Home Tours 2009: Ben and Lindsay Graves | Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis

Their name belongs to one of Minneapolis’s top hotels, the Graves 601. So it should come as no surprise that Ben and Lindsay Graves’s 1923 Colonial near Lake of the Isles hints at the chic modern style of the hotel. “When we moved in here, I told Ben I wanted a house that didn’t say anything, so we started with something very clean,” says Lindsay, a former English teacher and founding partner of copywriting firm Content Farm Creative. “Back then, it was certainly a striking look, and it was calming for me because it was uncluttered.” The décor, she says, grew in response to a houseful of young children and the desire to break away from the heavy period looks of their two previous homes, an Arts and Crafts and an Italianate. “Our kids were little then, so there was more—well, different—chaos than there is now,” Lindsay says. But as the children grew older (Camden is 9, MijaBella, 8, and Baktiyar, 6), the couple wanted something softer and warmer, with more doses of their personality. “We started by putting back our old Oriental rugs and taking some of the things we’d collected on our travels over the years out of storage,” Lindsay says. “It’s interesting to see how clearly our homes have reflected who we were at different places in our lives.”

Although the two still appreciate sleek interiors—Ben serves as president of Graves Hospitality Corporation and is responsible for the architectural design of the hotel’s hot new bar, Bradstreet Craftshouse—they welcome whatever comes their way at home. Currently, it’s a new Boston terrier puppy, who joins two cats, two cockatiels, and a host of fish, frogs, and eels. “Some days it’s a menagerie in here, and other days it feels like a full-on zoo,” Lindsay says.