Over on our sister site, The Organized Home, we’ve tapped The Faux Martha blogger Melissa Coleman several times in the past for her expertise on streamlined, straightforward cooking. (See The Only 5 Pots and Pans You’ll Ever Need and The Only Five Things You Need to Cook a Delicious Thanksgiving Turkey.) Recently, when images of her kitchen remodel landed in our inbox, we discovered she also prefers an appealing simplicity when it comes to design. Unfortunately, though, the renovation process itself was anything but simple.
Melissa and her husband had purchased their lakeside chalet (great bones but in desperate need of attention) in Grand Marais, MN, and decided to overhaul it at a particularly inopportune time—just before Covid hit and phrases like “global supply chain” and “Zoom meetings” entered daily lexicon. Compounding the poor timing: they were also about to welcome a new baby, their second child, into their lives. Suffice to say, the road to completion was bumpy and long—two years long—but they couldn’t be happier with the results and, in particular, with the kitchen.
“Being in this kitchen makes me want to pack up our life and head north,” says Melissa, whose full-time residence is 4.5 hours away in Minneapolis. “The steam somehow rolls off your coffee differently here. I love that the kitchen feels beautiful and special, yet not too precious. Like you can come in and cook and make a mess.” Below, she walks us through all of her design decisions that culminated in this hard-working space that also invites lingering.
Photography by Melissa Coleman, courtesy of The Faux Martha.
![\2\20;the cabin was lined in perfectly preserved original cedar wa 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-8-733x1100.jpg)
![because so much of their budget was spent on making over the exterior, the coup 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-2-733x1088.jpg)
![melissa and her family use the chalet, nicknamed the minne stuga, as a vacation 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-4-733x1139.jpg)
![melissa chose marmoleum tiles (in a checkered pattern in black and barbados) fo 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-7-733x1100.jpg)
![richlite, an eco friendly paper composite material that has the look of natural 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-1-733x1114.jpg)
![melissa considered 50 different greens for the kitchen cabinets before ending u 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-3-733x1100.jpg)
Before
![melissa liked the original kitchen and contemplated changing just the flooring 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/faux-martha-melissa-coleman-kitchen-minne-stuga-before-733x977.jpeg)
For more green kitchens, see:
- Kitchen of the Week: A Historic Kitchen in Shropshire, Recast in Monochrome Green
- Kitchen of the Week: A Greatest-Hits Kitchen for a Danish-American Couple in London
- Trend Alert: 10 Favorite, Time-Tested Dark Green Kitchens
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