February/March Das Haus

Haus Das

HOME & LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE

PLAYING HOUSE

Lake cabin the perfect second home for Hays couple

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12/3/2012 9:56:14 AM

We’ve got the quality We’ve got the style We’ve got the look We Are

The Look

A well planned floor plan considers traffic flow and function as well as design. Elements such as architectural features and lighting are essential to a great design. Balancing color and textures create warmth, style and personality of a room.

We specialize in professional room planning and understand that some of the unique features of your home can create placement issues. Bring in your challenges and ideas or simply contact us and we can send out one of our specialists to create your perfect room! Karen, Carol, Megan and Donna will prepare several placement options for you to consider. The Furniture Look team will help you create a room as personal and unique as you are!

Open 7 days a week for your convenience!

The Furniture Look 1000 Main, Hays or contact us at our website: www.thefurniturelook.com

features 5

Details set in stone

Accents can make stonework ‘pop’

14

8 At home on the lake Playing House

Wilson Lake cabin a close getaway home for couple

Coming home

Local builder creates a sense of community with new homes

DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013 • 3

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State Approved Ready Mix

CALL 785-625-3216 Located at: 503 E. 10th Hays, Kansas Dispatch: 785-625-3216 Office: 785-625-3459

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Haus Das

Published and distributed by The Hays Daily News 507 Main, Hays, KS 67601 HDNews.net (785) 628-1081

Publisher Patrick Lowry plowry@dailynews.net

Advertising Director Mary Karst maryk_ads@dailynews.net Designer Gayle Weber gweber@dailynews.net

Contributors Diane Gasper-O’Brien • Writer Gayle Weber • Writer Chelsy Lueth • Photographer Elisha Jones • Creative Services Juno Ogle • Creative Services Tiffany Reddig • Creative Services

Account Executives Joleen Fisher Sandra Harder Eric Rathke Wayne Roberts 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.

Printed by Northwestern Printers, 114 W. Ninth, Hays northwesternprinters.com

Details set in stone S

ometimes, it’s the details that make a project a success. That’s the case for much of Western Stone Co.’s work in Hays and the surrounding area.

Business company leaves no STONE UNTURNED has doubled

By GAYLE WEBER each of the last four years for the only stone company in western Kansas. With all the stone manufactured on site, Western Stone Co. can customize any stone work and provide all the details to enhance the project, said owner Jordan Keil.

DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013 • 5

“It’s the little things that can really make an install pop.”

Jordan Keil, Western Stone Co. “It’s the little things that can really make an install pop,” Keil said, pointing out trim pieces for outdoor light fixtures and keystones for the tops of door frames.

Homeowners sometimes don’t think about those small elements of the project, Keil said, but something like a window seal — a row of stone that connects the rest of the stone to the siding on a house — can provide the finishing touches.

“It really helps the stone pop when you’re transitioning from siding,” Keil said.

Western Stone Co.’s product is manufactured using a concrete

formula, and colors and styles can be customized to individual projects, which have included fire pits, outdoor kitchens and living spaces, retaining walls, and outdoor fireplaces in addition to home exteriors.

“Most houses that are built in Hays do have some form of stone on them,” Keil said. “Most of that stone is from us — and installed by us.”

He said popular styles and col-

ors change every year, but the stone Western Stone Co. has been providing in the Hays area since ... has grown in popularity each year. The variety of shapes of stones, ways of installing them and ways of using mortar to install them make each project unique.

“The biggest thing with us is the fact that we make it here, so people can get a custom color for their house,” Keil said.

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“We have two views — the lake and the rolling hills behind us. It’s so relaxing.”

— Marion Dreher, Hays

Playing house 8 • FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013

Hays couple finds comfort in small A-frame on Wilson Lake At home on the lake story by Diane Gasper-O’Brien photography by Chelsy Lueth DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net

T

hey started out in a tent and later graduated to a camper, then a cabin.

As much larger dwellings started popping up all around them, Marion and Conni Dreher never once thought about moving to something larger.

Sort of like the baby bear’s porridge, chair and bed in the fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” the Hays couple’s 900-square-foot A-frame home-away-from-home overlooking Wilson Lake is “just right.”

“We spend a lot of time on the lake,” Conni said. “Being able to come in and get a hot shower after being on the lake all day is wonderful.”

When the Drehers purchased their cabin — complete with a rustic wood interior — in 1986, they weren’t even sure they would own it all that long.

They were used to being mobile with their pull-type

DAS HAUS • www.HDNews.net

camper, which they didn’t sell right away “in case we wanted to go to another lake,” Conni said.

But the more time the Drehers spent at their cabin, the more it grew on them.

“Plus, our friends were campers, and their jobs took them elsewhere,” Marion said. “Going to the lake by ourselves (in a camper) wasn’t the same.”

So they eventually sold their camper and bought a boat, and for years invited family to spend Easter weekend with them on their 3 acres at the lake.

“It was kind of like opening weekend at the lake,” Conni said.

Early on, they planted two small pine trees that now, 20-some years later and 20 feet taller, frame the cabin against the rolling hills of the Lincoln County addition at the lake.

“The cedar trees grow wild out here,” Conni said.

“And with the buffalo grass, it’s perfect.”

“We have two views,” Marion said, “the lake and the rolling hills behind us. It’s so relaxing.”

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013 • 9

An outdoor upper deck is used as much as anything at the Drehers’ cabin, whether it’s drinking morning coffee, smoking a late afternoon cigar or watching the sun set on the horizon.

“I’m here to relax,” Marion repeated.

“We don’t have flowers; we don’t have green grass,” his wife continued.

But the Drehers do have all the necessities as well as some extras, ala 1970s — a stereo turntable that plays record albums and a 24-inch console television.

“We do have a (satellite) dish,” Marion said with a laugh, referring to

a contraption in the cabin’s loft with pieces of aluminum foil attached to the ends of antennae for better reception of the eight channels they are able to receive.

“Five of those are public TV,” Conni said.

“Watching TV isn’t our priority,” Marion added.

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“I wouldn’t want a cabin in Colorado. This is close enough we can run out here whenever we want.”

— Conni Dreher, Hays The main floor features a living room and dining area, a kitchen with a bar and a bedroom.

At the top of the stairs is a small area that overlooks the living room/ dining room below, as well as another bedroom.

The cabin also serves as a getaway in the winter months. It’s not uncommon, Conni said, for family members and friends to find their particular corner during bad weather to play some sort of board game.

12 • FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013

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A place for everything

“I wouldn’t want a cabin in Colorado. This is close enough we can run out here whenever we want,” Conni said of the short distance between Hays and the lake. “And sometimes we even wait until Monday morning and drive into Hays to work.”

Well, it’s 58 miles from doorstep to doorstep, so the Drehers don’t actually run to their cabin, although Conni, an avid bicyclist, has ridden her bicycle the distance several times.

While several of the A-frames in the area have undergone renovations and additions, the Drehers have been content with smaller upgrades and projects through the years such as adding the upper deck, installing central air, adding a shed to the back of the structure to house their mower, laying brick on the patio and modernizing their kitchen.

“Having a second property is kind of like playing house,” Conni said.

“It takes us 20 minutes to clean it, from top to bottom,” she added.

“It makes you realize you really don’t need as much as you have.”

“Bigger isn’t necessarily better,” Marion agreed.

“Plus,” Connie said, “when you’re at the lake, you get a feel (for) how important natural resources are.”

13 • FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013

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Call or stop by today Via Christi Village 2225 Canterbury, Hays 785.628.3241

For more information visit viachristivillages.org

A

Coming home

By GAYLE WEBER

14 • FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013

Photos courtesy of COVENANT BUILDERS

ndy Griffith coined it, but the term “Mayberry” is still as true today as it was 50 years ago. It’s what people are looking for when they build a new home in Hays, said Katherine Burnett, president of Covenant Builders.

“They want to know their neighbor, they want to have that community feel, the safeness, and just the ability to come home to a neighborhood that’s going to be built all the same,” Burnett said.

Covenant Builders specializes in that idea. With one housing development complete — on 5 acres near 29th and Indian Trail — Covenant is 17 months in to building a second development, this time on 25 acres on West 41st Street. Even though homebuyers have the opportunity to make their house their own, the development is cohesive.

“All these homes are going to be the same as far as materials, quality of workmanship (and) resale values,” Burnett said.

Covenant Builders has approximately 60 floor plans to choose from at a variety of price points, plus homebuyers have the opportunity to select flooring, cabinets, countertops, door knobs and more. Jake Sanders, director of sales and marketing for Covenant, said those decisions are made during the course of five meetings with Covenant staff, giving homebuyers an opportunity to

consider their options.

“We really try to streamline it,” Sanders said. “They can see, feel, touch everything here.”

Covenant Builders has a show house at 41st and Covenant Drive for prospective homebuyers to tour to get an idea of the craftsmanship and options that are available in each home.

Customization and flexibility are two important factors to home building, Burnett said. The market is ever-changing, and what trends were popular when the company built its first development in Hays no longer factor in to the floor plans available for the second development.

“Being flexible is most important,” Burnett said.

That, and the ability for a family to feel at home in a community.

That is the case in the first development, where there are block parties, neighbors looking after neighbors, and many residents getting together to coordinate Christmas lights and fireworks.

Although it could take a couple of years for the planning and building process to become a reality for some prospective homebuyers, Burnett said she believes her clients are satisfied with their homes because they have been involved in the process from the beginning.

“I think it gives them peace of mind that it’s professionally done,” Burnett said.

“They can see, feel, touch everything here.”

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2013 • 15