When their kids left, these empty nesters bought a bigger house on 12 acres in Cedarburg

When most couples become empty nesters, they move to smaller homes — often condos — so they won’t have as much work to do inside or out.

Not Nikki and Mike Beckwith.

When their three children moved out of their Wauwatosa family home to attend college, they bought a larger home in Cedarburg on 12 acres and came up with a substantial list of indoor and outdoor projects to do.

“I think our friends thought we were crazy when we got a bigger yard and a bigger house. We wanted to have a grandpa and grandma house that we could use for big family gatherings,” Nikki said.

“We don’t mind the extra work. We enjoy working outside. We found that we stay active that way. We enjoy the yard work, but because now we are getting a little bit older, it does take us longer to get it done,” she added.

Nikki said they moved to Cedarburg in 2009 and since then they've made many changes to their home, especially outdoors. She is a retired lab technician; he works for a health care provider.

“We had to start all over in the yard. We had a lot of ash trees that had died. We had to take down 40 or 50, as we didn’t want them to fall on the house or in the yard. We also took out a lot of overgrown bushes and things we didn’t care for,” she said.

Water features they added are one of the couple’s favorite amenities.

“We started with a water feature in front of the house because we had to take out a diseased birch tree. There we put in a pond with a waterfall. We love the sound of the water. We put goldfish in there and we have them overwinter," Nikki said. “We also added two waterfalls to an existing pond behind the house. We have an upper deck and we wanted something cool to look at. There is a larger and a smaller waterfall, and we have fish in the pond that my husband stocked. Our oldest grandchild likes to go fishing in there.”

They also added a barn and a little house they call a bunkie where their four grandchildren play throughout the year and where Santa gives them presents at Christmas.

“We wanted it for a playhouse for the grandkids we didn’t even have yet. And now my husband decorates it with all kinds of lights for Christmas,” she said.

The bunkie, which has a small water feature in front that is made from a large rock, will be decorated for the holidays when the couple open their gardens to the public in the Cedarburg Woman’s Club 14th Annual Garden Walk July 13 and 14.

The couple's most recent addition was a stump garden behind the bunkie.

“This started in my head about 20 years ago when we lived in Wauwatosa. On a garden show, Paul James featured a stump garden, and I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful. I had never heard of this before and I thought, one day, I’ll have one.”

They started building the garden using some of the ash tree stumps from their property but also asked contacts in the tree business for extras.

They placed them mainly in the shade, added lots of mulch, a stone walkway, a grotto and shade plants around the stumps to give it the look of a garden that had always been there.

“I used all different shade plants: bleeding heart, hostas, coral bells, and some hydrangeas that do well in shade. We used as many stumps as we could that had cool moss or fungi on them. I find it fascinating. I‘m really happy with how it turned out,” Nikkie said.

She said one of their favorite spots to relax outside is on a large, old piece of redwood root in front of the grotto.

“We have a friend who loves wood, and he had these pieces of wood that were gorgeous. We bought some stumps and pieces of trees from him including the redwood root. It’s probably 1,000 years old and is petrified at this point,” she said.

The couple also added flowerbeds throughout about two acres of the property, often in areas where trees came down.

“We tried to look at it as an opportunity. We have quite a few smaller beds in back and a large berm on the west side of the backyard where we planted several white pines, serviceberry and perennials," Nikki said.

They also added a chicken coop with seven chickens and bee hives.

Nikki recently answered some questions about their home and gardens.

What family gatherings have you had at your home to date?

We had two weddings outside, each with about 100 guests, and we had a family gathering with about 40 family members from all over the country. We also have birthday parties for the grandkids. They all live in the Milwaukee area. We love it that they are close.

Who does what in the garden?

Mike does more of the heavy-duty work. He mows and digs for me. I do mainly the planting and planning.

Can you describe the bunkie?

It’s about 350 square feet. We have a single bed in it, chairs and artwork. We had it built using old windows from the ReStore. We put shingles on it and siding for weathering. It has electricity but no water.

You already had a barn on the property. Why did you add a second one?

The original one was small, and we needed more space to store things. We still have things from our kids. We had the new barn added to the original barn and now it’s an L-shaped building. We had windows put in the new barn to make it look nice. We needed space because when we bought this house, we had to get a tractor, riding mower and a gator. I also have lot of really big pots and Mike hauls them into the barn in winter.

Do the plants in your pots come back each year?

Most of them come back every year even though I don’t water them. If they don’t come back in spring then I know it wasn’t meant to be. I have butterfly bushes in some of them. They have been in their pots for six years. I also put different kinds of grasses in pots and I do have some hydrangeas. This is the fifth year for them. Also tiger eye sumac.

How many large pots do you have?

Twelve to 15. Most are 3 to 4 feet across and 3 to 4 feet high.

Do you have garden art?

Yes. We like rustic statuary. We found Angela Peterson at the Lakefront Festival of Art several years ago and loved her pieces. We have gotten quite a few of them. We also have a large metal cupola originally from Pabst Farms.

What kind of flowers did you plant?

I planted a lot of flowers and flowering bushes for the bees, but also to have a little more color and interest in the yard. Some of our plantings are ginkgos, boxwoods, serviceberry, Japanese ferns, hostas, grasses, astilbe, monarda, rudbeckia, coneflowers, hydrangeas, daylilies, daisies, heuchera and butterfly bushes. We love to see the wildlife these plants attract. We also put in things deer wouldn’t eat.

What wildlife do you regularly see?

We have deer, a lot of birds, butterflies and dragonflies. And at the pond we have snapping turtles and painted turtles. They sun themselves out on the rocks. Also tons of bullfrogs. We also have Canadian geese, wood ducks and wild turkey.

You took down a lot of trees. Are you done with that project?

No. We still have a lot of dead ash trees behind the house in a wetlands area.

Who influenced you in gardening?

My grandmas each had small flower gardens that attracted hummingbirds and bees, and my dad and mom had a big garden while growing up in Iowa.

What’s the structure next to the pond?

We call it the fire pavilion. It has a Lannon stone floor with a fire pit, a large rustic-style chandelier and two fans.

Any challenges to gardening here?

We have the wetlands around us, so we have a lot of water sometimes and we have to watch what we plant.

What changes did you make to your home?

We had the outside re-sided and replaced a pergola. We gutted the kitchen and dining room as they were dated.

How much bigger is this home than the one in Wauwatosa?

This house is about 4,000 square feet. The Wauwatosa house was 1,200 to 1,500 with a very small yard. That house was a bungalow, this one is a ranch with a walk-out lower level. It has no basement.

If you go

What: Cedarburg Woman’s Club 14th Annual Garden Walk. Tour four gardens in Cedarburg and Mequon, and the Cedarburg Art Museum gardens. Tour can start at any of the gardens. Garden addresses will be on the website closer to the day of the tour.

Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m . July 13 and 14. Tours of the art museum gardens are from noon to 4 p.m.

Tickets: Advance tickets are $20 at Olson’s Piggly Wiggly in Cedarburg and Mequon, Heyden’s Gardens in Cedarburg and Horicon Bank in Grafton. Day of tour tickets sold at any of the gardens.

More information: cedarburgwomansclub.org

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: When their kids left, these empty nesters bought a bigger house on 12 acres in Cedarburg