Extreme Home Makeover – Move that Bus!

It is certainly a dream home. A home that will suit the Cowan-Brown family for a very long time all thanks to ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Hallmark Homes and the hundreds of volunteers.

The Cowan-Browns arrived in a limousine Tuesday to where their home used to be. The car pulled up and only the show’s host Ty Pennington and a bus stood in the way of seeing what has happened to their property.

Pennington opens the door to the limo and greets the family. The large crowd anxiously waits for the host to begin the “Move that bus” chant. After a few takes for the camera, the crowd cheers and the bus moves away. The Cowan-Browns see the veil of the bus move away to find a 3,600 square-feet craftsman-style home.

When the family left last week, the home was full of mold and inhabitable by the family. On their arrival back, it was finally a home for the entire family.

“I knew they would be thrilled because of what they had come from,” said Paul Schinghammer, Hallmark Homes president. “They chose the style and they liked the craftsman-style home.”

The home’s architect was Kato Smith of Anderson. He also was the landscape architect, Schwinghammer said.

The home features five bedrooms, four upstairs with the master bedroom suite downstairs, Schwinghammer said. Also, there are two bathrooms upstairs, as well as a circular catwalk that goes around and overlooks the two-story (24 feet ceiling) great room downstairs.

The master bedroom suite features a 12-foot soaking tub and a ceramic tile walk-in shower and a large master closet, he said.

Also on the first floor is a fire place, den, kitchen, formal dining room, breakfast bar and a laundry room, he said.

The entire house also features Bellawood hard-wood flooring, he said.

“This will help keep down on the mold and allergens that were fighting with, especially for Heather (Cowan) and Kori (Brown),” he said.

The home also features a geothermal heating system and a supplemental wind turbine that could keep the heating and cooling bills for the family under $500 a year, he said.

The outside of the home is practically maintenance free, he said. The home’s siding appears to be wood shakes from afar and up close, but it is not.

“It’s a cedar shake look,” he said. “It’s a new product by Napco. It is vinyl siding, but even up close it looks like the real thing. So it has the looks like wood shakes, but no maintenance.”

The home’s surroundings are beautifully landscaped and it also features a waterfall.

And if that’s not all, attached to the home is an 800 square-feet three-car garage built with the father in mind.

“Since Andy (Cowan) works on cars as one of his ministries for his church, he has a car lift in the garage with nice custom garage-shop cabinets and a brand new Ford F-150 pick-up truck in the drive way,” he said.

As for the children, Schinghammer made a phone call to Ball State University, his Alma matter.

“We are thrilled that Ball State is providing four-year scholarships to the kids,” he said.

The project meant a lot to Hallmark Homes, but the credit goes to the volunteers.

“People that the Cowan-Browns will never meet came from counties and states away,” he said. “We had landscapers and drywallers who spent some 24 to 36 hours at a stretch not only here, but without sleep. We kept them fed thanks to all the great restaurants in Kokomo and Peru that provided them with food and energy drinks.”

Original article can be found at Kokomoperspective.com By Peter Adelsen Perspective staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com