FAIRFIELD – Thad Chamberlain told his wife Karla that he wanted his retirement home to include “40 acres and a pond.”

The couple was living in Iowa City when they began their search for their next house, what they hoped to be their last move in a lifetime full of moving thanks to Thad’s 24 years in the U.S. Air Force that took them to Panama, Japan and six states. Since Karla was a realtor, she was able to find all the properties for sale around Iowa City. The couple looked at everything in a 45-mile radius, but didn’t find what they were looking for at their price point.

They decided to widen their search to properties in a 75-mile radius, and that’s how they discovered the home at 2455 Glasgow Road 5 miles southeast of Fairfield. The property was previously owned by Roger and Sommer Lyons. The Chamberlains loved the property, and only had to decide on whether they would move into the Lyons’ former home and add onto it, or build a new home from scratch.

The property had a pond, but the pond was separated from the house by a grove of trees. Thad said that when he saw the pond, he knew the house would have to be built right next to it, so the couple could view it from their dining room window. They knew that meant taking out some trees. They initially estimated having to cut down 40, but when the tree contractor arrived to knock the trees down with a bulldozer, they realized it would be over 100. Needless to say, the Chamberlains have plenty of firewood now.

Thad continues to commute to Iowa City, where he works as an endodontist performing root canals. Due to the new commute, and Thad inching toward retirement, he sometimes cuts his four-day workweek done to three days so he can spend more time enjoying the new house. He said building a house near a pond was important to him because he loves to swim and fish, and he has fond memories of visiting the pond at his grandfather’s house growing up.

“I want the same thing for my grandkids,” Thad said, “where they can enjoy being outside, and learn to work a little bit also.”

And it’s not just the new house the Chamberlains are enjoying, but every part of their acreage. They maintain a grass trail that goes through CRP ground and through a forest south of their home, which they and their grandchildren like to explore on the couple’s Polaris utility vehicle. The Chamberlains’ backyard is like a summer camp, complete with a zip line and a water slide off their dock.

The pond stays looking beautiful thanks to a series of aerators that help circulate oxygen, and a fountain that was a birthday present for Karla.

The couple asked their local friends for recommendations for a contractor, and they discovered Judd Connor of Connor Custom Homes. Karla had a good idea of how she wanted the house to look, and designed the floor plan herself. She presented the design to Connor, who told the couple they could save money by switching from Karla’s original design of a ranch-style house to a two-story. Thad said he liked the revised design after he saw it would give them a walk-out basement, which he said was a plus. The end result is a 6,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms and four full bathrooms.

Since the housing market was hot, the Chamberlains decided to sell their home in Iowa City two years ago and live in the Lyons’ former residence while Connor and company built their new home near the pond. The new home was sufficiently finished that Thad and Karla moved in this past June, in time to host a big family gathering on Independence Day.

The couple is maintaining their former home on the property, a 600-square-foot building, less than half of which is living space and the rest is a garage. They might lease it on a temporary basis to hunters, especially since their neighbor to the east has devoted 160 acres to hunting ground.

“It’s some of the best white-tail deer hunting in the nation,” Thad said of this part of Iowa.

Local guests to the Chamberlains’ home might recognize their pantry room because it’s famous. It contains the cabinets, two islands, and sliding ladder that were part of a display at JC Huffman Cabinetry. Karla asked Jim Huffman if she could buy just the sliding ladder that went with the display, because it was so cute. Jim was initially hesitant, but then asked Karla if she was interested in purchasing the whole display since JC Huffman was about to swap it out anyway. The Chamberlains couldn’t believe their luck, and now their home sports a beautiful pantry room adjacent to a gorgeous kitchen. It’s the perfect place to prepare meals for their four children and 11 grandchildren.