Cedar Rapids family home grows with generations

Dan and Lisa Breitbach's home on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids has long been a hub of family activity.

But unlike many homeowners, Lisa Breitbach has lived in the home far longer that she's actually been the homeowner.

That's because the Breitbachs purchased the home from Lisa's parents - Pam and Bill Djerf - back in 2001. The Djerfs had been living in the home since 1974 and spent the next 10 years renovating the home for their own family.

'I hardly left this house because I lived here growing up, in college and then again before I was married,” she said. 'When our mom sat us kids down and told us that she could no longer take care of the land, I mentioned it to Dan, and I couldn't believe that he was interested in moving out here.”

The house was originally built as a modest farm house in the late 1800s and sits on four and a half acres that once boasted a fruit farm - which featured mulberry trees and a large rhubarb patch - near the Cedar River and Jones Park.

'In the fall when all the leaves have fallen, we can see the bike trail, now. But there were no surrounding houses when we lived here as kids,” Breitbach said. 'We had horses then, and I remember they would get out and our dad would tell me and my sister to just walk up the road to get them.”

Breitbach has fond memories of growing up in the home, and as she walks through the house she shares story after story for each room.

For instance, when you head upstairs - via the front, small and winding staircase - in the original part of the home, you'll find the three bedrooms where the Breitbachs' teenage children sleep, and a bathroom. That bathroom in particular has a quirky history, including the need for a square bathtub that Breitbach recalls being placed in the room via crane back in the 1980s when it was remodeled by her parents.

What Breitbach and her brother and sister called 'the pass-through room” remains as such today. It's lined with shelves overflowing with books - a nod to Breitbach, who works as a reading instructor at St. Matthew Elementary School. And her son now has the room that belonged to her growing up.

'When we first moved here, I really loved seeing my kids enjoy the home and property that I enjoyed as a kid,” she said. 'It was neat that they could experience Thanksgiving and Christmas like I did.”

And there are definitely still influences from her parents' time in the house, including the 1970s era roman shades in the sitting room.

'I have friends come in and comment on them all the time,” Breitbach said. 'I just can't take them down.”

And each of the upstairs bedrooms feature unique built-in bookshelves - which her parents had added in the 1970s - and have spacious closets, an anomaly for old farmhouses.

Another influence from her upbringing that remains a part of the home is Breitbach's collections of vintage things.

'My mom and my aunt used to drag me around to antique stores when I was younger,” said Breitbach, pointing out an old candlestick phone that once belonged to her grandma.

At the top of the stairs, you'll find a collection of vintage toys - some of which were her own Fisher-Price toys as a girl. Near the front door, there's a display of family photos and vintage cameras and in the theater room there's a collection of vintage projectors and theater equipment.

When the Breitbachs moved to the home in 2001, they knew pretty quickly that they'd have to make renovations to the home to accommodate their growing family and a modern lifestyle.

'As the kids got older, we started realizing I needed an office, and we needed a different type of family room,” Breitbach said.

They started by adding a sunroom. But in 2004, the Breitbachs essentially doubled the size of the home with an addition to the north side of the home, expanding the square footage to 3,600 square feet.

'When we were building the new half of the house, I always said I didn't need to have a big bedroom. But I got lucky and ended up with one because we had to fill the footprint from downstairs,” Breitbach said.

That expansion allowed them to add two home offices, a theater room, a powder room, a master bath and bathroom upstairs and a finished basement for entertaining. They were able to move the laundry room upstairs and add an attached two-stall garage as well.

'We probably spend the most time in the theater room or outside when the weather is nice,” she said.

The addition also features a large back stairway leading from the master suite down to the first floor that Breitbach noted makes it much easier to move a bed or any other large furniture upstairs.

The Breitbachs also have a remodeled kitchen - the home's second - giving the kitchen a larger, more open feel and polished updates such as granite countertops and new flooring.

'The kitchen was really inspired by the way the kitchen was when my mom and dad remodeled it,” she said. 'We had a butcher block counter top in the middle where we always ended up sitting and talking.”

So during their kitchen remodel in 2008, the Breitbachs kept a long center island and created a breakfast counter for the kids, too.

'To this day, it is where people gather when they come over,” she said.

The Breitbachs have created a truly kid-friendly home with an above ground pool and an indoor half basketball court in her dad's old Morton building.

Today, the home certainly doesn't feel like a tiny old farm house, but Breitbach has stuck to the home's roots when handling the remodeling and decorating.

'We have this country theme going and I wanted to stick with that,” she said. 'When we were remodeling I wanted to be as authentic as possible. We went to Emerson's hardware and went through what they had to find door hardware that would match.”

Most notable are the home's extra wide baseboards and unique plinth block molding. The rich woodwork stands out in every part of the home and because the Breitbach's insisted on consistency - creating the new woodwork based off the existing - it gives the home a unified feel.

And while the house has expanded over the last few decades, it remains a place for family gatherings as family members are constantly coming and going - Breitbach's sister and mother stopped by the house during the course of our interview.

'This home is where we still have most of our family gatherings because we have the space to spread out. And we really enjoy entertaining and having people over,” said Breitbach, noting that they don't plan on too many more renovations.

She said they enjoy sharing their home with others. So much so, that last Thanksgiving they invited the previous owners to stop by for a visit.

'They were in from out of town, and I let them walk through and see it all even though the place was a mess from the holidays,” said Breitbach. 'But they were so thankful and it meant a lot to them.”