Most Minnesotans are spending a lot more time at home these days, getting well acquainted with its comforts — and its shortcomings.
If your home could use some improvements to function better or just feel more enjoyable, next weekend offers an opportunity to get ideas and inspiration by seeing how other Twin Cities homeowners have remodeled their dwellings.
The Fall Parade of Homes Remodelers Showcase, Oct. 2-4, will open the doors to 43 recently remodeled homes around the Twin Cities.
In addition to perennially popular projects like kitchen and bath makeovers, the tour will showcase some projects of special interest during the pandemic, including home offices and spaces for outdoor socializing that help extend the season as the weather cools, such as porches, patios and a rustic industrial "man shed" with a commercial-style door (R16 in Hopkins by Great Northern Builders).
The pandemic is definitely having an impact on remodeling, said Shawn Nelson, owner of New Spaces, Burnsville. "A number of people we're working with now are wanting spaces for homework and home offices," he said. "People are using their kitchens a lot more — they're not eating out as often — and they want a family gathering space for the holidays, for the kids and to entertain friends."
His company also has received a number of calls this summer about porches, "which is kind of new for us," he said. "People want those outdoor spaces for connecting."
New Spaces has two homes on this year's tour, a 1920s Colonial in Minneapolis that was updated with a new kitchen, home office, powder room, mudroom and garage (R26), and a multilevel home in Burnsville in which the kitchen/dining areas were opened up and updated, along with two new bathrooms (R2).
Because of the pandemic, some new safety precautions have been put in place for this year's tour. Access to each home will be limited to 10 people at a time, and masks will be required. For more information, visit Paradeofhomes.org.
