Every summer, there’s a certain chatter that picks up across Minnesota. Someone sends the group text. A best friend calls her sister-in-law. Friends pick a Friday, map out a route, and pile into the car with iced coffees in hand. The destination isn’t a concert or lake weekend—it’s the Artisan Home Tour.
The 2026 Summer Artisan Home Tour, presented by Pella Windows & Doors, returns June 5-21, running Fridays through Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. This year’s tour features 16 homes across the Twin Cities metro, including remodeled homes during the final weekend of the event. For $35, visitors are welcomed inside an elite collection of luxury homes that represents some of the most creative and downright beautiful residential design work happening across the state.
The tour experience is just as appealing as the homes themselves. You spend the afternoon wandering through neighborhoods you’ve never explored before, stopping for lunch somewhere in Wayzata or Stillwater between homes. Somebody inevitably starts talking about moving, while somebody else takes 47 photos of a pantry. You leave inspired, a little jealous, and suddenly convinced your own house needs better lighting.
Artisan homes have a way of doing that. For instance, Home No. 13 by Hartman Homes feels almost cinematic in the way it unfolds against the landscape, where it is perched above the St. Croix River in Stillwater. The architecture leans modern, but there’s a softness to it, too—a warmth that keeps it from feeling stark or untouchable. Inspired by chalet-style design, the home layers rich textures, natural materials, and architectural lines in a way that somehow feels both elevated and deeply comfortable.
Meanwhile, in St. Paul’s Highland Bridge development, Home No. 11 by Sustainable 9 Design + Build takes a different approach. Designed by Strand Design, the home is clean-lined and contemporary but never cold. Natural light pours through expansive windows, and every space feels carefully considered. Sustainability played a major role in the vision for the home, but so did livability. It’s the kind of house that makes modern design feel approachable.
Then there’s Home No. 5 by Hanson Builders in Independence—a sprawling retreat tucked into the scenic Koch Farm Sanctuary. Surrounded by wooded views and water, the more than 7,300-square-foot home balances large-scale luxury with spaces that still feel inviting and usable. There’s an ease to the way the home lives, despite its scale. Nothing feels overdone.
That’s often the surprise people walk away with after touring Artisan homes. Yes, they are stunning, and yes, the craftsmanship is exceptional. But the real inspiration tends to happen in the gray: the way a mudroom is organized, a tile choice you’d never think to pair together, shelving that somehow makes a whole room feel calmer. You start noticing the details. And suddenly, the ideas feel possible—not just for a dream home someday but for your own home right now.
Tickets and tour information are available now at ArtisanHomeTour.org.
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