Wayne and Tamy Tvedten began renovating their 100-year-old farm house in July of 2021. Years later, the project is finally nearing completion.

Location, location, location. While location is an important consideration for a company building a business, it may also play a large part in determining where someone wants to live.

That was certainly part of the reason Wayne and Tamy Tvedten jumped at the opportunity to purchase the house and building site in Elmore Township which had been owned by Marlin Krupp.

“We had previously purchased the woods that butted up to Marlin’s land and had also purchased the land he used for his cattle lots,” Wayne comments. “So, when Marlin decided to sell his house it was an easy decision for us.”

The building site is situated just west of the West Branch of the Blue Earth River. Though the landscape is currently brown, soon, spring’s warmer temperatures will bring the grass and trees to life. And, come this fall, the Tvedtens will have a great view of the trees surrounding the river as the leaves turn to beautiful shades of orange, red and yellow.

“I was actually in Qatar on business when I got the call that we now owned a different house,” Tamy, who works as a senior application program manager for Palomar Health, says. “They started doing some demo work right away and sent me some plans while I was over there.”

Since they had purchased a different house, the Tvedtens also needed to sell the house they were living in, which was less than a mile away.

“We had built the house we were living in. It was located on an odd-shaped piece of ground so it was hard to farm but a great place to build,” Wayne mentions. “We listed that house for sale in May of 2021 and it sold in 20 days.”

Though they had done some preliminary work on their newly purchased house shortly after closing the deal, the real work did not begin until July of 2021.

“We tore the walls apart down to the studs,” Wayne shares. “There was not any insulation in the walls.”

Finding the walls were uninsulated really wasn’t that much of a surprise since the house dates back to the 1920s.

“I believe it was Marlin’s grandparents who ordered the house from the Sears-Roebuck company,” Wayne says. “It arrived in Blue Earth in 1924 and then was hauled out to this location by horse and wagon.”

“We are the first non-Krupp family to live in the house,” Tamy adds. “Fred and Leona Krupp, Marlin’s parents, lived in the house before Marlin, and his wife Donna, moved into the house.”

Having the walls stripped down to the studs also provided the opportunity to have the wiring and plumbing updated and all of the windows replaced.

With Wayne being an electrician and the owner of Tvedten Electric in Blue Earth, there was no question about who would be performing the rewiring of the house.

“I also did almost all of the plumbing work,” he adds. “There were just a couple of things I chose not to do. We also put in new duct work and updated the heating and air conditioning in the house.”

Wayne and Tamy’s sons, Rob and Zach, have also provided help with the house. Zach works with his father at Tvedten Electric and Rob owns Integrated Home Solutions which specializes in home theater systems as well as security systems.

Since Wayne and Tamy had sold the house they were living in, they moved into the basement of their newly purchased home.

“We lived downstairs in the basement for about a year, until the summer of 2022,” Tamy says. “During that time we slept on an air mattress and had to boil the water to use it. We had working toilets but only one operating sink. During the winter of 2022 we actually moved in with my mother.”

Meanwhile, Tamy was busy finding items which would become part of their new home.

“I bought some cabinets off of Facebook Marketplace,” she comments. “They were a good price and I just hoped they would fit, and they did.”

Wayne and Tamy have repurposed many items to be able to use them in the house.

“I have refinished many cabinets to give them a different look,” Tamy notes. “It is something I really enjoy doing. I am on my ninth gallon of stain since we started this project.”

Another part of the remodeling plan included expanding the house to the south which also gave the Tvedtens an opportunity to add a two-stall garage to the house.

“We added on to the house at the ground level and also put a basement under the expansion,” Wayne comments. “Doing that really increased our usable area and allowed us to open up the space between our kitchen and living room.”

In keeping with their re-purposing theme, they were able to use a wooden beam from the old barn which once stood on the place to help support their new structure.

“We have also used a lot of shiplap in the house which came from the barn and grainery,” Tamy says. “It has worked into our decor nicely. Even the vinyl plank we used on some of the upstairs floors blends in well with the shiplap.”

The couple used ship lap on some of their walls as well as utilizing it to help complete their kitchen island.

Tamy originally located her office on the second floor of the three-story house during the early part of the remodeling project. In fact, the second floor was one of the first floors they completed so that they had a place to live.

“I was able to do my office work at a table which provided me with a nice view out of the windows to the east,” she notes. “My office did not get moved to the main floor until January of this year.”

The Tvedtens also had to get by without a functioning kitchen while living and working on their house.

“I finally got an operating kitchen on March 11,” Tamy says. “It is nice to be able to bake and cook again.”

The kitchen and pantry area is an important part of the house for Tamy.

“She loves to cook and to entertain,” Wayne shares.

Her love of copper can also be seen in the kitchen.

“Our countertop is Silestone, which is a man-made product. We liked it because we could get a countertop that had flecks and traces of copper in the surface,” Tamy says. “I also have a copper sink and the oven hood is also made out of copper.”

What the couple calls the third floor, or attic, is a place for their grandchildren. There is a brightly lit play area for the youngsters to enjoy and bedrooms for the grandchildren to sleep in.

Topping off the house is a brand new steel roof.

“It should last a long time,” Wayne notes.

The couple also made the decision not to connect the old basement to the new basement.

“The new part has its own bathroom, an office for Wayne, a guest bedroom and another living room area,” Tamy says. “I use the old basement for my refinishing projects. By keeping the two areas separate we avoid getting dust and odors from the work I am doing into the new basement.”

If completely remodeling the house wasn’t enough of an adventure, the Tvedtens also had to deal with the theft of some of their supplies which they had kept in a storage shed out in the country.

“We actually had supplies stored in 11 different sheds around the area,” Tamy comments. “The thieves broke in on a Saturday and then broke into the same shed again eight days later. Some of the boxes containing some of our stuff have been found, but not the supplies.”

“Now, every place has surveillance cameras,” Wayne says.

After building one house and remodeling their present house, the couple believes this should be the last time they take on any similar project.

“I have told friends if I ever talk about doing anything like this again, they need to do an intervention,” Tamy concludes with a chuckle.