Haus Das
HOME & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
HISTORY BEHIND EVERY DOOR
Homeowner looks to pass on history of one of Hays’ oldest homes
APRIL / MAY 2013
The Anatomy of a Well-Built Sofa Foam & Padding
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Haus Das
features 5
Cutting-Edge Cabinetry
Hays craftsman prides himself on being able to do anything
12
8
At home IN hays
History Behind Every Door
One of Hays’ oldest homes looks for new owner
Hassle-Free Living
Condos few and far between, but offer many benefits
14
Use It or Lose It
Stuff can eat up valuable square footage in a home
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
APRIL / MAY 2013 • 3
MidContinent Cabinets
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Advertising Director Mary Karst maryk_ads@dailynews.net Designer Gayle Weber gweber@dailynews.net Contributors Diane Gasper-O’Brien • Writer Kaley Conner • Writer Dawne Leiker • Writer Judy Sherard • Writer Chelsy Lueth • Photographer Steven Hausler • Photographer Elisha Jones • Creative Services Juno Ogle • Creative Services Tiffany Reddig • Creative Services Account Executives Joleen Fisher Sandra Harder Eric Rathke Online Edition at HDNews.net Created by Pixel Power Haus Web design division of The Hays Daily News pixelpowerhaus.net Das Haus is published by The Hays Daily News. Copyright © 2013 Harris Enterprises. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Das Haus is a registered trademark of The Hays Daily News.
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Cutting-edge
cabinetry
Former teacher constructs customized furnishings in Hays workshop
U
nique. That’s the kind of furniture Jeremy Huxman enjoys creating with his business, Huxman Custom Cabinets and Woodworking. Whatever the customer wants, Huxman is willing to make it happen. “The more unique, the better,” he said. His one-man business, based in his home Hays’ custom CRAFTSMAN just outside Hays, offers full-service custom By KALEY CONNER building. He focuses mainly on kitchen and bathroom cabinets and kitchen islands and countertops, but also can make items such as beds and bookcases. The business is also the only area dealer for John Boos Butcher Blocks, a high-end type of butcher block used by several celebrity chefs. The blocks can be built into kitchen countertops. Huxman, a native of Ransom, worked as a high school teacher in the Clifton-Clyde school district for four years. He began making log furniture on the side for extra income and became hooked on the trade of woodworking. His family relocated to Hays, and he spent four years working at local custom cabinet shops before venturing out on his own. It was primarily the desire for a more flexible schedule that spurred his decision, he said.
Continued on Page 6
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
APRIL / MAY 2013 • 5
“I wanted to do more things with the kids,” Huxman said. “It turns out I work more now than I did, but I can do it on weekends and evenings.” He and his wife have three children, ages 10, 12 and 14. Business has been steady, and his customer base has been increasing since Huxman began networking with local interior designers. Sometimes he installs cabinets their clients order or helps with other projects, but other times he is given the opportunity to provide high-end custom cabinets for their clientele. “I can make anything somebody shows me,” Huxman said. “But getting hooked up with the designers in town has helped out because I couldn’t design this,” he said, gesturing to a modern, custom-made bathroom cabinet he was working on earlier this year. He also enjoys working with clients who have their own ideas, or bring him pictures of dream projects they find online. “And Pinterest,” Huxman said, referring to the online idea board. 6 • APRIL / MAY 2013
stock cabinets, then Huxman makes “Pinterest is a curse and a blessing, I guess. People see stuff on that a piece or two to fit a specific size they want, and it’s good to get ideas and give the cabinets a customoff the pictures, but made feel. He also is willing to doing it sometimes take on smaller projects, costs more than they’d expect.” such as installing stock cabinets, countertops or Huxman also is willing to accomhanging trim work. Huxman also travels to outlymodate the client’s budget. Using differJeremy Huxman ing communities. “If I won the lottery, I’d ent types of materials can affect the project’s still be doing it,” he said cost, and it also is possible to have of his business. “It’s just what I like to do.” only portions of a cabinet set customized. For more information, visit huxmancustomcabinets.com. Some customers buy mostly
“I can make anything somebody shows me.”
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Q&A Q:
Realtor’s corner
With Lyn Klein
I understand that there is a sales tax on Real Estate in 2013, can you explain? A: Beginning on January 1, 2013, there is a new 3.8% tax on SOME investment income. This new tax only applies to interest, dividends, rents (less expenses) and capital gains (less capital losses). This new tax will only fall on individuals with an adjusted gross income above $200,000 per year for single tax filers and $250,000 for couple filing a joint return. The new tax also applies to the LESSER of investment income or excess above the adjusted gross income which is the $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for couples. Each individual has a different tax situation and it is best to check with your accountant and see if this tax will apply to you. Before you list your investment property for sale, consult your accountant. A Realtor can only make you aware of a tax law change, your accountant can tell you if this tax will affect you. THIS IS NOT A SALES TAX ON ALL REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS, ONLY THOSE INVOLVING INVESTMENT PROPERTY.
Q:
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We are interested in purchasing our first home. We have been to a local bank and visited with a loan officer. I did not think applying for a loan would be so difficult. Can you tell me why? From the ads on TV it sounds like it is much easier to apply for a loan online and out of town. Is this possible? A: Consumers will see some additional changes coming in the near future with all banks and lending intuitions. All lenders will be requesting more details from the loan applicant in the near future. The changes we see coming will require a consumer to be approved for a loan and with the terms and conditions that they are expected to follow when purchasing a home. The consumer should understand that the lender will be asking in great detail all aspects of the loan applicant. I have been told by a bank they may be asking for 5 months of bank statements and they will want all pages of the statement and not just the summary page. Each item on the statement will be looked at and if needed the loan applicant will be asked for details supporting questionable items on the statement. An applicant is expected to respond to the lender’s request in a very timely fashion. If the applicant
chooses not to comply, it will only slow down the approval process. The applicant may be asked to supply pay-stubs from the employer several times during the approval process. To answer your question regarding out of town or online lenders, they can make the process and terms sound very attractive. If a loan applicant chooses to go out of town for a loan they lose control of the loan process and the response time is much longer. Many times you will be moved from one loan officer to another and the documents you will need for a closing to occur can sometimes be done at the last minute. This will not give the applicant time to review before closing. In using an out of town lender or an online lender the interest rate is attractive, but you need to check the other closing costs of the loan. In most cases your local bank has a lower total closing cost. The local lender may have a higher percentage rate, but the total cost of the loan may be less and you have better control of the loan process. Don’t be discouraged in applying for a loan. Just be prepared to provide information regarding your credit history as well as work history.
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HISTORY behind every door S
tep over the threshold and through the front door, and a quick story by Diane Gasper-O’Brien glance around photography by Chelsy Lueth might make visitors think they have walked into a historical museum. Just inside the entrance hang numerous photographs on the wall, including those of the first owner, buffalo hunter John Schlyer. Move a little further into the room, however, and it’s plain to see this is no museum.
8 • APRIL / MAY 2013
At home IN hays
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
The 119-year-old building at 601 Oak in Hays might ooze of history akin to a museum, but there’s an instant homey feeling as well. With good reason. The limestone building is a home, one the current owner hopes to turn over to someone as interested in preserving history as himself. Larry Rupp is owner of one of Hays’ oldest houses since 1980. For the past 33 years, Rupp has hired other contractors for carpentry, electrical and plumbing projects, then did all the finish work himself. Now, he is ready to retire, and find a buyer for his historic home. But Rupp is not looking for just any buyer. Rupp, who lived in the house for several years while completely renovating it and at other times rented it to hand-picked tenants, hopes the new owner has a similar passion for historical value. DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
Rich history, after all, abounds throughout the home, built by Schlyer in 1894. While Rupp took the home through an extensive restoration pro-
cess through the years, more than just the 22-foot limestone walls are original to the house. Both the front and side doors are the ones installed by Schlyer. APRIL / MAY 2013 • 9
So, too, is much of the woodwork, although Rupp either refinished it or painted it with colors similar to the time period of when it was built. Rupp, a local building restoration enthusiast, asked owners Pete and Bonnie Storm in 1977 if they would like him to restore their historical treasure. Bonnie Storm had grown up in the house — the oldest child of Martin and Mary Eastlack, who had
bought the home from Schlyer in 1933 — and she had inherited the home after the death of her parents. All the antique furnishings will remain in the house, including most Rupp collected for years even before he contacted the Storms to see if they wanted him to restore it. Rupp chose wallpaper and a burgundy carpet to simulate the time period when the house was built.
See HISTORY, 15
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ondominiums might not be a living option for everyone, but for some, it’s the perfect choice. Gary and Sheryl Blair made the move to Arbor Valley Estates in Hays nearly nine years ago. The couple was looking to downsize from their single family home complete with a pool and large yard. “We weren’t looking for a townhouse or condo,” Sheryl Blair said. They purchased a lot and Condos can mean living AT ITS BEST planned a custom built home, but “the house I wanted didn’t fit in By JUDY SHERARD the price range,” she said. When looking at other options, the condo was “more along the lines of what we were looking for — open space and lots of light,” Gary Blair said. With a total of 3,400 square feet of living space, it’s larger than it looks on the outside, Sheryl Blair said. The Blairs like to travel, so the low maintenance yard is ideal. “I get to do as much yard work as I want to do,” Gary 12 • APRIL / MAY 2013
Blair said. “If we’re not here, gone for a couple of weeks, three weeks, we know it’s taken care of. The snow is taken care of. The monthly dues of $75 is very moderate for an association like this.” Though it isn’t an issue for them, Sheryl Blair said following condo association rules could be difficult “if you were a free-minded person who wanted to do your own thing.” DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
Shirley Hess lived in a single family home on 3⁄4 of an acre before she moved to Arbor Valley Estates in 2010. “It was a lot to keep up,” she said of her house. “I travel and needed someone to check on the house.” She planned to buy a singlefamily home, but after looking at the condo, the convenience and location sold her. Castillian Gardens, another condo development, has been home for Jana Jordan for five years. “I’m alone and don’t need a great deal of space,” Jordan said. “It’s smaller and affordable.” Her former home had a swimming pool, and she wanted to be able to swim without the pool upkeep. Castillian Gardens has a pool and pool house for residents’ use. “They do the maintenance on (the) yard,” Jordan said of the condo association. “I still can have my herb garden and flowers. That’s
enough for me to take care of.” Jordan likes the close proximity of neighbors and the friendly atmosphere. Owners are responsible for maintaining their own units and paying for repairs, but outside im-
provements and changes must be approved by the association. “It makes you take time and have a plan. I enjoy living in a condo. The fees even out if I had to pay to mow the lawn, trim (the) trees.”
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t i e s U OR LOSE IT
W
hether you’re considerNot only does it take up valuable ing downsizing your space but “stuff” can get in the way “stuff” because of a of relationships, Beech said. move to a smaller home “Our belongings are a cost to or because you want us,” she said. “I think an unencumbered there’s a real stress facliving space, a good de-cluttering and DOWNSIZING tor when we’ve got too place to start is by asBy DAWNE LEIKER many things and we are sessing the value of the trying to figure out what space you’re using for storage. to do with them, and we’ve quickly “I suggest people look up how got to throw things in the closet and many square feet are in their house slam the door, because somebody’s and what’s the value of that house, coming to the front door. and divide the two so that you “There’s also the expense of know what each square foot of your maintaining them and cleaning house is worth,” said Linda Beech, them and managing them and Ellis County Extension agent. “And buying a basket or a bookcase or then you say, ‘Is this really how a storage bin to artfully store them I want to use this square foot of in. It ends up costing us to have too valuable space, by hoarding some many things.” things I haven’t used in a long, long In the spirit of community, time?’ Beech said, an individual should “It’s really eye-opening.” consider whether it’s reasonable Beech, who moved to Hays from to hang onto items that could have Garden City only a year ago, has a value to another community memnot-so-distant memory of evaluating ber. That point was driven home to her own family’s belongings during Beech when she “stumbled into” the move to a smaller home. After Hays’ Community Assistance raising her children and living in the Center a few weeks same home 16 years, she found ago. many things that just didn’t match She saw cut up with the lifestyle she anticipated glass bowls in Hays. with prices “We had to renegotiate, figure of approxiout where things fit,” she said. mately 50 “What do we keep and what do we cents and move?” recalled Beech started by measuring the cut their new home’s space, then realglass istically evaluating the usefulness serving of her family’s belongings. Several dishes items, including a weight bench in her that had been used only as a shirt own hanger for about a decade, didn’t cabimake the cut. net.
14 • APRIL / MAY 2013
That realization helped Beech determine to either use the dishes and create memories with her families or downsize the items so others could enjoy them. Making the transition from an over-abundance of “stuff” for one household to fulfilling the true needs of another household is a relatively uncomplicated process. The Community Assistance Center receives donations from individuals and estates Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon and by appointment by calling (785) 625-9110. Public garage sales of donated items, which take place the first and third Tuesdays of each month, help fund the center’s food pantry. In addition, donated art supplies are given to local after-school programs, said Laurie Mortinger, Community Assistance Center director. “We can always use household stuff,” she said. “A lot of people, if they relocate ... there’s all kinds of situations, and people need things they can’t afford, so we try to provide that.”
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
HISTORY, from 10 “I think burgundy stimulates peace in a person,” he said. The house is heated with a highefficiency boiler. “No noise, no fumes, very quiet,” Rupp said. While every room has its own personality — a kitchen wall features two hanging washboards, one that belonged to Rupp’s grandmother, the other to his mother — probably the most unique one is the parlor, which features a large coffee table in the middle of the room. Four support posts that stretch from the floor to the ceiling form a frame around a large glasstop table encased by a large gear off an old steam tractor. Rupp used the posts as a necessity to support the ceiling and floor of the room above. “Anything else like a book shelf or something would have blocked the room,” he said of his decision to go with posts. “This way, the room still is open, and I have a useful table, too.” Rupp bought the house from the Storms in 1980 and lived there off and on through the years while doing his renovation work. He eventually rented the home to hand-picked tenants, and he put all the rent money — he estimates as much as $100,000 through the years — back into the house. Rupp remodeled the upstairs into a two-bedroom apartment, complementing the cozy one-bedroom home below, and the property includes a 900-square-foot separate office building. The facelift concluded a few years ago when Rupp built a wraparound 15 • APRIL / MAY 2013
porch on the south and east sides of the home. “That really completed it,” said Rupp, who wants to see one more undertaking to completion. He has gathered pieces of Schly-
er’s history through the years and would like to see someone compile it into a book. “There is so much history here,” Rupp said, “and it all began with Schlyer.”
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