You might expect a couple in their 70s living in a large, comfortable home to think smaller when building a new house. But that’s certainly not always the case.
“Instead of downsizing, we upscaled in size,” said Dorothy Bertschy of Peoria, Ill. “This might seem peculiar, but our new, larger home is less work.”
For 36 years, the Bertschys lived in a home they had built and in which they raised their three sons.
About eight years ago, Dorothy, a retired music instructor and fifth-grade teacher, and her husband, Del, a retired manager at Caterpillar Inc., decided to buy a retirement home with a one-floor living plan. The couple searched for six months, but couldn’t find the right home.
“Since we couldn’t find what we were looking for, we decided it might be fun to build another home,” Dorothy Bertschy recalled. “Del is pretty good at planning.”
They went searching for an “easy care” lot with a beautiful view. Their previous home had tall, mature oaks with a propensity to drop branches. While the oaks were beautiful, picking up branches became tiresome.
“We have this beautiful view in the back of our home,” Dorothy Bertschy said. “But we only have to maintain a very small part of the view. Our back yard is small.”
Del Bertschy designed the home’s floor plan with the help of a contractor. While the Bertschys built the home with their retirement years in mind, it is actually larger than their previous home. The two-story brick home has 4,000 square feet of living space — about 1,000 square feet more than their previous residence.
With a large family, downsizing didn’t seem practical. The couple enjoys hosting big family dinners.
“I can easily seat 16 in our dining room for holidays and birthdays,” Dorothy Bertschy said.
The home was designed with a living room, dining room, family room, office/computer room, master bedroom with adjoining master bathroom and large walk-in closet, kitchen, breakfast room, powder room and laundry room — all on the first floor.
“We really have no need to go to the second floor or basement,” Dorothy Bertschy said. “We basically live on the main floor.”
The second floor has three guest bedrooms and two full bathrooms. The carpeted basement features a recreation room that includes a fireplace with marble surround, a half-bath and toy room.
With plenty of windows in the rear of the home, the couple can enjoy the view from their breakfast room, kitchen, family room, living room and master bedroom. Their breakfast room is like a solarium, with large windows flooding the room with morning sunlight.
The couple love living in their new home. They also enjoyed the experience of building a home for the second time. And they don’t anticipate ever building another one.
“A lot of people question why we built a big, two-story home at our age,” Dorothy Bertschy said. “Our old home was so comfortable and roomy, we didn’t want to give that up. But we designed our new home so everything we really need is on one floor.”