Features

If you haven’t ventured off the main roads in south central Minnesota and north central Iowa lately, you may be surprised by what you are missing. Country homes are not what they used to be.

Connie and Darrell Urban of rural Truman, Minnesota have totally transformed their ordinary 1930s farmhouse into a beautifully charming country home. They are also working on re-doing their entire farmstead one building at a time. What makes all of this remodeling even more impressive is that they are doing all of the work themselves.

The Urbans knew when they bought the farmstead that it had potential. They loved its location a quarter mile off a main highway. The house had a good foundation, the setting was favorable, and there were plenty of outbuildings to use to board their horses. A windmill was moved in and Darrell built his shop to compliment the country feel they were looking for. Along with the farmstead, they also purchased 150 acres of land that will be returned to its natural state and become wildlife preserve for their family to enjoy for generations to come.

Connie admits that there is not much left of the original house. As a matter of fact, about the only part of the house still in its original location is the front door. Connie said, “I asked Darrell to move the door four inches but that was where he put his foot down and said ‘No!’ Other than that, he has been very open to all of my ideas and patient with my woman’s prerogative to change my mind, even if it’s a few times. Darrell’s only request for our home was a whirlpool, big screen TV, and pool table.”

Many of Connie’s plans for their home and farm site started coming together while she was home on maternity leave in 1991 with their son Ethan. In preparation for the day when everything would fall into place and they would begin their renovation plans, Connie had compiled an entire file drawer of personal sketches and ideas she had found in magazines. She then incorporated these ideas into a home design that was functional for their family and uniquely her own. The only thing that hampered any of her plans for the house were the dreaded words “bearing wall.”

When they started work on their house, the return to the country look was new. Very few remodeled homes had porches. The

fish scale shingles and the fretwork in the gable ends they had planned on using were not readily available and were expensive to buy. Faced with this kink in their plans, Darrell chose to make the fish scale shingles in the gable ends himself.

The Urbans love the outdoors, and what Connie wanted was to let in as much of it as possible by incorporating many windows in their house. She planned their three-season porch to face east so they could enjoy the morning sun and see horses in the pasture.

When time allows, the three-season porch is where Connie loves to start her day. It is the hydrangea room, decorated after her favorite flower. The room is gorgeous and inviting with a vaulted wood ceiling, laminate flooring, and a lot of windows. The top portion of the windows is leaded glass from Holland. Connie and Darrell came across these beautiful windows at a flea market in the Twin Cities and knew they would be a perfect finishing detail for the room.

Connie’s decorating technique mixes old with new. She loves antiques and is very nostalgic in her choices. She has accented her hydrangea room with bark cloth pillows because they reminded her of her grandmother’s chairs. Her mother made several of the quilts she has on display.

When it comes to decorating, what Connie loves most is “the hunt.” She goes to flea markets, antique stores, and rummage sales. She loves a bargain, and enjoys mixing and matching what she finds. Connie credits her love for decorating, shopping, and collecting memorabilia to her mother, and it is something she hopes to pass to her daughter, too.

The toy room is located downstairs in the Urban home. It is where Darrell has his pool table, and where Connie has her 60s and 70s collection on display. She loves anything and everything having to do with these decades that she grew up in. She started her collection as a child, saving the very first cereal premium she ever sent away for: a metal charm bracelet of the Kellogg Cereal Characters. Metal lunch boxes sporting Roy Rogers, The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, Welcome Back Kotter, and The Bionic Woman, are among the many unique items that make up her ever-growing stash.

Each of the rooms in Connie’s house was a pleasure to tour. When they added the double garage to the house, large bedrooms were added to the upstairs. Once daughters Melissa and Laura graduated from high school, it was their daughter Cassie’s turn for a room of her own. Cassie has successfully tried her hand at decorating her bedroom. The room is very large with slanted ceilings. Cassie used two colors of paint, purple and lime green, and just a touch of wallpaper to decorate with. The result, a room any 12-year-old girl would envy. Cassie will be using her decorating experience as a 4-H project at this year’s Martin County Fair.

Their sons’ bedroom is just as inspiring. Connie purchased old school lockers that she fixed up and painted for their room. The boys use them for storage. This room has been given the same attention to detail as every room in Connie’s house. The window covers in Ethan and Jerrick’s room are made from basketball jerseys. Connie quilted the blinds with a patchwork border accent made up of sports logos cut from the boys’ favorite old T-shirts.

The spacious kitchen provides plenty of counter seating for a family that enjoys spending their time together. One of the interesting sites in the kitchen is the old-fashioned screen door that leads into the pantry. Connie’s ability to combine old-time favorites with modern conveniences adds charm in unexpected places.

The whirlpool bath that Darrell wished for can be found in their Victorian-inspired bedroom. Rather than make a master bath, Connie chose to leave the whirlpool as part of the bedroom so the entire room could benefit from the window light.

Now that the house is complete, the Urbans have started on the outbuildings. To create a unity between the house and yard, each of the buildings will echo the look of the house. Connie is also making plans for landscaping and wants to use the patio on the west side of the house for container gardening. There is no doubt that the transformation will be beautiful.

The entire process of remodeling their home has given the Urbans a chance to invest their time and talents in something that has lasting value for the whole family. Working on the house has been a way for Connie to use her design and decorating skills, and for Darrell to apply his woodworking and construction capabilities. The entire family has helped with the project in one way or another. Spending time together at home is important to them and the completed house will give them years of enjoyment to do just that.