Direct from Florida, Walnut Grove couple — plus one — is putting in a lot of work to make themseleves feel at home in Minnesota
Give Dale and Sandi Shannon credit for one thing: They know how to think outside of the box.
Eager to leave their home in Ocala, FL, for a smaller — and less humid — city, the Shannons moved to Walnut Grove in November 2023 after finding a house for sale there. Even though they knew literally nothing about what would be their future new town, they bought the house — at one time, home of a basement Baptist church run by the late Pastor Max Younce — sight-unseen but with big plans.
But this isn’t your ordinary house flip. They also had to make sure they could find adequate accommodations for Sandi’s 92-year-old mother, Darlene Burkholz, and her cat — who made the trip north with them — as well as Shannon’s numerous tropical birds, who have their very own room (it was also the first room in which they completed renovations).
Suffice it to say, all three are happy as the major renovation continues.
“I needed a bigger home than the one we lived in in Florida, because my mother, who is 92, is living with us,” said Sandi, with one of her birds named Ollie relaxing on her left shoulder. “I was bored one day and searched ‘cheap homes in Oregon’ because my sister lives in Oregon. There are no cheap homes in Oregon. I started there and went across country, and this one popped up. I loved the storybook front entrance, and it already had a ramp on it, which I need for my mom. I just thought it was so cute.”
Sandi said her husband was oblivious to her search for a possible new dwelling. Upon hearing this news, her husband declared they couldn’t leave because of her mother. She simply responded by asking, ‘What if we take her with us?’
Fast forward two months, and the trio was getting ready to move, knowing the house only by virtue of a virtual walk-through.
ABOVE: DALE SHANNON talks about one of the bedrooms in his new Walnut Grove home recently. RIGHT: One of the beloved features of the Shannon’s home are the metal kitchen cabinets. Photos / Per Peterson
“We bought it without even seeing it … it turned out to be a find,” Sandi said.
Like so many homes built in that era, the split-level house consists of a number of small rooms, as opposed to fewer larger ones. The bathrooms are smaller than typical ones as is the kitchen. Sandi said the house checked off all their boxes, despite how much work was needed to renovate it.
“It had the right number of bedrooms, the right square footage, a full basement — we just didn’t know that it was in such bad shape,” Sandi said. “We’re used to small, we like small.”
“We filled two 12-yard roll-off dumpsters,” said Dale, a former deputy sheriff, turned-ultimate handyman who also sits on the Walnut Grove City Council and EDA board. “That’s how much stuff was in here. We donated any clothing we found, we donated furniture. Everything we found, we donated or recycled,” Dale said.
The Shannons quickly endeared themselves to their new surroundings and neighbors. They even got a big assist from some new Walnut Grove friends — the Vang family — who helped them clear the home out.
“I called the school to see if we could get some help from the football team, or some group of young men or women that would help us,” Sandi said. “He said they didn’t know anyone like that, but he knew a family that has eight kids that could really use the income. What a nice, great family.”
Dale also gives credit to the professional tradesmen they hired to help them (all but one are from Tracy). He said they hired all local people to help with everything — from the new deck and concrete work, to electrical and plumbing.
“They were all amazing,” he said. “They show up when they tell you, they give you a fair price. Compared to Florida, it’s two totally different worlds. We couldn’t have done it without them.”
The couple first came to Walnut Grove in October 2023 to move some of their possessions here. They ultimately met some people at Dorothy’s restaurant who happened to live nearby and “they adopted us immediately,” Sandi said. “Some of the finest people we’ve ever met. Everybody knows somebody that can help you do something if you need it done. We’ve met pretty much everybody.”
Sandi, along with some help, cleaned for days since nothing had really been done inside for decades.
“We’ve redone all the electrical in the house, all the plumbing had to be redone,” Dale said. “It was such a mess. All the rooms needed new flooring.”
The Shannons have spent about a year-and-a-half renovating, as they figured they had to waste no time so they could get Darlene’s half of the house done. Yes, Darlene has her own living room, bedroom and bathroom; her portion of the house is on the south side of the homewithin- a-home. She officially moved into her own comfortable accommodations within the house last April.
“Her living room, bedroom and bathroom had to be all stripped down,” Dale said. “And we put up a new wall, too. It’s been a project.”
The original part of the house with plaster walls, as well as a one-stall garage, were built in 1949; the addition — Darlene’s part — Dale believes, was added sometime in the mid-1960s, along with a two-stall garage.
“I liked the bones,” said Dale. “The construction was done well; the new side was probably better quality construction. The craftsmanship is great, the woodwork and everything. You can tell somebody really knew what they were doing.”
The home has three bedrooms, but the Shannons are adding a fourth, and twoand-a-half baths. And there is ample space for Dale’s plethora of power tools and other construction-related pieces of equipment.
“You could actually have two bedrooms downstairs and still have space,” Dale said.
The galley kitchen, complete with near-antique metal cabinets that have become retro in some new homes, has just enough room for Sandi, whose kitchen in Florida was just a little more spacious.
“I’m the only one cooking — it’s not like there are two of us working in there at the same time,” Sandi said. “Everything’s small — doesn’t bother us at all. I can turn out a decent Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings in that kitchen!”
And it’s not like the Shannons are accustomed to very large homes. Their dwelling in Florida was only 900 square feet, but it also had a 400-square foot screened-in porch. Their new home in Walnut is 1,900 square feet.
Just big enough for the two… no, three of them.
Walnut Grove home for all kinds of construction-related items. Photo / Per Peterson HANDYMAN DALE SHANNON has plenty of room in the basement of his
