Crystal Aakre and Tom Kieffer don’t need to travel far to enjoy a little getaway from the rushed monotony of modern life.
Just a few hundred feet from the couple’s front door near Casselton, ND, is a little glass palace they built from scratch—a DIY masterpiece in greenhouse design and a decorator’s masterclass in detailing.
“It’s a greenhouse, but it’s more of an art project,” Aakre said, pointing out details here and there, like a wood-burning stove, her collection of antique vases, and a ceramic sink she picked up one year during cleanup week. “It reminds me to do the things that make us happy.”
Aakre and Kieffer’s greenhouse struck our eyes here at The Arts Partnership for how creative placemaking extends to making homes places for art and creativity, too.
Crystal Aakre and Tom Kieffer own and operate Kieffer Kennels near Casselton, ND, and recently put the finishing touches on an art-inspired DIY greenhouse.
The space is insulated well enough for flowers and plants to bloom well into October and gives the property where they own and operate Kieffer Kennels a welcoming, vintage feel.
“Most of what we have here has a story, and we wanted a space where we could go to do art, grow things and just hang out as a family, too,” Aakre said. “I also wanted a space for some of my art and knick-knacky things.”
Among her collection: an early 1900s sewing machine, a giant thermometer culled from a steam engine, a butcher block that “came from a friend,” knick knacks from Grandma, and a toy shotgun Keiffer’s kids use for shooting targets in the field.
It took Aakre a decade to collect enough windows to build the greenhouse to match the vision in her mind. She and Kieffer started collecting other materials when they became a couple in 2020.
‘Random but symmetrical’
Aakre said it’s taken 10 years to collect enough framed windows to achieve her vision for the space.The project cost around $5,000 and it took about three years for Aakre and Kieffer to collect additional supplies and materials for the structure.
“Almost everything we used is repurposed somehow. The bricks we got from a friend, and the rest I picked up at auctions and rummage sales,” Aakre said.
Aakre and Kieffer started collecting items together when they became a couple in 2020.
The interior of Crystal Aakre and Tom Kieffer’s art-inspired greenhouse. The couple constructed the space using almost all repurposed materials they gathered from a variety of places in North Dakota and Minnesota.
For Kieffer, seeing the structure up and fully functioning gives him a sense of satisfaction, especially when reflecting on the challenges of building something so it’s both useful and aesthetically pleasing.
“We built the frame, put in some sand, and put it in the posts, and then kind of Tetris’d in the windows until they all fit together perfectly,” Kieffer said. “The ceiling is new and the pitch is good, so it should shed the snow pretty well,” he said.
Solar-powered lights illuminate the greenhouse at night. Aakre and Kieffer have not decided if they want to install electricity and water yet.
One of the only newly purchased components of the greenhouse is the clear panel roof. Made of polycarbonate material with special UV protectant, Kieffer said it was a necessary purchase that keeps the temperature and climate just right for growing plants.
He sheepishly admits the structure’s not a professional carpenter’s masterpiece, but “it’s surprisingly airtight” and has more creative appeal for them than a modular shed or big-box store kit.
It’s level, too, which leads Kieffer to believe they can keep the structure maintained for years to come.
“What I love about the greenhouse the most is that it’s random but symmetrical, like everything fits together so perfectly,” Aakre said.
Aakre grows plants and flowers in the greenhouse, but she also enjoys decorating the space in her collection of jars, vases, pictures and other pieces of art.
They haven’t installed electricity or water, but Aakre fashioned a coffee and rinsing-off station in a porcelain sink she scavenged from a curb during spring cleanup. Solar lights come on after dark, too.
“About nine at night, when you’re in the house and look out, the solar lights will turn on and light everything up,” Aakre said. “It’s so pretty.”
Flowers and family
That greenhouse’s creative versatility is matched only by Aakre’s enthusiasm for collecting, an artform she’s put on full display in her little glass castle.
On milder winter days, Aakre and Kieffer fire up the wood-burning stove in the greenhouse. They say it heats up the space to about 60 degrees, a marked contrast to the 110 degrees it can reach in the summer months.
While Aakre and Kieffer intended it to be a hobby shed of sorts, it’s become a favorite family hangout in all kinds of weather, thanks to the wood-fire stove.
“We cooked steaks out here the other night,” Aakre said, admitting that a part of her does want to keep the greenhouse all to herself and their family. “There’s also something alluring about keeping the space private.”
Aakre hopes to start a small floral arrangement business someday, and the greenhouse helps her envision how to scale her efforts.
“The end goal for me is planting a flower-cutting garden and doing bouquets,” she said, though Kieffer and Aakre hope to eventually rent the space out to photographers for shoots. “The lighting is perfect for photography. It’s really perfect for a lot of things.”
This article is part of a content partnership with Forum Communications. The Arts Partnership thanks FCC for supporting local art.
