Little did Tanya realize when she first discovered Dutch Home at the Middletown
Amish Market that they would become the answer to a lifelong dream.
Nor did she have an inkling that they would grow into her go-to craftsmen for not
just one, but six different custom builds throughout her extensive 14-acre
Delaware property.
Tanya and her husband Edward live in a magnificent 7,100-square-foot home that
Edward designed himself on their property in Smyrna, Delaware, about 30 minutes
from Dutch Home’s Middletown location. At Tanya’s request, Edward, a retired
contractor, had included one essential feature in designing their dream home:
spacious closets (or, as they proved to be, dressing rooms.)
“My husband designed this house, and one of the things I absolutely had to have
was a large closet,” Tanya explained. “But the building designer that we were
working with told us, ‘These aren’t closets, they are dressing rooms.’
“You can’t dress in a regular closet, you know, but in these you can. They’re really
the size of a small child’s bedroom.”
The Dream Takes Shape
After living in their home for just over five years, Tanya realized her dressing room
needed more than size to be all that she wanted. Like many women, she had
accumulated an impressive wardrobe over the years – including over 300 pairs of
shoes – but her extensive space lacked an organization system to showcase and
store everything properly.
“Every woman wants a dream closet,” Tanya shared. “My 60th birthday was coming
up, and I could have spent the money on a big party and gotten a bunch of gifts
that I really didn’t want. Instead, I spent the money on something that will last me
a lifetime.”
There were other reasons she was thinking about reorganizing her closet or
dressing room. Closet organization had become increasingly popular, and Tanya
was getting ideas every time she went online: “Closets are all the rage now.
Everyone is talking about closets.”
She checked out one closet company, but soon discovered they did not offer what
she wanted. Hers wouldn’t be just any closet system. Tanya had specific
requirements that would challenge even the most experienced craftsmen.
Fortunately, she knew where to turn.
The Search for the Right Partner
As mentioned earlier, Tanya’s relationship with Dutch Home hadn’t begun with her
closet dreams. Years earlier, when she and Edward built their home, they had
wanted custom built-ins beside their fireplace. Unsatisfied with the builder’s
suggestions, Tanya sought out Amish craftsmanship.
“I wanted an Amishman to do the built-ins since I couldn’t have an Amish builder
for the house,” she explained. “I had heard about the Amish market at Middletown,
but I was amazed when I found Dutch Home – a company that could do all of these
projects.”
At the market, Tanya struck up a conversation with John Stoltzfus, and as she puts
it, “the rest is history.” By the time she approached them about her closet project,
Dutch Home had already completed five other custom projects for the Ellis family,
including a potting shed.
“When I have a project, I go to them. I don’t go anywhere else,” Tanya said simply.
Designing the Ultimate Organization System
What Tanya envisioned was far from a standard closet makeover. She came to
Dutch Home with detailed plans drawn on grid paper, having taken inventory of all
the clothes she owned– “down to socks and belts.”
“I went to John and showed him my design on grid paper. I wanted to have a
perfect space for each piece,” she explained. “I asked him if they could build this
and they said they thought they could. So John came out to the house and we sat
down and measured everything from my gowns to my socks so everything would
have its own place.”
Tanya also longed to organize her jewelry collection in her dressing room. She
wanted to display her jewelry where she could see it easily, rather than having it
scattered in various curios throughout the house. This led to one of the most
intricate features of the project – lining for her jewelry drawers.
Keeping the silver jewelry from tarnishing was a concern with drawer storage. “I
didn’t want to have to clean the silver when I took it out, so I got them to line the
drawers with silver cloth,” Tanya said. “They actually hand lined every one of those
drawers. They took the drawers with them and it took them about 2 weeks. The
level of detail makes it look as though the fabric was made into the drawers.”
But the drawers themselves were just as remarkable as the lining.
Creative Problem-Solving
When asked what made Dutch Home stand out among competitors, one thing
Tanya mentioned was “their ability to creatively resolve issues.”
And this project showcased that talent on several occasions.
When Tanya’s initial idea for a center island in the dressing room didn’t work, John
Stoltzfus came back with an innovative alternative: drawers with hidden
compartments built into the closet design.
“John had the idea of drawers with hidden compartments. I liked the collaboration
when he came back with the idea after we learned the closet was too narrow for an
island,” Tanya recalled. “I wanted to be able to pull the drawers out and see what I
had and select the right pieces that I wanted to wear.”
Even highly custom projects require accommodating some existing home systems.
A heating vent in one corner of the closet required a custom design to make it
practically invisible, but Dutch Home was up to the challenge.
And the dressing room also contained an air return vent that needed to be
preserved without compromising the design aesthetic.
“A couple of weeks before they started work, Edward said, ‘Do they know that
there is an air return in that room?’ I wasn’t sure, so I emailed John because I did
not want an ugly vent in the door. So, they designed a very custom vent,” Tanya
explained. “They did such a good job, you don’t even notice it in the closet door.”
Additional electrical work was needed for convenience outlets, but Dutch Home
easily integrated the outlets into the design.
The mirrors on the shoe wall doors presented another problem.
When the mirrors arrived in four pieces instead of the two full-length mirrors
Tanya had envisioned, she knew it wouldn’t work.
“I went back to John and said there’s no way I can live with looking at myself in
quadrants,” she laughed. Despite the challenge of sourcing mirrors measuring 8¼
feet, Dutch Home found a solution by special ordering the large mirrors.
Craftsmanship That Exceeded Expectations
When the project was complete, even the craftsmen at Dutch Home had to admit
that they were impressed with what they had created.
“John said, ‘We’ve done closets before, but never anything like this.’ It was very
custom,” Tanya shared.
Attention to detail and customization on a large scale went hand in hand from the
intricately lined hidden jewelry drawers to the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. The shoe
wall, though impressive, still couldn’t accommodate all of Tanya’s 300+ pairs of
shoes – this number a testament to the scale of organization the project tackled.
(Tanya didn’t mind – it nudged her to bless others by gifting some shoes to
friends.)
Dave Lapp, who executed the work, delivered a system that achieved Tanya’s
vision of “something clean, simplistic, and elegant.”
The Ultimate Result
The transformation exceeded even Tanya’s expectations. She certainly never
misses her disorganized old dressing room and remembers the excitement as the
project took shape.
“I would peek in every day and look at it,” Tanya admitted. And Tanya wasn’t the
only one noticing. Her husband Edward, whose adjacent dressing room had
remained, well, let’s say, less organized, found himself motivated to improve his
own space.
“I left for a business trip for 2 weeks and when I came back, my husband said, ‘I’ve
been walking by your closet and it’s giving me motivation to organize mine,'” she
shared with a smile.
And the dressing room makeover had side benefits for Tanya, a work-from-home
business executive as well.
“It helps me get dressed faster and get to my office sooner since I don’t have to
figure out where something is.”
“The project really allowed me to take inventory of everything I had, from apparel
to jewelry to shoes. I gifted some things that were in relatively good shape. I
donated some things that still had tags on them. The things that I gave away and
gifted – the people were very appreciative, and they weren’t expecting that. And
what that does to your heart!”
Today, Tanya’s morning routine has been transformed. “I love it. It’s every
woman’s dream to have her own space. I walk in there and pull out my drawers
and find what I need,” she said. “I just sit on my bench and take it all in.”
What Made Dutch Home Stand Out?
Tanya did check out a few other closet organization companies before she engaged
Dutch Home for the renovation.
When asked what differentiated Dutch Home from those companies, Tanya pointed
to Dutch Home’s willingness to customize every detail.
In speaking of one company, she said, “They weren’t going to use my fabric to line
my drawers, that’s for sure. Also Dutch Home’s ability to creatively resolve issues.”
And the feature of the dressing room that is most appealing to Tanya? The “ability
to have everything properly organized in its own space.”
It doesn’t hurt that it’s downright beautiful as well.
A Partnership Built on Trust
So what impressed Tanya the most while working with Dutch Home? “I was just
very impressed with how well-organized Dutch Home was and how easy they are to
work with. Their availability was an important part of this. They made it easy by
being readily accessible. I could always pick up the phone and give John a call if I
had a question about something.”
Tanya also appreciated the extensive Dutch Home showroom. “You could go there
and SEE the options, like the drawers. I wasn’t familiar with the hidden drawers,
but Dutch Home had samples of them.”
When asked what surprised her the most about Dutch Home, she pointed to their
wide-ranging abilities. “The breadth of what they can do, from built-ins to a potting
table.”
Looking to the Future
Tanya and Edward probably won’t stop with 6 projects from Dutch Home. Edward
has plans for a barn garage in the future, and Tanya has more dreams as well.
From hand-lining drawers with silver cloth to sourcing oversized mirrors and
designing invisible vents, Dutch Home has demonstrated their ability to create her
dreams down to the smallest detail.
“You won’t be disappointed,” is Tanya’s message to anyone else considering
Dutch Home.
Ready for Your Own Custom Solution?
Whether you’re dreaming of the ultimate closet organization system, kitchen
cabinets, custom built-ins, or any other storage solution, Dutch Home brings
decades of Amish craftsmanship to every project.
As Tanya Ellis discovered, when you find craftsmen who combine traditional skills
with innovative problem-solving, you’ve found partners for life.
Contact Dutch Home today to discuss your custom project – and discover why
clients like Tanya return again and again for all their custom furniture and storage
needs.
