Lots of looking leads real estate agent to the perfect home

“I want to move all the time,” she said. That’s the trouble with being a real estate agent.

She’s been selling homes in Siouxland since 2005. Karnes and her husband, Dustin, had their eye on a different house in Dakota Dunes, just down the road from where they are now.

When that deal fell through, she had a colleague who could help. Kyle Kelly owns two companies – one is Century 21 ProLink, where he works with Karnes, and the other is Kelly Property Advisors, a real estate development firm.

He’d been telling her, as a joke, that she’d end up buying one of his new construction homes on Teton Pines Court.

Karnes is laughing now.

She was able to customize the 2,050 square-foot home and choose the finishes she wanted, creating a contemporary space.

A blend of dark hardwood floors, gray walls and white trim gives the open concept main floor a modern feel. The homeowner was warned against choosing espresso-colored flooring because the deep brown finish can be hard to maintain, but it remains one of her favorite features of the home.

The kitchen is outfitted with white quartz countertops, oak cabinets and stainless steel appliances. You’ll want to take note of the sleek and simple white glass subway tile behind the stove. Her husband tiled it twice.

The first pattern – a mosaic tile backsplash that paired white porcelain with stainless steel – proved to be a bit overwhelming amidst the kitchen’s clean lines and crisp colors. It got replaced.

Five black and chrome bar stools and a dining room table with eight chairs offer plenty of seating.

Eager to fill those seats, the couple hosted Thanksgiving at their new home before they were even moved in.

“We like to have people over,” she said.

A floor-to-ceiling tiled fireplace creates a feature wall in the living room. Keeping with the contemporary design, flames rise from lighted glass crystals. A flat-screen TV could be mounted above the oblong fireplace, but Karnes put the kibosh on that in favor of wall art that she has yet to find.

The big TV is in the basement. The family room features a built-in surround sound system and theater seating for the family of six.

The house was originally slated to be a three-bedroom home. To accommodate the couple’s four children, ages 3 to 12, two bedrooms and a full bathroom were added downstairs.

It’s shaping up to be a good fit for the family. But from a realtor’s perspective, staying put is hard to do.

“Every Tuesday, we tour a house on the market that’s listed with Century 21,” Karnes said. “I’d come home and say, ‘I found the house that you’re going to love!’ I’ll always been dreaming about something else we need to do.”

It doesn’t help that her husband’s a contractor, either.

“I would come up with an idea,” she said, “show it to him and he’d say, ‘All right, we can do that.’”

Her sense of style lends itself to all things sleek and shiny with chrome and crystal accents found throughout the house. It’s a glaring comparison to her husband’s tastes.

He’s a hunter, a definite outdoorsman. About four years ago, he packed what he could and flew to Alaska with three others.

“A bush pilot dropped us off on a river 50 miles north of the Arctic Circle,” he said. “The pilot came and picked us up a week later.”

He’s brought back “trophies” from hunting caribou in Alaska, a mountain lion in Utah and an elk in Colorado.

“If it doesn’t include a margarita and a deck, I don’t want to be outside,” she joked.

Her husband gets his own space, a designated man cave in the basement. The idea is to create a sports bar-like setting with pub stools and multiple TVs.

“It’s a work-in-progress,” he said.

Maybe, just maybe, the caribou will find a new home.