A custom Kelly green rug, along with accent pillows and shelf decor, introduces a signature touch of Edina’s iconic hue. Photos: Spacecrafting
Designer Tim Ricker weaves a tapestry of luxury using a beloved hue.
Edina interior designer Tim Ricker loves when a home tells a story—especially when a client’s personality, interests or favorite things become its central themes. In a recent full-home renovation project in the Rolling Green neighborhood, that story began with one vivid detail: the homeowner’s love of Kelly green.
What followed was a yearlong, full-scale renovation that allowed Ricker not only to weave that vibrant hue throughout the home, but also to shape virtually every design decision, big and small. The homeowner, a relative of a close acquaintance, came to Ricker with complete trust. “He said to me, ‘Tim, here’s the deal: I am bringing my wife, my children and my cars. I want you to build me a beautiful house,’” Ricker remembers. Ricker and Ben Nelson were behind the architectural design. And Ricker and his team took the lead on everything from the pool towels to the cutlery.
Kelly green appears throughout the home not as a dominant color, but as a thoughtful accent. In the bathroom, it emerges subtly in the towels.
The result is a home that balances classic familiarity—maintaining the spirit of its original Georgian-colonial footprint—with a fresh, modern point of view. Rather than saturate the home in green, Ricker approached it like a perfect seasoning: enough to infuse character but never enough to overwhelm or to become monochromatic. “We created a very neutral palette and sprinkled the Kelly green from room to room. For instance, in the great room, we had a custom rug made, and that’s really the only place that has the Kelly green, and it’s woven into that rug,” Ricker says.
The color appears again, subtly and deliberately, as the home unfolds. “The next room is the dining room, and the only thing that is Kelly green are the dining room chairs,” Ricker says. In other spaces, green appears in a silk rug or a set of linens. “We just sprinkled it enough through the house that it made sense without being too much of a surprise in any area.”
The home’s cohesive and intentional color story continues with Kelly green echoed in the artwork.
Even the pool house and powder room carry hints of green. In the jewel-box powder room, a single Kelly green hand towel on a gold tray introduces the color with understated elegance. In fact, Ricker says, the powder room has the most luxury per square foot of any space in the home. It features mosaic marble floors, black lacquered paneled walls with brass inlays, an illuminated countertop and a custom brass sink with an imported German crystal faucet. “We had so many beautiful elements there,” he says.
Throughout the rest of the home, warm white oak cabinetry, paneling and built-ins anchor the palette, providing a soft counterpoint to the flashes of green; he recommends using a very neutral color scheme for most of your furnishings, so your accent color isn’t competing with other noisy shades. And as for the accent shade itself, if you love it, go for it. “As long as there’s consistency from room to room, if you have the right balance, it can work with whatever color you want to introduce,” he says.
The powder room has black lacquered walls, marble floors, a brass sink and an imported German crystal faucet. The look is elevated with a Kelly green towel.
One of Ricker’s favorite spots in the home is the pool-cabana area, where the natural green of the grass and leaves carry the color theme outdoors. In addition to the cabana itself, which provides much-needed shade during a hot Minnesota summer. “I wanted it to feel like a livable interior space, so we did all fully upholstered exterior furniture. It really feels like a California house when you’re there in the summer months,” he says.
Ricker loves talking about color with each client before a remodel or new construction project even gets underway. “Before design even comes into play, it’s really about psychology,” he says. “In the end, I’m not living in the space; the client is living in the space.” And although he doesn’t run a retail store anymore (Ricker previously owned At Home and Co. at 50th and France in Edina.), his eye for small but impactful touches is one of the best in the biz. Now, at his bespoke design studio on nearby Market Street, clients can stop by to talk about project ideas and get inspiration from Ricker and his team.
So whether your shade is Kelly, lime, mint, moss, olive or sage—or perhaps not green at all—Ricker shows us that incorporating a favorite color into a home can be done in a way that’s understated, meaningful and totally unique.
Tim Ricker Interiors
Instagram: @timrickerinteriors
