naked

So there you have it...all of the siding is off and here she stands, the original bones of the 1865 Zeeland home! And might I say, the poor thing looks a bit N.A.K.E.D!

This is probably one of the roughest stages of the process--visually. All I want to do is get the house painted and in better shape. (every girl feels so much better with a new outfit on!) But we will have to have patience because it is not painting time yet...and I guess it's a good thing because we haven't picked a color.

But it IS time to decide if we're keeping the original awning over the front door. We're thinking "no." We tend to like a completely flat front. Kind of saltbox style. But we're going to try to use the wood support posts that hold up the awning somewhere inside the home where they can be exposed. We're all about repurposing old materials. (especially when they have historic significance!)

Next you see the framing of the new dining room. This is the view from the front. There will be 4 windows along the side. (2 single windows on each end and on double window in the middle.) and then I think just one window in the back--or maybe it's a double. (I don't know, Taylor is better at tracking the details than I am. I am just the blogger!) :)

And here is an inside look at the new dining room. Can't you just imagine coming to a dinner party here...sitting at a long farmhouse table and enjoying a nice home cooked meal?! (I guess I better find a way to step up my cooking skills before this can actually happen!)

Good News for the deRoo's

Taylor and I stopped by the new house at lunch on Friday and found that Jerry had been hard at work tearing off the horrendous vinyl siding. It has always been the great unknown what we would find underneath the siding. Taylor and I kept hoping that the original wood would be salvageable so that we could restore the exterior of the home to be as historically accurate as possible. But...we were warned that the original wood from a 144 year old house could very well be rotted or even have planks missing. So...when we showed up at the job site on Friday and found the entire East side of the house exposed and in good condition we were THRILLED! Of course there will still be heavy maintenance that needs to be done to get the house ready to be painted, but the pure fact that the wood was in better condition than expected was music to our ears! Now comes the dreaded challenge of picking out a color for our new/old home!

here I am making my first blog appearance. Behind me you see the framing for the new doorway between the living room and the foyer. I am currently standing in the living room.

And here she is, the room that Taylor and I are most excited about--the loft attic! Jerry has started framing in the storage closet which will run the entire length of the side of the room. This additional storage will come in handy since when this house was built in 1865 they had no idea how much junk people would accumulate in 2009!!

demolition

Today the 3 season porch came down! Take a look!

Meet Jerry, our builder.

this is the future site of the garage. (that's the neighbor's garage to the right. they just had a new baby!!! which has nothing to do with a garage, but it's very exciting!)

this is the view from the guest room of where the porch used to be.


My, what a big crane you have!

Goodbye porch....hello dining room! (ok, so i am getting ahead of myself...but soon you will see a dining room there!)