When in 1989 my wife, Mary, and I built our empty-nester home in a Minneapolis suburb there existed a mostly empty lot next to it. Thereon was a small Norwegian-style barn complete with horse stalls on the lower level and a haymow above.
After prolonged negotiations with the owner, we bought the lot and hired a contractor to remodel the barn into a cabin or, as the British call it, a "folly." With design help from Dale Mulfinger, Minnesota's "cabinologist," the project got underway.
No luck! The building was rotting away from years of neglect. So we tore it down and built this replica, but with the former haymow as man cave. Even the Norwegian exterior rosemaling was replicated.
We now enjoy a perfect place to enjoy a televised baseball game (when they're happening) with friends and family, along with a cold beer and perhaps a game of gin rummy. Mulfinger's best suggestion was the substitution of a structural glass wall on the cabin's north side. They call it a "wow" factor.
GENE FREY, EDINA
