Brady and Amanda Rauenhorst stand in their kitchen which is currently under construction. The newly married couple began construction of their home, located east of Blue Earth, in the summer of 2018 and hope to move in late this spring. In addition to the local contractors hired to work on the house, Brady, and his father Mark, are taking care of many of the tasks which need to be completed inside of the house.

When engaged couple Brady Rauenhorst and Amanda Bernstein contemplated their housing situation, they had a couple of different options available.

They could totally gut and remodel the old farmhouse located on the building site they had purchased. It would mean rewiring, redoing the plumbing, insulating, installing new flooring and adding an attached garage. And the list would not end there.

Another option was to start from scratch and build a completely new house from the basement up.

Then Rauenhorst had another idea. There was a pole shed on the place which had been built in 2011. It was insulated and had a flat ceiling. So, what if they would build a new house where part of it would extend into the pole shed to make use of the building which was already in place. And that is exactly what they did.

So the summer of 2018 was filled with many plans, and not just for a new house.

Brady and Amanda also had a Sept. 28 wedding to prepare for.

The couple met through a blind date arranged by a mutual friend. Amanda was from Gaylord and was a 2009 graduate of Sibley East High School while Brady completed his high school education at Blue Earth Area in 2006.

Construction began on June 12 of last year. Denny Swehla, of Easton, began the process by digging a basement for the part of the house which did not extend into the pole shed.

Next, Tolzmann Construction of Wells did the cement work for the basement. The walls were constructed using insulated concrete forms. Among the advantages to this type of wall are the strength of concrete combined with the energy efficiency and noise reduction provided by the insulation. In-floor heat was installed in the basement.

With the cement work completed, Mark Mensing and Chuck Lewis began framing the addition. The duo also did the siding and the roofing on the exterior of the house. They also built a front entry deck to the home.

When it was time to move inside, Mensing and Lewis did Sheetrocking and installed cabinets. They will also be hanging the interior doors and installing the trim inside the dwelling.

The Rauenhorsts have also had some family help with their building project.

Brady and his father, Mark, also took on some of the Sheetrocking duties. Recently, they finished installing the flooring in the upstairs kitchen, dining and living area.

Brady explained he and Amanda chose to install luxury vinyl plank in those areas.

“It is easy to install, is waterproof and has a lifetime warranty,” Rauenhorst said. The Rauenhorsts plan to have carpet installed in the bedrooms and the basement.

The kitchen/dining/living area on the main floor features an open floor plan with windows which allow an abundant amount of natural light to brighten their future residence.

There is a patio door located on the east side of the house which will lead to a deck to be constructed at a later date.

A laundry room is also on the main floor to reduce the amount of clothes carried up and down the basement stairs.

There are four bedrooms in the home. Three of the bedrooms are on the main level while there is one bedroom in the basement.

The master bedroom, in addition to having its own bathroom, has a spacious walk-in closet.

The total area of the main level is approximately 2,200 square feet, about 40 percent of which is contained inside of the pole shed.

A mechanical room housing the furnace, water heater and water softner is located in the basement.

Nights and weekends are dedicated to working on the completion of the home. Rauenhorst has hopes the house will be ready to move into by late spring.

“I really would like to see everything done before we move so we don’t have to live with the dust,” Rauenhorst explains.

With their old and new houses located on the same building site, the Rauenhorsts won’t have to move their belongings very far to start enjoying their new home together.