By Alyssa Bluhm
Murphy News Service
More than 50 homes will be available to homeowners looking for inspiration for their own remodeling projects late April on the Minneapolis & Saint Paul Home Tour.
The free, self-guided tour takes place over the weekend of April 26–27 and showcases homes in several neighborhoods throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul. While some houses might have only a kitchen or new addition as part of the tour, all of the homes are recently remodeled or renovated to some degree.
“Over the years many people have gained a lot of remodeling ideas from looking at other people’s houses,” said Margo Ashmore, coordinator of the tour.
Neighborhoods featured on the tour in the Southwest Journal’s coverage area include Armatage, Bryn Mawr, Kingfield, Linden Hills, Lynnhurst and Tangletown.
For people like Leslie Mackenzie, whose home is featured on the tour for the third time, it serves as a deadline for completing slow-going projects around the house. “One year I visited a home in North Minneapolis, and the owner told me they joined the tour to motivate themselves to finish their projects. I thought, ‘That’s a good idea, why not do that at my house?’” she said.
Mackenzie’s home has been featured in the past for the addition of a second floor and solar panels. The latest update to her home is a remodeled kitchen with a closed-off style. “I wanted to offer people on the tour a visual alternative to the open-kitchen floor plan,” Mackenzie said.
The best way to develop a strategy for navigating the tour is to pick up the Home Tour Guide and get a feel for the homes on the tour before visiting them, Ashmore said. The Home Tour Guide, which includes maps, pictures, and descriptions of the homes on the tour, is available in local libraries in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. This year, a cell phone app will debut to direct walking tours of the neighborhoods.
Some houses will host specific events in addition to the tour, like the historic residence at 1045 Washburn Ave. N., which is hosting a breakfast event and a talk with an author. The events will raise money for architecture-related causes.
The Wright Prendergast house, located at 223 Walnut St. in St. Paul, will also be featured on the tour as a historic home. As one of the oldest homes in the area, it spent about 60 years untouched before being recently redone.
Rental homes are another prevalent theme on the tour this year, featured in locations like the Schmidt Artist Lofts and Penfield apartments in Saint Paul. “We want people to consider rental as a real housing option,” Ashmore said.
“The point of the tour is to encourage people to stay in the Twin Cities area,” Ashmore said. “If we can encourage them to remodel their homes, they’ll have a reason to stay in the cities that they love.”
Ashmore and Mackenzie agree that the tour is a great way to discover new parts of the cities.
“Before I went on the tour, I was totally unaware of what is going on in the different neighborhoods,” Mackenzie said. “Don’t be afraid to take a look at what’s going on out there.”
For more information, visit www.MSPHomeTour.com.