Home Plans / Home Designers / Accessible Home Building
How TJB Homes Customized a Happy Place for the Berge Family
Custom home addresses invisible and visible disabilities.
On the surface, Noah and Katie Berge’s Edina home looks like the epitome of custom-built luxury. Their five-bedroom, farmhouse style two-story abode with dark, moody siding is nestled on a wooded lot in the Countryside neighborhood. But a closer look reveals that there is a lot more to the Berge home than meets the eye. Nearly every inch of the home was designed to accommodate the unique needs of their family of five, including teenage triplets, two of whom have disabilities.
“There’s so much meaning behind it,” Katie says. “We’re going to live here until we go into a nursing home.”
Triplets
Twins run in Katie’s family. So, when she found out she was pregnant 14 years ago, she was fairly certain she was having twins. Imagine her surprise when an early ultrasound revealed not one, not two, but three embryos. She was so shocked that she spent the afternoon in a daze, wandering the halls of Best Buy’s corporate headquarters, showing the ultrasound pictures to all of her coworkers. “They still talk about that to this day,” she says.
Left to right: Katie, Anders, Asher, Noah and Aaron Berge. Photos: Chris Emeott
The identical triplets, Asher, Anders and Aaron, were born at 28 weeks after complications arose with Anders. But just hours after their birth, Asher suffered a massive brain bleed that clotted and led to swelling of the brain. He would have a shunt put in place to manage the brain swelling. Then, at 9 months old, Asher suffered from infantile spasms and had to go on medication to stop them.
Today, Asher is nonverbal and has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and Crohn’s disease. Asher presents as having autism and exhibits typical behaviors, including transition struggles and sensory issues. Meanwhile, Anders is autistic and has some developmental delays while Aaron is the Berge’s sole neurotypical child.
Time to Move
The Berge family was managing well enough in their previous home until COVID-19 hit. It was then that Katie realized their existing home wasn’t going to work for them forever. She was carrying Asher down the stairs for his virtual musical therapy session when she fell and fractured her ankle, resulting in a six-month-long recovery. “It was a wake-up call,” she says.
With no space to add on to their existing home on Wooddale Avenue, the couple began to explore their options. They ultimately found a lot owned by TJB Homes and enlisted the luxury home builder’s help to create the custom home of their dreams. The family moved into their new home last September.
TJB Homes has been in operation since 1980 and builds homes all across the Metro area and into parts of Wisconsin, says owner Tom Budzynski. The business has also been involved with two Extreme Home Makeover projects, including a home daycare in St. Paul and a house in Minnetonka for a family with seven kids.
“This is what we do,” Budzynski says. “We get a lot of people with certain challenging situations … It’s rewarding to create something good in this world.”
The Berges told Budzynski what their needs and wants were and, from there, it was a fairly smooth process. “It was a lot of thinking through form and function,” Katie says. “I had a pretty good idea of what would and wouldn’t work.”
Unique Needs
Among their highest priorities, the Berge family wanted a first-floor bedroom for Asher. His cerebral palsy affects his mobility, making stairs challenging. Katie and Noah ultimately chose one of TJB’s designs that featured a sport court and replaced it with a bedroom, bathroom and laundry room for Asher. The area is large enough to give Asher the quiet space he needs while not taking away from the rest of the family’s use of the first floor.
Asher’s bathroom has a zero-entry shower, making it easy for Katie and Noah to help him without getting soaked. “It sounds silly, but it’s one of my favorite features,” she says.
In the spacious kitchen, an oversized island gives the family space to gather for casual meals. “Asher likes things a certain way, so he would dominate the island at our old house,” she says. The kitchen also features paneled appliances, a practical luxury that the Berges added after seeing their previous appliances dented by Asher banging his head to stim or kicking during meltdowns. “The refrigerator at our old house looked like a golf ball,” she says. “They chose materials that could stand up to behavior,” Budzynski says.
Asher’s bathroom has a zero-entry shower that makes it easier for Katie and Noah to help him without getting damp. He also has a spacious main floor bedroom. It’s the ideal quiet space for Asher and is full of his favorite toys. It also has padding on the wall and around the bed to protect Asher and the wall.
The kitchen features an oversized island and paneled appliances, both decisions with Asher’s needs in mind. The house is designed to be the Berge’s forever home. Wide walkways permeate the residence to provide room for Asher to move around freely. They’re also wide enough for a wheelchair or walker, should Katie and Noah require one as they age.
The open dining, kitchen and living area has large windows that makes it easier for Katie to keep an eye on Asher.
Large windows in the kitchen and the dining area let in light and provide a view of the swimming pool in the backyard. The pool was a splurge Katie worked hard to sell Noah on for the boys. All three boys, especially Asher, love the water, but their trips to the municipal pool tended to be fraught with stress from cold temperatures that would irritate Asher’s cerebral palsy, cause overstimulation from all the other people and safety breaks that would trigger meltdowns.
A Home for All
While many of the features in the Berge’s new home are designed to make life easier for Asher, Katie and Noah were careful not to overlook their other two sons and their individual needs. “Katie and Noah take really good care of those kids,” Budzynski says.
Anders likes to spend time making art in his room. Katie and Noah spent a lot of time making sure each kid has their own space that is set up for how they like to spend time. The result is a home bespoke to each child.
Anders’ bedroom on the second floor overlooks the backyard where he can sit at his desk and work on his art while the finished basement features everything a teenager like Aaron would want to host friends, including an air hockey table, plush sectional coach, a large TV and a kitchenette.
For her part, Katie has an office on the first floor at the front of the house that allows her to work from home and keep an eye on Asher. A gym in the basement solved her problem of finding help for Asher before being able to go work out while a second oversized laundry room upstairs allows plenty of space to keep up with their family. “Katie went nuts on that laundry room,” Budzynski says with a laugh.
The large laundry room on the top floor was one of Katie’s requests.
While he may have raised an eyebrow on the laundry room, Budzynski has no qualms about the size of the kitchen. “It’s a spacious, huge kitchen with a big pantry.”
His favorite part, however, is the three-season porch, overlooking the pool. Katie is a big fan of that, too. “We’re looking forward to summer to leverage the outdoor space,” she says.
After a year in their new home, Katie says they are starting to feel settled. “It took awhile for Asher to warm up to it,” she says. “He spent the better part of a month in his bedroom, scared to come out, but now, it’s fantastic.”
The family has been able to host Thanksgiving along with several other get togethers. “This house is set up for inclusiveness,” Katie says.
That’s all she wanted. A home for her whole family to enjoy. And that’s what they now have. “This has been a labor of love,” she says.
The basement is the ideal hangout for Aaron. It’s a good spot for quiet time, and it is a great teen hangout to host friends.
This three season porch is Noah’s favorite space in the house. The pool was installed mainly for Asher, who can now have hours of fun and not have to worry about spontaneously having to leave the pool due to hourly safety checks and other issues that can arise at public pools.