When Beth and Doug Manfull’s son Shane wanted to move back to live in the area, they offered him a choice. He could live in their house and they’d build a new one or he could build a new house on their property. Shane and his wife Heather picked the already-built house, leaving Beth and Doug to design and build a new house on the same property located in the country between Rushford and Whalan.
The Manfulls knew what they wanted in their new home: single level on a slab, efficient, open floor plan, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sunroom, and a big front porch.
Construction began on the new home in March 2021 with son Shane doing the excavating. When they had built their other house, drilling a well had been one of their big expenses. This time they were able to share that well. There was no need to create a road either; the two houses share the main driveway with a short driveway added to lead to the new home.
When they built their first home, Doug had done most of the work once the home had been framed. This time, Doug opted to have Rasmussen Construction do all the work.
In October 2022, the Manfulls moved into their comfy country home. Beth’s favorite parts of the home are the sunroom and the big front porch; she can watch sunsets and sunrises from them. Doug’s favorite is the large completely finished and heated garage.
The home including the garage has in-floor heat with a mini boiler and forced air backup. The heated floor feels luxurious; Beth declared, “We live in a Taj Mahal!” She shared that they had even celebrated Christmas in their garage. The Manfulls are grateful to Rasmussens for talking them into completely finishing the garage. They at first planned not to do the in-floor heat or finishing of the garage in an effort to save on construction costs.
The Manfulls purposefully designed their home with the master suite on one side of the house and the two guest rooms on the other. The guest rooms are situated so they could transition to an air B&B, but Doug and Beth have no intention to do that at this time. (They had had a very successful air B&B at their other house.)
Since they were building during the pandemic, they ran into some supply issues. At the advice of Rasmussens, they purchased lumber at a lower price and stored it until they needed it. Windows were hard to come by — not because of supply chain issues, but simply because no one was working due to the shutdown.
One of the more unique features they chose was a lot of open shelving in the kitchen including on the island, as well as a doorless pantry and closets. Their cabinetmaker argued with them about that, but Beth truly wanted to have open shelving with no doors to open and close. The countertops are a clean whitewashed butcher block; the cabinets in the kitchen are a soft pine green.
Flooring for the home includes a brightly colored tile design in the entryway and laundry room. The tiles were each cut into four triangles to create the design. The green in the tiles ties in beautifully with the kitchen cabinets. The floorer had commented he’d probably underbid the job once he got started on the time-consuming project. The rest of the house has LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank) floors in a gray wood tone.
Doug and Beth like that it’s a small, comfortable house. Doug commented, “It’s only 10 steps from the kitchen to the living room!” The back porch is conveniently just off the kitchen and is home to the grill for easy barbecuing.
The home does not feel small or confined at all, however! The wide open layout and the nine-foot ceilings make the home feel expansive. Wide doors and an entry with no steps are ADA compliant. The huge, spacious master shower is just what Beth wanted.
Doug mentioned that the rafters used for their home were some of the biggest rafters Rasmussen Construction had installed since they stretch over the entire house. They chose asphalt shingles for their roofing and smart siding, an engineered wood siding that can be painted, for the home’s exterior.
When asked if they had any regrets or if they would make any changes if they could, Doug responded that he’d push the sunroom a few feet further into the kitchen to make it bigger. The Manfulls spend a lot of time in the sunroom, their favorite room in the house which looks out on a wide expanse of nature. He also wished that they had installed an access door in the garage; they need to open the large overhead doors to come and go from the garage.
Future projects at the home they might want to do include a pole shed shop for Doug. Beth has been gradually adding more color to their home; the sunroom is now painted a soft peach with floral wallpaper on the long windowed wall. Originally, they had painted all the walls white.
Beth encourages people looking to build a new home to make sure they are happy with what they get even if they have a hard time making decisions. The Manfulls followed their open advice and got exactly what they wanted in their home — a cozy, open, easy-to-live-in, country-styled home that suits them perfectly!
The vendors for the Manfull home included: general contractor Rasmussen Construction, Rushford; KBS Building Supply, Plainview; STS Plumbing & Heating, Mabel; Stemper Electric, Caledonia; LLJ Painting, Winona; Poellinger’s Flooring, La Crosse; and cabinets from Dewey Brink in Iowa.
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