Home of the Month winner near Stillwater offers midcentury modern style

Alyssa Slanga pointed out the window into her home’s backyard, where a small gray-and-white animal was popping in and out of view among the wildflowers.

“The coyote is on the path,” she said.

Her husband, Jake Wisely, added, “That’s right where that dead mole was. I think she found a little morsel.”

Watching deer, coyote and birds is one of the unexpected forms of entertainment the couple has discovered since moving into their new home in White Oaks Savanna outside Stillwater. The 30-site residential community — with 320 acres of mixed prairie, woodland and organic farmland — is home to several Minnesota Star Tribune and American Institute of Architects Minnesota Home of the Month winners, including this one for August.

But it was new territory for Slanga and Wisely, who grew up in the Twin Cities and spent the past 25 years living in Los Angeles and Nashville for Wisely’s music industry career. Now semi-retired, the couple decided to move home to be closer to family and farther away from city life.

“We’ve always been urban dwellers, but Alyssa and I were ready for more elbow room,” Wisely said. “Since we don’t have to worry about a commute anymore, it made sense to try rural living at this stage in our lives.”

The couple connected with the ethos of White Oaks Savanna, its commitment to land stewardship and the art of architecture. After Wisely and Slanga purchased a 5-acre hillside lot in 2020, David Washburn, one of the development’s founders, helped jumpstart their project.

“Midcentury modern design principles were grounded in a belief that one’s well-being is enhanced by the integration of nature with the built environment,” design principal Kristine Anderson said. “White Oaks Savanna embodies that.”

Working with Anderson and Tammy Angaran, both of PKA, Wisely and Slanga made a few minor changes to the original plan. They added a few feet on one end of the house and modified the kitchen layout.

Then, Wisely indulged in a lifelong interest in design by digging into the finishes, down to the smallest detail.

One of his visual bugaboos is functional bric-a-brac, such as hinges and knobs. So Wisely sought to minimize them wherever possible. For example, all the HVAC vents are flush into the wall; the drapery tracks recessed into the ceiling. The flat kitchen cabinetry ​features integrated pulls or, in the case of the refrigerator, none at all.

“You push the door, and it springs open,” Wisely said.

Wisely spent hours finding the right fabrics, wallpaper and tile for the home. He also designed all the tile layouts and collaborated with the tile setters to place them just right.

“With these handmade tiles, you can’t just open one box, use it up and then go on to the next one. They have to all be opened and shuffled because each batch is going to have a slightly different appearance,” Wisely explained.

One of the couple’s favorites is a wall of blush-hued 3-inch by 12-inch tiles in their bedroom, some solid, some with elongated ovals. Installed behind the bed, the design evokes an urban loft’s red brick wall, which feels fitting, given the home’s open layout, modestly scaled rooms and limited interior walls.

The crisp exterior also has its references. Vertical corrugated metal acknowledges the area’s agricultural roots, and long-format brick-and-wood siding reflects Wisely and Slanga’s love of midcentury design.

“There’s an intentional lack of trim on the facade, and from a distance, it appears minimalist. But as you get closer, the relief and variety of the materials and their textures come to life,” Angaran said.

“We wrestled with the waste and energy that go into building a new house and decided if we were going to do it, we would make the home as environmentally sound as possible,” Wisely said.

In addition to UV-coated windows that reflect heat in the summer and retain it in the winter, the home features a geothermal system, a solar array on the garage and Tesla Powerwalls. The latter store solar-generated power for use during overnight hours and in the event of electrical outages.

The geothermal system heats and cools the house as well as a small outdoor pool and spa. Solar panels power the geothermal pumps, the home’s electrical appliances and Slanga’s electric vehicle. Wisely tracks the home’s energy consumption on his phone, which has made them savvier about conservation.

“Knowing what is using the most power and when has allowed us to adjust our usage for the greatest efficiency and comfort,” Wisely said.

Designing firm: PKA Architecture

Project partners: Redstone Builders, Ruth Johnson Interiors, Travis Van Liere Studio

Photos: Spacecrafting

Laurie Fontaine Junker is a Twin Cities-based writer specializing in home design and architecture. Instagram: @fojunk