Remodelers Showcase: Edina house was engineered to make the best of winter

Thanks to his house, Tim Eickhoff no longer dreads long Minnesota winters.

"Normally by this time of year, I get so antsy — stir-crazy to play golf," he said. But since moving into his newly remodeled home in December, he's been hitting the links almost daily — in the golf-simulator room, complete with putting green, in the home's lower level. Eickhoff unwinds there after work and invites his buddies to join him on weekends.

His wife, Carmelle, isn't as hooked on golf, but she enjoys socializing with friends in the adjoining clublike lounge with its built-in seating, wet bar with beverage fridge, reclaimed brick and barnwood accents and polished concrete floors. "It's fun," she said. "We entertain a lot."

What does it take to build such an amenity-packed lower level beneath an existing 1920s house? A lot. Truckloads of excavated dirt, a new foundation — built below the old one — and even a sewer lift.

"A lot of engineering went into this," Tim said.

Another envy-inducing feature: No more snow-removal chores. A new heating system warms the concrete floors and even the driveway and sidewalks, melting the ice and snow away.

"I don't have to shovel," Tim said.

You'd never expect all that 21st-century engineering when looking at the Eickhoffs' house from the street. It's still a traditional Dutch Colonial with the distinctive gambrel roof of that architectural style.

But the back of the house now looks very different, thanks to an addition with a curving roofline, a new back porch with a stereo system, TV and built-in grill, and a patio with outdoor fireplace.

"One of my buddies said, 'You've got a mullet — Dutch Colonial in front and a big old party in the back,' " Tim said.

The Eickhoffs, who previously lived in a townhouse near Braemar Golf Course, were looking for a spot to create their dream home when they found the vintage house in the Country Club district. The dwelling wasn't large — its original foundation was about 900 square feet — but it had a deep lot and an ideal location, just a short walk from all the shops and restaurants at 50th and France.

Tim, who grew up nearby, was eager to create a home that would make Minnesota winters more pleasant. "My parents go to California for the winter," he said. "We wanted to build a home we could enjoy throughout the year, as opposed to hibernating."

And with two young-adult daughters, plus a grandchild on the way, they also wanted a house that could better accommodate casual family gatherings as well as larger parties. "Our townhouse was multilevel, and it was hard to have everyone on one level," Carmelle said.

A complete teardown was off the table because of city restrictions in the historic district.

"You can't tear down in Country Club — you're held to working with the bones of the house," said Tim Brandvold, co-owner of w.b. builders, the Eickhoffs' contractor. That meant they would have to preserve their home's existing skeleton, including the Dutch Colonial roofline.

"I don't think either of us would have chosen it at the beginning — we probably would have done Tudor-style," Tim said. "But at the end of the day, we love it."

The Eickhoffs aimed to create a new modern home that still looked like it belonged behind its traditional facade and that fit in with the surrounding homes.

"The best compliment we get is when someone says, 'We were driving down the street, looking for the new house, but we couldn't find it,' " said Brandvold.

The most challenging part of the Eickhoffs' project? "Digging the hole and holding the house up while we tore out the basement," Brandvold said.

That and "keeping the neighbors happy," he added. Remodeling is a constant in the Country Club district, where the narrow 1920s streets weren't designed to accommodate all the trucks and deliveries that come along with today's home makeovers.

"We wanted to go gung-ho, and throw everybody at it [the Eickhoffs' project] all at once," Brandvold said. But that would have overwhelmed the block, so they took their time — a full year — to complete the project.

"We bought all the neighbors gift cards before we started," Eickhoff said.

And to maintain goodwill, the crew sometimes pitched in to help neighbors with daily chores. "They carried groceries and shoveled," Carmelle noted. They even helped with one neighbor's brick repair.

Inside and out

The massive whole-house renovation allowed the Eickhoffs to make some structural improvements — squaring up a sagging roofline, and adding new spray-foam insulation to make it more energy-efficient.

Inside, the couple opted for a contemporary open floor plan with details that still suggest a vintage home. They scrapped the formal dining room in favor of one big great room with a kitchen on one side and a massive table and built-in banquette, upholstered in rugged indoor-outdoor fabric, on the other.

"You can dress it up or down," Carmelle said. When they have people over, they put the food on the island and let everyone serve themselves.

The w.b. team replicated the home's original trim and molding, including arched doorways, and added traditional-style built-ins, including window seats and cabinets. "Everything is new, but some things feel old," Carmelle said.

Upstairs in the addition is a new master suite with a fireplace, his-and-her closets, and a deluxe high-tech shower with four programmable rain-showerheads.

Two original bedrooms at the front of the house were redesigned as guest rooms to accommodate visits by the couple's two daughters. "We encroached on the two bedrooms to make the guest bath bigger, with a double vanity and a bigger shower," Tim said. Both guest rooms still have the gambrel roofline, preserving the Dutch Colonial character of the original home.

The Eickhoffs have been in their new home just three months, and it's already become a guest magnet.

"My buddies love to come here, and the kids love coming here, bringing their friends and hanging out," Tim said. "It's been everything we hoped for. Now I love winter."

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4784