When Marc DeBrey was growing up, his handy dad—an industrial designer—always seemed to have some kind of project going on around the family’s house. Marc helped out when he was asked, though he admits he didn’t enjoy the work and didn’t at all understand his dad’s enthusiasm for it. Today, Marc can’t help but laugh a little about how times have changed. It’s been nearly five years since he and his wife, Karen, started a small remodeling project in the family room of their Eden Prairie home that has, over time, blossomed into a project that has touched just about every room in their house.

   Not only have they and their three children been living in a house that’s been partially under construction this whole time, they’ve also done a big part of the work themselves. “During this process, I’ve learned how to refinish walls and do carpentry, painting, rough construction framing and some electrical,” Marc explains, adding that he’s done a lot of reading. But he’s also learned from working with and watching the professionals he has hired, while being his own general contractor, for various jobs.

   It all started with the fireplace in the family room, Marc says. Designed by his father years before, there was something about it that didn’t work with the room. It just didn’t seem complete. So he and Karen decided to redo it as part of a reworking of the room, itself. Marc had been ripping old brick off the front of the fireplace for quite awhile when it occurred to him and Karen that it was time to find an architect to help them formulate a plan for what came next. “I think you have to know where your skills begin and end,” Marc says. “I can recognize good design, but I needed someone who could put all the design elements into place.”

   Not knowing where to start looking, Marc searched online for Twin Cities architects which led him to the Web site of the American Institute of Architects where he was able to search by style. Being a self-described “dyed-in-the-wool Arts and Crafts fan,” he found a few people who specialized in that style and, after interviewing several, chose Minnetonka-based architect, Mark Kawell. “It was clear he had a vision from the minute he walked in,” Marc recalls. “He was dynamic and he looked around and almost immediately had ideas.”

   Once the room had been repainted and carpeted, and the fireplace and mantle had been redone, as Kawell suggested, the whole family began spending much of their time in that room. “It was this awesome space and then we’d look at the kitchen and the dining room and think, ‘that’s a totally different house, says Karen.’” So six months later, they mustered the strength to remodel again. This time, the goal was to make the kitchen a more usable place to cook. Kawell began by removing walls between the dining room and family room to create a more open floor plan that allowed the kitchen to connect the spaces.

   Like the rest of the new woodwork and built-ins in the house, the cherry cabinetry and earth-toned granite countertops, pay homage to Arts and Crafts style (also known as Prairie style) without copying it. “We used Prairie style as a jumping off point to rethink the look in a present-day context,” Kawell explains, adding that while the style would usually call for oak, he chose cherry for its open grain, richness and color, which set the palette for the rest of the house.

   In addition to working closely with Kawell, Karen and Marc also relied on Lisa Peck, designer and principal of Minneapolis-based LiLu Interiors, for help with choosing everything from countertops and flooring to lighting and furnishings. “They wanted a modern, Craftsman environment, but they also wanted their home to be comfortable, warm and welcoming,” says Peck, who suggested the handmade-tile backsplash in the kitchen, the custom-designed vanity in the downstairs bathroom and the family room’s ottoman, which is sturdy enough to serve as a coffee table.

   For the dining room, Peck brought in a local artist to do a golden-colored clay finish on the walls, which gave them a textured look. “This is their only table, so we wanted the walls to be durable but sophisticated,” Peck explains, adding that the clay has an almost iridescent look in some places.