A diamond in the rough is exactly what our landlady saw in the old Kingma family farm house. 2014 has been a huge transition year for this lovely family farm home where Jim, his brother and sisters were raised. Here is the original siding with the new main floor triple pane windows installed.
In January, which was an unusually mild month, Herman started replacing all the old single pane windows, many were cracked and only a select few actually opened. Four of the windows and two of the doors inside received beautiful new trim that framed them perfectly! Most of the old farm windows were distributed to family members so they could have something to remember the house that held so many childhood memories of their beloved Parents/Grandparents and Great Grandparents.
These are some of the original windows, we spoke for one of the middle sized ones and the two on the right side that I am transforming into picture frames.
Once Herman accomplished the new windows he began the huge job of hand sanding every inch of the outside of the house. This house was cedar sided when it was built in the early 1950’s. A new addition was added to the front in the mid seventies. Some of the siding had deteriorated to the point of needing replaced with concrete boards that would take the harsh weather.
Herman made his own scaffolding, in order to get every inch hand sanded down to the bare wood, by the time I snapped this photo he had already taken the top layers down, it was scary high!
Finally late spring it warmed enough to begin the 50 gallons of paint project. First a layer of 25 year guaranteed primer coated the entire house. Followed by the exterior and then trim paints. The house was transformed!
Herman was not done! Two loads of tile rock, a skid steer, and an excavator show up. With our tractor Jim brought in huge amounts of fill dirt and in three days the landscaping transformed this into a show place with beautifully placed rock work.
Gutters will soon be installed to finish the house project. What a year it has been on transforming this ole’ farm house. I can hardly believe it is the same place I tried to not get into the background of Teamdonk photos.
We have never had a such a beautiful walkway that goes to all three doors in the front of the house. The new gutters, which are next, will connect to the pipes strategically staged to carry the water into the pastures and away from all sides of the house.
The inside of the new doors has been my project and this one is just about finished.
Thank you Herman, Matt and Julie, all your efforts are truly appreciated!
One Thousand Donkey Driving Miles and Counting 