Haus Das
HOME & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
TROPHY home
Antonino school provides spacious luxury
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013
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Haus Das
features
8 At home IN ANTONINO
Filling the Trophy Case
Former schoolhouse begins perfect home for couple
5
Going Green
Organic, all-natural kitchen products begin to dominate local stores 14
Patio Protection
Homeowner finds solution for outdoor entertaining
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 • 3
Haus Das
WANTED
For exceeding the building code Setting our standard higher than most licensed contractors and giving our clients warrantied quality work • On time service Same name, phone number & address since 1983 Chamber of commerce member since 1986
Published and distributed by The Hays Daily News 507 Main, Hays, KS 67601 HDNews.net (785) 628-1081
REWARDS Guaranteed roof systems for all types • longer warranty that we back up after the job is done • you can be one of our 1000’s of happy customers in the Hays area and surrounding communities • drywall repairs • Painting & floors • epoxy coating • masonry refinishing & siding • ask about our new metal shake roofs!
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Contributors Diane Gasper-O’Brien • Writer Dawne Leiker • Writer Kaley Conner • Writer Jolie Green • Photographer Chad Pilster • Photographer 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.
See Heartland Building Center for your new and replacement windows this fall. www.heartlandbuildingcenter.com Email: sales@heartlandbuildingcenter.com Stockton 918 South Cedar 785-425-6715
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Kitchens go green
R
esponding to consumers’ interest in eco-friendly products, downtown Hays
DINNERWARE
Recycled melamine has found its way into a variety of dinnerware and travelware. The products often are made in combination with bamboo, and are durable, brightening any table with trendy colors and confetti patterns.
shops have kitchen products GO GREEN stocked their shelves with By DAWNE LEIKER an assortment of sustainable kitchen items. From cloth napkins to bamboo/ melamine serving dishes, many products are recycled or made from organic materials.
sandwich wraps Reusable sandwich wraps can eliminate the need for plastic bags for those who frequently carry sack lunches. The wraps are bisphenol A-free with a coating designed to keep food fresh.
KITCHEN TOWELS
Organic cotton kitchen towels and linens are made from fabrics without the use of fertilizers, pesticides or toxic chemicals. The linens are hypo-allergenic and durable in colors to match most decorating schemes.
Dish cloths
glass storage
Dish cleaning has evolved from the days of simple scratch pads that can damage non-stick cookware. Biodegradable products, made from materials such as agave twine and loofah sponge, promise noscratch results for kitchen clean-ups.
For folks who are looking to eliminate plastic storage containers from their kitchens, glass storage containers are becoming popular. Glass containers are stain-resistant and eliminate many of the concerns about storing food in plastics, which might contain BPA or phthalates.
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 • 5
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We’ve got the quality • We’ve got the style • We’ve got the look We Are
The Look
While a lot of focus is given to the trendy and the new, some design principles are timeless — especially when it comes to your home. These principles should guide your decision making throughout any project. 1. It’s your home and you need to love it. While every piece of furniture should have a function, it’s important that the pieces work together to create a welcoming atmosphere for YOU. The color palette needs to make you happy and the furniture must meet your needs. 2. Neutrals are bigger than brown/ white/black. You can create classic, timeless looks which can be easily updated by using a variety of colors as a foundation. Red, green, gray and gold can provide great color which can be updated through trend-based accents. 3. Your furniture needs to change as your needs change. The layout and design which worked so well
when you were raising small children may be burdensome as they grow. Changing your flooring may call for a change in furniture to provide balance in texture and color. As we age, our demands for comfort and support change significantly. Care should be taken to accommodate these changes. 4. If your furniture meets the first 3 criteria and it still feels unfinished, it probably is. The accessories and lighting in the room can change a house into a home. The right lighting creates warmth and improves function. Art and accent pieces complete a room as they pull together furniture you may have collected over time. Our design team at The Furniture Look is here to help you build a roomscape which meets your needs and reflects your taste. We would love an opportunity to create a whole new space or simply add the finishing touches. Come on in and see us: WE HAVE THE QUALITY, WE HAVE THE STYLE AND WE HAVE THE LOOK.
Open 7 days a week for your convenience at The Furniture Look, 1000 Main, Hays or contact us at our website: www.thefurniturelook.com
Q&A Q:
Realtor’s corner
With Lyn Klein
I am thinking about selling my home. What advice or insight do you have If I consider selling on my own? A: I am all for do-it-yourself projects. If you can save a little money and learn how to do something that will be a useful skill in the future ... I say, go for it! But not all projects should be tossed into the pool of do-it-yourself (DIY) tasks. If you are like me, there are a number of reasons why some DIY projects turn into a nightmare that results in more time, energy and money spent trying to clean up the mess than if you’d hired a professional in the first place. I know a person who buys and fixes up homes for resale. He does all of the work himself and makes it look easy, but if I would attempt the same process, I might get the job done but it would look like an amateur had done it. I’ve seen this happen too many times. Professionals who work in specialized fields are used to doing their jobs. They can refabricate a home quickly and efficiently, whereas a novice might take months to get it done and then it looks like amateur work. That can mean lost time money and, in the end, the main gain is tons of frustration. This same idea is why DIY real estate isn’t likely to be a wise choice for most people. Shopping for a home or selling a home requires a good amount of knowl-
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edge about the industry, the neighborhood, marketing, negotiation, home staging and more. Most consumers simply don’t have all those skills, and when it comes to buying or selling their own home, whatever skills they have can be compromised because personal emotions get involved. A common mistake DIY (or for-saleby-owners) sellers make is pricing their homes too high. Often sellers look at how much they owe on their homes and try to work backward from there to determine a price. The problem with that is the buyer isn’t concerned with how much the seller owes. The buyer is comparing the home to those in the neighborhood. But often cash-strapped sellers are looking to make a bit more so they may try to push the price higher in hopes of creating more cash flow. Listing a home for more than its competitive value can prove to be very unsuccessful. A lot of times, an overpriced home will get very few showings. The longer it sits on the market, the more “stale” it gets. When buyers and their agents see this, they often know to play the waiting game and let it sit. Eventually, there will be price reductions. How quickly this happens will depend on how motivated the seller is to close on the home. Another reason for hiring a professional real estate agent to handle your real estate transactions is that it gives
you an ally and someone to answer your questions. These days, real estate paperwork is getting more complicated and plentiful. When you attempt to go it alone, you’re taking on a lot of responsibility and risk and making some very big and potentially costly mistakes. You may be saving some money at the time, but what about later when the buyer is back with a lawsuit regarding some forms that you did not provide or a problem with the property that you did not disclose? If you would have hired a real estate professional, they could have povided the knowledge needed to prevent this type of a problem. REALTORS are regulated by the Kansas Real Estate Commission, which provides the rules by which REALTORS must function. These rules are to help protect the consumer from situations that can cost you money and devalue the property that you are buying or selling. There are other professions that claim to be able to do the paperwork for you at a reduced cost, but are they representing you and your property to reduce the likelihood of a future problem with a buyer? Choose wisely as to who you have complete your real estate transaction if you don’t use a real estate professional, and even then do your research. Buying and selling your property may be the single most expensive transaction you will ever do.
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Filling the trophy case 8 • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
Antonino couple turns former schoolhouse into perfect home
T
he trophies were long gone from two large built-in, glass-enclosed cases when Alan and Rikki Betts bought the Antonino schoolhouse in 1995. No matter. The Betts couple feels like it snagged the biggest trophy of all — a 5,000-square-foot structure they have been able to call home for 15 years. They transformed the former four-room limestone schoolhouse into a unique two-story home that features a gigantic living room with a 90-inch flatscreen TV.
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At home IN ANTONINO story by photography by Diane Gasper-O’Brien Jolie Green
DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 • 9
The two former classrooms on the main floor of the school each measure 23-by-25 feet with 11-plus-foot ceilings adding to the wide-open feel. “Eleven feet, 3 inches,” Alan said matter-of-factly of the exact ceiling height. “I’ve measured them a hundred times.” The east classroom serves as the couple’s kitchen and dining room so large it nearly dwarfs a 6-foot bar, and the former west classroom now is
their living room. Alan and Rikki have no problem fitting big antique furniture into their home. “It has to be big,” Alan said of the furniture, “so it doesn’t get lost in the room.” The limestone building, funded partly by the federal Works Progress Administration in 1939, was occupied by students in first through eighth grades through the years.
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After the school closed in 1974, it sat empty before being deeded to the township in 1978. During that time, local residents of the small Ellis County town approximately 10 miles southwest of Hays used the building for various community activities before the township decided to sell it. The Betts couple had seen the building while driving around the countryside one day. “We saw this place, and we stopped and peeked in the windows,” Alan said. “I thought ‘This would make a great home.’ ” Rikki wasn’t so sure at first. “I wasn’t near as excited as he was,” she admitted. “Now, you’ll never get me out of here.” They learned the building was up for sale and bought it by sealed bid. Alan spent three years remodeling the building before the couple moved in with their two teenage daughters in 1998. All during that remodeling period, and for years since, there have been curious passersby — some who just looked, others who stopped and reminisced about their school days there. There was so much interest in the schoolhouse Alan and Rikki decided to have an open house when the community celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005.
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AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 • 11
“We knew the locals were dying with curiosity,” Rikki said. “So we thought that would give them a chance to go through and see it again.” Visitors find the outside much the same, with names still engraved in the limestone lining the 8-foot wide staircase leading up to the front door. An American flag flies day and night from the original flagpole. A foot scraper at the bottom of the steps is another reminder of days gone by. “I was adamant about keeping it homey, as original as possible,” said Rikki, who said she scolded Alan when he asked if she wanted to keep the original baseboards. Well, of course, she told her husband, who added those to his list of wood refinishing projects along with all the other doors and windowsills in the building. Alan added two decks, one upstairs and one on the ground level, as well as a replica of the outhouse used by students and teachers before indoor plumbing was added in the early 1950s. Other additions to the outside for the Betts family were a garage and shop, a gazebo and most recently, a tall white vinyl fence. A brick addition was built onto the south part of the original structure for indoor plumbing and a bathroom, and the original stairs to that addition still serve as the gateway to the garden-level basement that features a spacious family room and three large bedrooms. The original staircases to the 12 • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013
basement classrooms were in the front foyer, along with four other small rooms that were used for cloakrooms and office space. Alan converted one of the cloakrooms into a bathroom, while the other serves as his office with a rolltop desk from the late 1800s.
Upstairs, light streams in from five windows in each of the former classrooms, with prisms hanging in all 10 windows. There is so much space above the kitchen cupboards, one of Rikki’s accents is a garden plow used by her grandfather.
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“When we first moved in, I said we’ll never fill this place up,” Alan said. “But (Rikki) has managed to accumulate a lot of furniture apropos for the setting — country, rustic.” And those aforementioned
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trophy cases now are full once again — the one in the kitchen with dishes and dinnerware and the one in the living room displaying family photos and knickknacks. “It’s definitely home,” Rikki said, “and I’m never leaving here.”
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PATIO protection
Finding an outdoor SOLUTION By KALEY CONNER
G
len Neuburger and his family enjoy grilling and eating outside in the summertime. There was only one problem — the fierce Kansas wind. “We tried to eat out here,” Neuburger said. “The ketchup bottle
14 • AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013
would fly off the table or the plates would start flying around. It was just unbearable.” Neuburger found his solution by building a customized outdoor patio with a roof and rolling shutters. The patio, adjacent to the home, is open
on three sides — all equipped with electric shutters that can be controlled with a remote. “I wanted to be outside,” he said. “I like the outdoors, and we can enjoy it out here so much better when it’s open.” DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net
If a strong wind is blowing from the south, all it takes is the push of a button to lower the shutters on the south side. The white metal shutters effectively block the wind from the patio, he said. The shutters can be open partway or closed completely, which turns the patio into a fully enclosed outdoor room. The patio also is equipped with electric inset lights and music speakers. The shutters don’t help much with temperature control, but they do protect the patio and its furnishings from adverse weather. They also help with security and allow for privacy, Neuburger said. As an added benefit, the shutters can close off the patio’s two staircase entries, which also makes a safe environment for Glen and Anita Neuburger’s young grandchildren. Neuburger, who owned Haysbased Western Aluminum & Glass AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2013 • 15
before passing the business to his son in 2011, said his work inspired him to try different home improvement projects. “I’m a home improvement specialist, and I’m always looking for new products and ways to do things,” he said. When his family built their home on Barclay Drive approximately 20 years ago, they equipped their win-
dows with outdoor electric shutters instead of indoor window treatments. The couple liked the shutters so much it seemed like a natural solution for the patio, too, he said. The 15-by-15-foot patio is a fiberglass deck covered by a sheetrock roof. The family’s previous patio was an uncovered redwood deck, he said, noting fiberglass has proven easier for upkeep.
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785-625-3278 1-800-248-3270 1224 E. 27th Hays, KS