The couple, who live with their son
had arrived home with the kids. He
Dylan, 8, and daughter Emma Jean,
explained if there is a chance he can
6, both work at Landscape Garden
build something they need, he will
Centers, yet their home ironically is
do it. Opening the front door, Dave
scarce of any landscaping. That is
pointed to a unique overhang with a
because they just celebrated a year at
rustic roof and lights.
the house that is addressed as Marion, but technically is closer to Monroe (it depends on who you ask).
“We’ve had a lot of things we find to help us,” Dave explained. “The steel on all of the covered porches
“When you do landscaping for a living,
are from an old grainery on an
the last thing you want to do is start
abandoned farm, and the lights
doing landscaping when you get
were old florescent lights I found in
home,” she said in jest.
a farm shed that I converted into
Another factor is because Dave was busy working with his father on building the home themselves. “My husband designed it – he did the blueprints. Basically we loved our house in Sioux Falls, but it was a split-level. So we pretty much took our exact house and turned it into a ranch,” she said. “Other than the [kitchen] cabinets they did all the millwork; stained every block, everything,” Lori said. The kitchen is wide open and shares the dining room along with leading right into the living room. Said kitchen cabinets were a large inspiration for the rest of the home, which Lori requested Dave to match the exact grey look throughout the house. “This was a process,” she said pointing to the cabinets. “I picked those cabinets, which I fell in love with, and asked if we could match all the trim in the house to that. They were like ‘that’s a paint, a glaze, a stain – that’s a four-step process.’ I always come up
incandescent bulbs using Edison Bulbs. The beams are from a water tower from Tracy, Minn.” So what did Dave do when they needed a way to organize school papers and office supplies? He built a “messaging center” in the mudroom, which seems like it could be the size of a guest room. This is one room they knew they needed to get right when building.
“Our mudroom is big, but this is actually a farm,” Dave
laughed. “We wanted to make our mudroom big enough so winter
stuff, summer stuff, everything – you didn’t have to pack it up and put it in storage. It’s all here.”
with these crazy ideas and he always
Instead of cubbies, Dave created
makes it happen somehow.”
custom hangers for all of the coats,
It is very apparent he does, in fact, make it happen. Their barn door leading to their mudroom was created by Dave with an old barn door and old hardware that was lying around the land. At this point of the interview, Dave
bags and the like to keep the room feeling open. A bench he handmade sits below for shoe and attire assembly/disassembly. “He actually built the bench in a couple of hours. It’s kind of sad,” Lori joked.