As an interior designer, Brooke Voss’s job is all about the pretty. But before she commutes to her office on the edge of downtown Minneapolis to pull together paint colors, fabrics, and furnishings for clients, her day starts in the most unglamorous way. At 5 am, she turns out her three horses, then grabs a manure fork to clean their stalls in the barn a short walk from her house. Her day ends in similar fashion: She’s back in the barn to groom manes and tails before bedtime.
And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
When Brooke turned 40, she decided to make her dream of owning a horse a reality, even though she and her husband, Jerrid, lived in a downtown condo and needed to board the animal. “I was the kid that had a horse at the top of every birthday wish list and letter to Santa,” Brooke says. “It had honestly been a lifelong dream, so I just decided there was no time like the present.”
The eventual acquisition of a second horse, a chestnut-colored mare named Karamella who stole Brooke’s heart, became the impetus for the couple and their two dogs to leave their condo in a converted warehouse.
Four years ago, they started a new chapter on a 20-acre ranch in the horse country of Independence, about 30 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. “It was a huge lifestyle shift,” Brooke says. “City life was easy—1,200 square feet with underground parking, and the biggest responsibility was making sure there were groceries in the fridge. Now, we have acres and acres to mow and so much snow to blow and all of these critters. But it’s so peaceful. Being around the animals is really my stress reliever.”
It took the couple three full years of searching to find a landing spot—a 1980s two-story farmhouse with a wraparound porch— that felt like the right size. “Even though our animal family is big, we are a human family of two,” Brooke says. “We didn’t want or need a massive house to clamber around in. We were looking for a house that was right-sized for us, and one we could put our stamp on.”
“Not a single part of this house is big. Everything is sort of just right-sized for us.”
—Brooke Voss, interior designer and homeowner
The couple lived among the dust and chaos of a yearlong renovation that touched nearly every surface of the home. With both of them working in the design industry—Jerrid is a vice president of purchasing for an Andover-based home builder—they learned to mesh their talents. “I’m the designer with a million ideas, and he’s all about the numbers and the budget,” Brooke says. “It became ‘How do we make this happen spending the least amount of money?’”
On the interior, they reimagined the floorplan by removing a few walls and widening doorways between rooms. “It’s a way to preserve classic, old-house character, where rooms are still defined but they feel open to one another,” Brooke says. New, larger windows and a light palette—mainly creamy white with touches of black—gave rooms with standard 8-foot ceilings more breathing room. A small addition gave them a much-needed mudroom and a primary bedroom, still right-sized to fit the scale of the home. The barn also got Brooke’s designer touch, with new black siding that reverses the home’s light-with-dark palette and functional updates, such as a heating system.
With commutes and busy jobs filling their weekdays, the couple knew they needed to be smart about their free time. They made the decision early on to have a division of labor: “Jerrid is the department of agriculture and turf management, and I’m the minister of livestock and facility manager, not to mention the chief officer of décor,” Brooke says.
On weekends or evenings when the couple can spare a few minutes to relax on the front porch, they look out on the rolling land and feel a sense of contentment. “We feel so fortunate to have what we have and have these incredible creatures in our lives that bring us total joy,” Brooke says. “It’s a massive amount of work, but it’s definitely worth it.”
Interior Design: Brooke Voss, Brooke Voss Design, Mpls., brookevossdesign.com // Cabinetry: Paul Eull, Eull Woodworks, St. Michael, eullwoodworks.com
