It’s so neutral and many kitchens don’t have a lot of window space in homes, so white helps make it bright. 'White counters, white tile, white cabinets… now, here we are, back to white. 'In ‘89 and ‘90 we were selling white, with white, with white,' said Tweten. Now people aren’t asking for oak unless I have to match an existing cabinet,' said Tweten. 'In Fargo it took a long time to move beyond golden oak. 'They’re all fun projects - every kitchen, every client and every solution.' You can go in, take something that doesn’t work well or is outdated, make it better, and get instant gratification,” explained Tweten. Tweten worked for years in various design-centric roles before discovering kitchen design as the ideal balance of architectural work and interior design. For Tweten, fusing his passion for music with design meant simply drawing from the same creative core he'd always thrived on. In 1988 he earned his degree in the Interior Environmental Specialist program with an emphasis in kitchen and bath design and was also awarded the Marathon design award - competing against 75 other student designers. They were one of the first accredited schools in the country for interior design,” he said. “I fell in love with it it was an amazing school. While teaching music for three years in Underwood, N.D., Tweten continued to explore various architecture programs and eventually came across the interior design program at Alexandria Technical College.

He played pipe organ for Messiah Lutheran Church for over 15 years, and traveled throughout North Dakota performing organ/piano recitals with Jim Gurney - a bucket list item for him. In his earlier days, music had taken Tweten all over the world - Western Europe, Southeast Asia, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Philippines and Tokyo. Somewhere between his three grown kids, four grandchildren, and two on the way - he sings, plays organ, and plays the oboe. Before he made a name for himself in design, Tweten studied Bible at LBI Seattle and Music at Concordia College, graduating with a B.A. His main interests have always been two-fold music and interior design. She would just create great things out of nothing.' 'My mom was always so creative, she had great taste. I would take pieces of plywood and build little houses in the basement,” said Tweten. “When I was growing up, I always drew house plans and floor plans. Raised on a farm, Tweten had not considered interior design as a career, yet even then, he was unknowingly practicing in the field.

Jim tweeten