At Home in the Tuthill Neighborhood

BY MARY MICHAELS | PHOTOS BY JULIE PRAIRIE PHOTOGRAPHY

Some things are just meant to be.

It took some time and a couple of jogs in the road, but for one Sioux Falls couple, a wish became reality when they moved into their dream house in the fall of 2021.

Flashback about a decade when the couple was growing out of the house they shared with three young children and a fourth on the way. They had always loved the Tuthill area with the mature trees, proximity to parks and the character of the homes. There was one house in particular they had their eye on, so they sent a letter asking those homeowners if they were interested in selling, and if they were, to please let them know.

Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right, so the couple found a home on the east side of Sioux Falls for their growing family.

To their surprise, less than two years later, the couple heard from “the homeowners” saying they were considering selling their Tuthill home. Having settled in where they were, the couple wasn’t yet ready to move, but they also weren’t going to let the house slip away. So, they bought it and decided to rent it out until they were ready to make another move.

Knowing the 1980s era house was going to need some remodeling to fit both their needs and their style, the couple took their time – sitting down and each making a wish list of features they wanted if they were ever to renovate the house and move in.

Five years later, they decided it was time. Renovations started during the summer of 2020.

“It was right after COVID hit,” they said. “At first that really didn’t have too much impact on the renovations, but then we did have to wait for some things to come in. Well, and we also added to the

project, so that made it take a little longer.”

Comparing the “before” pictures to the finished product, it’s hard to believe it’s the same house.

“Anything you see in the house now basically isn’t the same as when we first looked at it,” they explained. “The trends back when the house was built was honey oak everything and lots of pastels. Even the bathroom had pink fixtures. Every room needed something.”

They took out a tall brick corner fireplace in the living room, bumped out the kitchen, and even moved the staircase that leads up to the second floor. Once they took out what they knew they didn’t want, they were able to map out where they wanted to go. The couple credits both their contractor and the designers from Houndstooth House for helping check off their wish lists one item at a time. The outdoor space really excited the couple, for example, so when they took out the brick corner fireplace in the living room and opened up the floor plan on the main level, they added more windows, as well as

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sliders to the back patio.

Taking out the old oak woodwork and changing everything to white also lightened up the entire house. There were some features they liked, however, such as the wood treatment on the sloped ceiling that was accented by large beams. They braved the heights and got up there to paint the wood white and stain the beams themselves.

The kitchen was a primary focus of the project because, as they said, “That’s where everyone seems to congregate.”

To get the open look and feel that they wanted, they relied on the expertise and creativity of their team. There was a supporting beam right in the middle of the kitchen, but when they expressed wanting to have that gone, the team figured out a solution. Now, the kitchen has cabinets and counters along three walls with open space in the middle for two islands – one primarily to be a counter for seating and the other with a prep sink and plenty of storage. Although the couple said their contractor thought they were a little crazy to propose the two islands,

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but when everything was done, everyone agreed that it works.

The homeowners have a friend from Albert Lea who did all of the custom cabinetry work. When his shop closed during COVID, he was looking for something to do, so their remodeling project came at a perfect time.

“He’s highly skilled and a perfectionist, so we couldn’t have asked for anything better,” they said.

While the couple stayed with oak cabinets, they used a dark stain on the quarter sawn wood for the lower cabinets and islands. The lighter wood floating shelves and cabinets on the third wall provide a pretty contrast. The walk-in pantry and mud room behind the main kitchen space were on their “must have” list of desired features, adding storage and functionality but with the ability to “just close the doors.”

As they opened up the back of the house, they saw an opportunity to move the master bedroom to the front, locating it in a space that had previously been a

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sunken living room. This space ended up being an unexpected surprise.

“We knew we were going to enjoy the new kitchen and the outdoor space in the back,” they explained, “but moving the master suite to the front of the house was better than we imagined.”

There is plenty of room for their furniture, including a sitting area, and their bedroom connects to a spacious master bath with a walk-in closet where they added a stacked washer and dryer.

“It is amazing to be able to just relax in here, and in the morning, if we feel like it, we can even get up and do a load of laundry, all here in our own space.”

The kids, ages 16, 14, 11 and 8 – each have their own rooms, along with a great “teen hang out space,” as they call the lower family room. The wet bar area downstairs has a full-sized refrigerator and dishwasher, and the room has plenty of seating to gather around for a movie on the flat screen TV hanging over the fireplace.

One of the boys has a room downstairs, and the couple’s daughter and other two

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sons have rooms on the second floor.

As part of the remodeling project, they moved the main staircase, which gave them some extra space on the upper floor. So, they decided to move the main laundry upstairs, which is a great convenience for the kids. They also realized that having just one furnace in the basement wasn’t very efficient for heating the entire house. With one of their sons having an especially roomy closet, they utilized some of that space to install a second-floor furnace.

It took many months, and even more decisions to complete the renovations inside the house, but the couple had also spent time thinking about the backyard. They are anxiously awaiting the end of winter when they can get back out and enjoy the concrete fire table they built, as well as the family-sized hot tub on the patio. They added a retaining wall in the back, and they can walk down the hill where there is a little pond and stock dam. The family gets a glimpse of the occasional fox or deer – and plenty of squirrels – that enjoy the heavily-wooded yard.

“When the leaves are filled out in the summer, you can’t even see that we have neighbors,” they said. “And we love that we can get to the mountain bike trail right through our neighbor’s yard. Ten years ago, we weren’t sure we’d ever be here, but it’s the perfect house for our stage of life right now. It was our dream come true.”