Sometimes, interior designer Kotono Watanabe glances toward the sky and catches glimpses of perfect streaks of sunlight piercing through the clouds. “They’re little moments you only get to see here and there throughout the day,” she says. “And you think, ‘Ooh, I like that.’”

A similar effect plays out in the 100-square-foot addition she and her husband, architect Austin Watanabe, designed for the 1925 Minneapolis cottage owned by friends Karoline Lange and Isaac Hase, except it’s not dependent on shifting clouds. The space’s signature feature is what they call a “scoop”: a pop-up, shed-roofed clerestory window. “Every day is a bit different, and throughout the year it is, too,” Kotono says of the quality of light.

The architectural element draws inspiration from the 1962 Edward Larrabee Barnes–designed Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (often simply called Haystack) in Maine, an enclave of cedar shingle-sided structures with similar clerestory windows. “For me, the scoop part is what makes the house really special,” says Karoline, who recalls standing in the home’s previous kitchen, which was dark and cramped. “We knew that we wanted this seating area right here, and we were talking about how the sun travels throughout the day and how I would love to have light be part of the project.”

The scoop delivers on that goal far better than a standard side window, which would have peered onto the neighboring home a few feet away, sacrificing privacy. “When you look at our small 1920s Minneapolis home, to have this stunning light feature is exciting,” Karoline says.

Besides housing the scoop, the small addition made way for big changes to the old kitchen, where a choppy floor plan placed the refrigerator in an isolated nook next to the back door, a remnant of the icebox age and its routine deliveries of ice. Now, all kitchen functions fit within a sunny galley complete with generous countertop space—an important feature for Karoline and Isaac, who are both avid cooks.

The addition also incorporates a mudroom, brings a pair of steep staircases up to current code, and ties into the backyard via an engawa-style porch informed by Kotono’s Japanese background. “Oftentimes homes in Japan have this transitional space between the indoors and outdoors that is protected by the shell of the home, but in a way that you still experience the outdoors,” she says. Clad in wood, it typically overlooks a courtyard or, as in this case, a garden. Besides function, “It’s a layer or a little area that adds character to the house,” she says.

Birch cabinets finished in a dark fruitwood stain carry that cozy character inside. They join ash shelving, pine millwork, white subway tile backsplashes, and floors covered with slate (in the mudroom) and oak (everywhere else) for a crisp yet warm look. “I sometimes feel the winter in a bad way,” Isaac says. “The house formerly had a lot of old, pretty woodwork, but it was dark and it felt kind of dark in an emotional way in the winter. These materials all feel much warmer.”

The project’s reasonably small scope helped kept costs in check. “Every contractor knows—and every architect should know—that the only way to save costs is reducing scope, and at a certain point, it’s a race to the bottom if you just put cheap materials on everything,” Austin says. “We like to keep the best of what’s there, and only touch what needs to be touched.”

The total renovation cost of $200,000, including architecture and design, materials, the builder, engineering, and utility and HVAC updates, factors in labor from Isaac, a skilled do-it-yourselfer. “I knew him for his hands-on skills before I knew him as a friend,” Austin says. (The two met as students at the University of Minnesota—Austin in architecture, and Isaac in landscape architecture—where they were part of a small group of DIY designers in a “utopic spacial practice” called Interesting Tactics.) “His skills definitely speak for themselves when it comes to this project.”

Isaac’s jobs included building a Jasper Morrison–inspired surround for the range hood, replacing the windows, and installing custom cabinets from a Wisconsin cabinetmaker often used by homebuilders in his family. These savings allowed for the home’s upgrade from gas to electric, including an induction cooktop and heat pump. Karoline and Isaac have set their sights on solar for their next phase of updates.

It’s good the couple is settling in, because during the course of the project, Austin and Kotono purchased a home for their own family down the block. “Our daughter is just a year older than their son,” Austin says, “So from our perspective, were designing a structure that would allow them to stay in their small house with their growing family and for us to be neighbors and our kids to be friends.”

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Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Keep / @keep.archi

Builder/General Contractor: Steven Moses, Moses Renovation

Structural Engineer: Derek Phillips, Safe Haven

Landscape Design: Homeowners

Interior Design: Kotono Watanabe, Keep

Cabinetry Design: Ethan Plautz, Woodcraft Specialties