark manganese brick and is densely planted with over 250 varieties of perennials. Two private garden rooms are organized by Thomas Rose's granite sculptures and are separated by lush perennial and shrub plantings. Sound from the granite fountain marks this as a resting place. In winter, the stones and paved areas blanketed by snow become new sculptural forms to enjoy. - [Greenway Gables Kitchen](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/greenway-gables-kitchen-pj-vj~609366) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 11 - Description: In an effort to downsize, the homeowners swapped out their old house for this 1970’s townhome. Their new space was vintage, but not ideal: the kitchen had almost no counter space. The design challenge here was to update the interior with mid-century modern, clean lines while perfecting the kitchen’s flow – all within the existing house walls. The newly remodeled kitchen fits into the old kitchen footprint- a tour de force of rearranging functions and relocating doors. Now there is oodles of coun… - [Lek Ranch](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/lek-ranch-pj-vj~642847) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: A strong commitment to restoring the ecology of her two thousand acre ranch led this owner to contact an architect. As part of her new home design, we assembled a master plan for a new ranch complex as well as a reintroduced prairie landscape. - [Maine Coastal Home](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/maine-coastal-home-pj-vj~644510) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: As a long-time summer visitors to North Haven Island, this client wanted a sustainable house with a timeless aesthetic. Recalling New England houses of a bygone era, this seaside retreat is composed of several small masses. Each sun drenched room has a view out to Penobscot Bay, connecting the home to its surroundings. Built of locally sourced, third-party certified, sustainably harvested lumber - the only lumber available at the local yard - the ethos of this house is consistent with the climat… - [Mid Century Modern Garden](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/mid-century-modern-garden-pj-vj~642745) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 10 - Description: In urban Minneapolis, this classic mid twentieth century house offered an unrealized potential for a private mid century modern garden. Designed as a seamless whole, the garden and white granite terrace expand the living room with long views and connecting glass doors. The rear terrace is lit from below and appears to float at night, perfect for breezy summer evenings. Now looking out from the entry and dining rooms, our clients and their guests are part of the interior court with its fountain b… - [Minnesota Valley Home](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/minnesota-valley-home-pj-vj~86046) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: Too often modern is a style; here it is an approach. Charged with designing a contemporary version of a self-sufficient farm, we balanced delightful spaces to live with pragmatic approaches to energy and food production. Inside, the house offers a sunny place to sit in all seasons including views over the Minnesota River valley in winter and a restored wildflower prairie in summer. An edible landscape is out the back door along with a solar oven and solar hot water array. More important than its… - [Pine Lakes Cabin](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/pine-lakes-cabin-pj-vj~644343) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 9 - Description: This 1920s log cabin was remodeled to seamlessly meld new additions with the original main cabin. The overall plan for this north woods retreat connects the new buildings along a path with views out to the lake, ending at a log gazebo in the orchard. Now, a small guest cabin, a new artist studio, summer porches, and storage for vintage pickup trucks and boats alike settle themselves around the main cabin, blending historic and new, rustic and modern. - [St Croix River Retreat](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/st-croix-river-retreat-pj-vj~644450) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: Our challenge here was to shrink this awkwardly large house into a cabin. The far end of the (too) great room was transformed into a screen porch, creating the best summer spot in the house. We were successful in eliminating the 1960’s suburban parts of the home and indulged instead in more rustic cabin aspects. The result is a restored connection to the river and a home with the charm of a country retreat. - [Tofte Cabin](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/tofte-cabin-pj-vj~642802) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 10 - Description: Perched on a rock ledge overlooking Lake Superior, this 1947 cabin was a remnant of a less lavish time when going "up north" was a simpler and more rustic adventure. In designing a renovation, we extended the modest existing cabin by a mere three feet. Winner of an AIA Top Ten Green Building Award, this project continues to be a pioneering model for cold climate, net-zero energy design. Energy needs are met onsite by photovoltaics and a wind generator. This cabin shows how both green design and… - [Urban White Garden](https://www.houzz.com/hznb/projects/urban-white-garden-pj-vj~86039) - Location: Not specified - Photos: 7 - Description: In Minneapolis’s Kenwood neighborhood, our clients wanted a summer garden that beckoned from the screen porch. The 1920’s colonial inspired the theme of the garden; now sculptural gestures, include the curved front granite steps with a simple handrail, invite visitors to the front door. Old-fashioned Hydrangea are a 1920’s long-blooming favorite, while Japanese painted ferns and Japanese Peonies are modern additions. Designed for the cycles of summer, the garden blooms throughout the season. In… [See all 20 projects](https://www.houzz.com/professionals/architects-and-building-designers/sarah-nettleton-architects-pfvwus-pf~1577173156) ## Ideabooks - [Ponds](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/57965383/list/ponds) — 7 ideas - [Bathrooms](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884331/list/bathrooms) — 2 ideas - [Bedrooms](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30882869/list/bedrooms) — 4 ideas - [Before and After](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30909743/list/before-and-after) — 15 ideas - [Cabins](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884663/list/cabins) — 18 ideas - [Dining Rooms](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30882971/list/dining-rooms) — 11 ideas - [Exteriors](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884491/list/exteriors) — 16 ideas - [Gardens](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30885292/list/gardens) — 25 ideas - [Halls+Stairs](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30882908/list/halls-stairs) — 10 ideas - [Indoor Outdoor Living](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884375/list/indoor-outdoor-living) — 19 ideas - [Kitchens](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/1414389/list/kitchens) — 16 ideas - [Libraries and Offices](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884777/list/libraries-and-offices) — 7 ideas - [Living Rooms](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30882792/list/living-rooms) — 12 ideas - [Woodwork](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/30884855/list/woodwork) — 28 ideas [See all 14 ideabooks](https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/users/sarahnettleton) ## Community Q&A **Q: Sconces** *(in Photo Questions)* Where are the sconces from? A: Hi Cintia, Sorry to say that info on the sconces is not available. they are nice tho aren't they? Sarah **Q: Lighting?** *(in Photo Questions)* What is the lighting around the patio? A: Mary, It is a custom installation. Best Sarah **Q: Doors** *(in Photo Questions)* What type of doors are those? Also, do they have a soft close? Thanks A: Hi Michelle, The doors are solid core Fir doors- you can get them at the lumber yard. The rolling hardware is from Barn Door. Haefele has soft close rolling hardware if that's what you want. good luck with your project Sarah --- *Source: Houzz professional profile. Reflects the profile as of 2026-09-02.*