A House Worth Keeping

When the Jones family moved to Urbandale a few years ago, they found a house in a neighborhood they liked. As it turned out, they liked the neighborhood better than they liked their house. Twice.

“We originally had a house just a block away from this one,” says Shantell Jones. “We had two little boys. That house was on a corner with lots of traffic, so it wasn’t a great situation. But we really liked our neighborhood.”

So when another home came up for sale nearby, they decided to jump on it. “This house wasn’t necessarily our style, but the location was perfect. We decided to live in it for a couple of years while we decided what we really needed to do to make it our own,” says Shantell.

Built in 2008, the spacious ranch sits at the juncture of two cul-de-sacs, offering minimal traffic and plenty of space for the boys to play. What the home didn’t offer was a main-floor layout that worked with the family’s lives. “We talked to a real estate agent we knew, and they recommended Kimberley Construction,” explains Shantell. “Troy Sydow and designer Stacy Martin really understood what we needed from the very beginning.”

According to Sydow, “The Joneses already had a general idea when they started talking to Stacy. They had some key needs to be met. Our goal was to come up with a way to meet those needs and do it efficiently.”

Although the couple had identified the areas to be changed, they weren’t sure how to accomplish that. The team at Kimberley Construction brought its expertise to the project and transformed the home seamlessly.

“The whole project started, really, with the master closet,” Shantell says. “It was so small, and we really wanted to find a way to have a true walk-in closet.”

As they walked through the space with Sydow and Martin, the homeowners pointed out other areas as well: the bedroom that they wanted to transform into an office, the small deck off the master bedroom that never got used, the flooring and stair trim that they’d never liked. “Troy came up with a plan that gave us everything we needed. He made suggestions that were really creative yet made all the pieces come together,” Shantell says.

For example, reworking the master bath layout not only created a more efficient space that actually feels larger, it allowed Kimberley Construction to add a linen closet where none had been before. Shantell’s new office not only provides work space with built-in shelving and its own bathroom, but the space can double as a guestroom with the hidden Murphy bed built into the wall.

Shantell’s favorite feature of the new space is the one that started the whole project rolling—that master closet. “Troy suggested enclosing the deck we never used and making that our closet. Now we can see everything and get to it, and we can both be in here without tripping over each other,” she says.

As with so many remodel projects, the Joneses hit some unexpected bumps along the way, and that meant some other major changes they hadn’t planned on. “We discovered issues with the windows when the crew found water damage in the subfloor,” explains Shantell. “And in the process of removing some of the windows, they found the roof and gutters had been leaking and caused damage to the exterior wall.” So instead of a master suite and office remodel, the home also benefited from all-new windows, some new siding, and new exterior paint.

Begun in the midst of the pandemic shutdown, the remodel took place over the course of several months. Sydow says they weren’t significantly hindered by production or delivery delays.

“The only delays we really had were the result of discovering issues with the windows and siding,” he says. “Even the potential engineering issues with enclosing the deck went pretty smoothly. We met with the city inspectors and proposed adding extra footings to the existing ones to accommodate the additional structure.”

Shantell says Martin’s design suggestions made the decision-making easy, and even small changes have made a significant impact on the home’s style. Changing the flooring, the white trim and the new stair rail, and the additions to the fireplace surround set a tone that better reflects the homeowners. “All we did in the kitchen was change the backsplash and the cabinet hardware,” she says. “It feels like a completely different space.”

Sydow says one of his favorite parts of the project was just seeing the finished result. “The way we were able to repurpose that master wing of the home, completely changing its interior footprint without having to add any square footage, in addition to accommodating all of their needs while staying within their budget—that’s really what made this project a success.”

Now the Joneses have a home they love in the neighborhood they didn’t want to leave. •