Interior Design Styles for Your Excelsior Home

By BJ LaVelle

One of the things I love most about working in Excelsior, Minnesota is that nearly every home tells a story. Founded in 1853 as the first community on Lake Minnetonka's shores, Excelsior has a built environment unlike anything else in the Twin Cities metro. The streets follow an eastern-style grid layout and are lined with an abundance of Victorian homes, historic wood-frame residences with wide porches and gabled rooflines, and lakeside cottages that have been passed down through generations. At the same time, newer construction and thoughtfully renovated homes bring contemporary design into conversation with that historic fabric.

What this means for homeowners in Excelsior is both an opportunity and a responsibility. The interior design choices you make don't happen in isolation. They happen inside homes with real architectural bones, real history, and real character. The best interiors in Excelsior work with those bones rather than against them.

Whether your home is a Victorian near Water Street, a lakeside cottage on the southern shore, or a newer build with clean modern lines, there is a design approach that will make it feel authentic, elevated, and completely your own.

Excelsior has one of the most intact collections of Victorian-era homes in the Twin Cities, and for owners of these properties, leaning into that heritage is almost always the right call. Victorian interiors are characterized by rich color, layered textiles, ornate millwork, and a sense of warm, collected abundance that feels deeply intentional when done well.

In a Victorian Excelsior home, this means embracing deep jewel tones on walls, deep greens, inky blues, and dusty plums, paired with warm wood floors, built-in bookshelves, and period-appropriate furniture with curved lines and upholstered detailing. Crown molding, wainscoting, and decorative trim should be highlighted rather than painted over. Original hardwood floors, pocket doors, and transom windows are assets worth preserving and celebrating.

The key to making Victorian style feel livable rather than museum-like is editing carefully. Choose a few strong anchor pieces and let them breathe. Layer in personal items like antique maps, botanical prints, and heirloom textiles to create warmth without clutter. The goal is a home that feels richly personal, not costumey.

For Excelsior homes with direct lake access or a strong connection to the water, a lake cottage or coastal-inspired interior approach can feel both authentic and deeply relaxing. This style is defined by a soft, airy palette drawn from the lake itself: warm whites, sandy beiges, muted sage greens, and washed blues that shift throughout the day as the light changes off the water.

Natural materials are central to this aesthetic. Think shiplap walls, whitewashed or light-stained hardwood floors, linen and cotton upholstery, woven jute rugs, and furniture with a relaxed, slightly worn quality that feels as though it has always been there. Windows are treated simply to maximize natural light and preserve sightlines to the water. Art leans toward the organic: botanical prints, watercolor landscapes, lake photography, and sculptural objects collected from the shoreline.

This style works beautifully in Excelsior because it mirrors the lifestyle that draws people to this community. A home that feels like a retreat from the moment you walk in, where the boundaries between indoor and outdoor life are intentionally blurred, is not just pleasant to live in. It is also an extremely compelling home to buy.

Transitional design is one of the most versatile and enduring approaches for Excelsior homeowners, particularly in homes that have been updated or renovated while retaining their original architectural framework. It bridges the warmth of traditional design with the clean lines of contemporary style, creating interiors that feel neither stiff nor cold but instead quietly sophisticated and completely livable.

In an Excelsior home, transitional style often looks like a neutral foundation, warm grays, creamy whites, and greige tones on walls and larger furnishings, layered with materials that have texture and depth. Upholstered sofas in performance linen or velvet, wood coffee tables with simple clean lines, and architectural lighting that reads as sculptural without being overtly modern. The mix of old and new is intentional: a reclaimed wood dining table paired with contemporary chairs, an antique mirror hung above a streamlined console, original hardwood floors left intact beneath a modern area rug.

What makes transitional style so well-suited to Excelsior is its adaptability. It can honor the architectural details of an older home without feeling dated, and it can give a newer build warmth and personality without making it feel trendy. It also photographs exceptionally well, which matters in a market where the quality of listing imagery directly affects buyer interest.

Modern farmhouse design has remained a consistently strong choice for Excelsior homeowners, particularly in homes with open-concept layouts, vaulted ceilings, or renovated interiors where the original architecture has been significantly updated. This style draws on the comfort and warmth of traditional farmhouse design while editing out the rustic excess in favor of cleaner, more refined lines.

In Excelsior, modern farmhouse interiors typically feature white or soft gray shiplap or board-and-batten wall treatments, open wood shelving in kitchens, apron-front sinks, matte black or brushed nickel hardware, and furniture that blends the sturdy with the refined. Statement light fixtures, particularly oversized pendants in black iron or aged brass, anchor spaces beautifully. Warm wood tones throughout, from flooring to exposed beams to furniture, keep the palette from feeling cold.

The outdoor connection is especially important in this style when applied to Excelsior homes. A modern farmhouse interior that flows naturally onto a screened porch, a wrap-around deck, or a lake-facing patio creates a seamless lifestyle experience that buyers and residents alike find deeply appealing.

Given Minnesota's deep Scandinavian roots and Excelsior's history as a community that has always balanced simplicity with quality, contemporary Scandinavian design feels like a natural fit for many homes in this market. This style is defined by a commitment to function, craftsmanship, and a restrained beauty that prioritizes light, space, and natural materials above all else.

In an Excelsior home, Scandinavian interiors feature pale, warm-toned walls that maximize the region's prized natural light, furniture with clean lines and solid construction, and a palette that leans into whites, soft grays, and warm wood tones with carefully chosen moments of muted color. Textiles play an important role: chunky wool throws, sheepskin accents, and linen curtains add warmth and texture without visual noise. Houseplants and organic forms bring nature indoors in a way that feels intentional rather than decorative.

This style is particularly well-suited to Excelsior's lake-facing homes, where the goal is often to create an interior that recedes gracefully so that the view takes center stage. A room that is quiet, well-made, and carefully edited will always let the lake outside the window be the most compelling element in the space.

One of the most important things I tell clients who are designing or updating an Excelsior home is that rigid adherence to a single style is rarely the goal. The most compelling interiors in this community are those that reflect the homeowner's actual life and taste while maintaining a coherent visual language throughout the home.

That might mean a Victorian exterior with a thoughtfully updated transitional interior that preserves the original millwork and floors while modernizing the kitchen and bathrooms. It might mean a lake cottage that incorporates contemporary furniture for a fresher, more elevated feel. The throughline is always intentionality.

What binds every successful Excelsior interior together is an understanding of the home's architecture, the quality of its natural light, its connection to the outdoors, and the lifestyle of the people who live in it. When those elements are honored and the design serves them rather than competing with them, the result is a home that feels both beautiful and completely right.

Yes, meaningfully. Homes that are well-designed, cohesively staged, and presented with intentional style consistently attract stronger buyer interest and higher offers. In a market as discerning as Excelsior, presentation is a significant competitive factor.

Targeted updates almost always deliver a strong return in this market. The most impactful investments are typically fresh paint in a current, neutral palette, updated fixtures and hardware, and professional staging that highlights the home's best features and architectural character.

Start with the bones of the home. The architectural style, the ceiling height, the millwork details, the floor material, and the quality of natural light will all point you toward styles that feel authentic rather than imposed. I work closely with clients on this question and can recommend trusted local design professionals who understand the Excelsior market.

Not at all, when approached thoughtfully. The key is to preserve and honor the architectural details, the trim, the floors, the doors, and the proportions of the rooms, while updating the palette, furnishings, and fixtures to feel current. A transitional approach works particularly well in Victorian homes.

Buyers in this market consistently respond to natural light, preserved original architectural details, quality materials, a clear connection between indoor and outdoor living spaces, and an overall feeling of warmth and livability. Homes that deliver all of these consistently rise to the top.

Whether you are designing the home you already love or preparing a property for sale in one of the Twin Cities' most distinctive communities, thoughtful interior design is one of the most powerful tools available to you. Excelsior offers an architectural canvas that rewards intentionality, and I would love to help you navigate it.

When you are ready to buy, sell, or simply explore what is available in today's Excelsior market, reach out to me through Roost Real Estate and let's find or create the home that fits your life beautifully.