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FAIRFIELD – If you didn’t know the history of Samantha Haney and Garren Stacy’s home, you’d think it was all built from scratch.

But the truth is that it’s a thorough reconstruction on an existing plot, but the changes are so significant that the new construction has made the old home unrecognizable. The home is located at 1566 Quince Avenue, halfway between Fairfield and Brighton.

The previous owners foreclosed on the home, and it hit the market in December 2023. Haney and Stacy were looking for a piece of land on which to build a new home, but they couldn’t find any they liked. Haney, who works as a realtor for Rock Creek Real Estate, knew Steve Winslow from the home inspections he performs for their clients.

Haney and Stacy looked at the home at 1566 Quince Avenue, and while they loved the land, they could see the house needed a lot of work. The couple, with the help of friends and family, got to work gutting the house in February 2024, taking it down to the studs and removing all the plumbing and electric work. They hired Winslow as the general contractor, and he began construction that May. In fact, one of Winslow’s crew members was Haney’s 17-year-old son.

“The thing I love about Steve is that he tells you like it is,” Haney said. “I knew he wasn’t going to lead me astray, or build a house using only the most expensive parts. I knew he was going to make sure I had everything I needed.”

Drish Construction put in a brand new septic system, and poured concrete for a new garage and a larger footprint for the house. J Leu Contracting did the electrical work, and Steve Lamb provided the plumbing.

Haney said she’s thrilled with the finished product, though the process was longer than she expected, partly due to weather delays.

“I would never demo another house,” she said. “The next one someone is doing for me.”

The new construction altered the layout of the home while keeping some of the rooms in their original location. For instance, the bedroom for Haney’s 8-year-old daughter is in the original location, as well as the kitchen and living room. But under the new layout, the front entrance leads directly into the kitchen, whereas before the front entrance led to a set of stairs, either going down to the basement or up to the kitchen. The original house had an attached single-car garage, and Haney and Stacy replaced that with a breezeway and two-car garage.

After all the changes were complete, the couple had turned a three-bedroom and one-bathroom home into a five-bedroom and four-bathroom residence. This means that their four children get to have their own room, and they are a 17-year-old son, 14-year-old daughter, 8-year-old daughter and 4-year-old daughter.

“It’s not recognizable compared to the original house,” Haney said. “We also put on a full basement with a family room and kids’ playroom.”

Haney said she has three “favorite rooms” in their new house:

Kitchen: JC Huffman Cabinetry in Fairfield helped design the kitchen. Haney knows Jim and Teresa Huffman from helping with their Christmas and Easter events, and badly wanted to have her own Huffman kitchen. However, she wasn’t sure she could afford it. After speaking with Chasity Huffman, Chasity convinced her to let the company design the kitchen to see what the couple thought. Haney said she and Stacy loved the design, and ended up with more cabinets than they originally thought.

Master bathroom: The highlight of the master bathroom is its soaker tub. Haney said she doesn’t care for jets in her tub, and the soaker tub is a simple free-standing tub.

“None of the children have taken a bath in it yet because I’m not sharing it right now,” Haney joked. “It’s a nice place I can go and not be disturbed.”

Haney could use a place to unwind because in addition to being a realtor, she’s also a registered nurse and director of the emergency room at Ottumwa Regional Health Center.

Laundry room: For most people’s homes, the laundry room is nothing to write home about, and not a place where you’d enjoy spending time. But that’s not true of Haney and Stacey’s home. Haney even said, “Every female should have a laundry room.”

“I love that all the dirty clothes are in one spot,” Haney said. “Garren built me a folding table, and the way it’s set up, I can fold clothes while looking out and seeing the pond in the back yard.”

One of the perks of living in the countryside is privacy. The family’s property is 6 acres, which gives the kids plenty of room to play with their chickens and do other outdoor activities.

Haney, Stacey and the children moved into the house in January of this year. Haney said the kids love the new place, especially the younger two girls since they were sharing a room before, and the six of them were sharing one bathroom.

“We’re surrounded by century farms, and our neighbors have all been great,” Haney said. “We are experiencing so much happiness now.”