Scott Iossi wanted a home that would provide everything he needed when he wasn't at work.
"My profession involved a lot of travel, so when I was home, I wanted a place that you wouldn't really want to leave," said Iossi, a rep for a kitchen-cabinet manufacturer with a nine-state territory.
So when he and his wife, Katie, had their Hastings house built, they filled it with features most people would have to leave home to find. Those include, among other things, a large exercise room and a movie theater.
"Home just provided a quiet sanctuary," agreed Katie, a stay-at-home mother and former dance instructor. "We could stand there at the end of the day and watch the sunset or have a drink on the deck or start our day listening to birds outside."
But less than three years after they moved in, the couple did have to leave, for business reasons. The Iossis, both 36, and their two sons, a 6-year-old and a 7-month-old, have moved to Kansas City, a better location for Scott's job.
They've listed the four-level, four-bedroom house for $3.2 million.
The stucco house is just under 9,100 square feet and stands on 15 acres next to Afton State Park, with broad views of woods and prairie land, Katie said. The back of the house looks out onto a valley and a ridge.
"It's very private and serene but also gives a great view of a wooded area," Scott said.
Yet the house is just a 12-minute drive from a Target, a coffee shop and other businesses, Katie said — "an odd but lucky arrangement."
The home's interior has some dramatic features, too. The elaborately carved front doors open onto a foyer with a vaulted ceiling, a grand curving staircase topped by a large chandelier and sconces along the stairway wall.
"We were inspired by kind of a European-esque feel," Katie said.
The well-equipped kitchen — well, actually, it's kitchens, plural, starting with a front kitchen and a back kitchen. They're connected by a sliding door, so dirty dishes can be stashed out of sight when the family entertains. Each has its own sink and dishwasher. The Thermador appliances include a large refrigerator, a separate large freezer and a wine cooler. There are two stovetops, a double oven whose two sides can be heated separately, a built-in microwave and coffee maker. There are custom cabinets and plenty of counterspace.
Wait, make that three kitchens. The one in the walk-out basement has a regular refrigerator, a beverage refrigerator, a stove, an oven, a microwave, a sink and an island.
Oops, the home actually has four kitchens. The outdoor one behind the house has natural gas appliances, a refrigerator and a sink. There's a nearby table area, as well as a sitting area with a wood-burning fireplace, under a pergola.
Speaking of outdoors, there are multiple water features around the house and another patio in front.
The owners' bedroom has his and hers bathrooms, each with a shower that can be used as a steam shower.
A spiral staircase in the owner's bedroom curls upward to what Scott calls "the eagle's nest," a room with a dormer window where he could watch TV late at night without disturbing Katie.
There's an office above the four-car garage with a separate entrance and a half bath, a wet bar and a wood-burning fireplace. (The home has three fireplaces altogether inside, two wood-burning and one gas.)
The exercise room in the basement has an interactive simulator for golf and other games, an air-hockey table and fitness equipment. The theater has a 133-inch screen, plus surround sound, lighted steps and four reclining chairs with light-up cup holders. The equipment and furnishings in those two rooms come with the house.
Katie enjoys the sunroom "to take care of plants, to sit, to read, to lounge, to nap." The sunroom also has its own deck.
The mudroom offers lots of storage and room enough to house the family's two big dogs, Katie said. "Their food was in there, they slept in there, it never once felt crowded."
Most of the home's windows can be operated remotely with a gadget or a phone.
"A big piece in building the home was being able to pull in nature throughout," Katie said.
Outside, she said, you can find black-eyed Susans, wild bergamot, Virginia Mountain mint, white wild indigo and Northern maiden-hair ferns, as well as wildlife.
"It's not uncommon to see swooping bald eagles as you drink your morning coffee on the deck," she said.
Anna Dahlby of Edina Realty (612-388-1916, annadahlbyl@edinarealty.com) has the $3.2 million listing.