Dormers and a Wrap-Around Porch
By Katie Honnette
When Joel and Karen Kor were moving back to Minnesota, Joel searched online to find a house to transform into a country style home. His search lead him to a 1935 square farmhouse – the perfect candidate for their next flipping project.
When the Kors purchased the old farmhouse just outside of Marshall, Minnesota, Joel saw great potential. “I knew it was going to change a lot,” he says. After drawing up rough plans for the home, Joel had a draftsman fine-tune them. True to the home’s picturesque country setting, the final plans included dormers and a wrap-around porch. To begin, the old garage and entryway were torn off the house to make room for a new garage and a larger kitchen. Joel reports the home is nearly complete. “We have been working on it for two and a half years, mainly in our spare time.”
In total, Joel has either flipped or remodeled six houses in the past 10 years. “My brother and I flipped one and remodeled one,” Joel says. “My wife and I have renovated one, remodeled two and are still working on this one.”
“We do about 90 percent of the construction ourselves,” Joel says. “Everything inside is done by us.” Joel even built the kitchen cabinets. Before he joined The Schwan Food Company, where he’s worked for the past 25 years, Joel worked with his uncle who was a cabinetmaker. “He taught me everything I know about making cabinets,” Joel says. The kitchen has a bright, cheerful feel with windows all along the west wall. “I use a lot of magazines to get the inspiration for our cabinets, even looking at kitchens on TV programs we watch,” Karen says. “Once I decide on a look, I trust Joel to create what I want.”
The kitchen is just the beginning of the many renovations the Kors made to the house. Joel and Karen added colonnades to the opening between the living room and dining room, refinished the existing hardwood floors, replaced all the windows and added on a third floor family room, among other projects.
“Whenever we remodel a house, the first thing we do is get a new toilet and a new shower right away,” Joel explains. As long as there’s a nice bathroom, the Kors “can live in just about anything.” Renovating the country house has been a big commitment. They work on projects in the evenings and on the weekends. “We usually work until eight or nine o’clock and then go relax in the hot tub,” Joel says.
Every project is a family affair – Karen does most of the staining and varnishing while Joel does most of the building. Their children Brent, 19, and Melissa, 16, also pitch in. Brent helps build cabinets and remove old walls while Melissa helps clean up and does most of the cooking when projects are in full swing. “I also have an older son who is a carpet layer,” Joel says. “He lays all the carpet for us in all our houses. My other grown son works at an electric supply company; I buy most of my electrical material from him.”
With the first and second floors of the home nearly complete, Joel has begun transforming the third level. Once finished, the space will include a media room equipped with a big screen TV, couches and a bar. Because they have grandchildren who frequently visit, Joel also plans on building in small bunks with mattresses and window seats in some of the upper level dormers for the kids to enjoy.
Joel and Karen have big plans for the exterior of the home – including an outdoor kitchen. “We’ve lived in enough houses that we know the things we need and want,” Joel explains. The Kor family loves renovating, remodeling and flipping houses. “Karen and I love working on houses. People think we are crazy working as hard as we do, but to us it’s like a hobby. We love spending time together working on something. I expect us to continue doing this well into retirement,” Joel says.
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