The very word "reno's" makes my body shudder. We have been doing reno’s it seems like forever. We started in our last house and it seems we have continued it over to this one. We are not quite finished but we now can see light at the end of the tunnel. It was not that way 2 weeks ago when I spent the day crying and painting all at the same time, hoping the paint looked okay because I could not see. This reno has seemed to be the reno that never ends.
Perhaps it is because we have been living in renos and transition for over a year. Maybe it was because we had a project happening in almost every room of the house and there was no “safe” place. It could have been that I was tired of trying to “find” something and having no idea where it might have been placed. Maybe it is because I do not bounce back like I used to but whatever the reason I declared that day that the house had won! I was done, defeated and I am sure close to dead from sheer exhaustion.
I think I might hold a paint clothes burning party when we are totally done. I have no idea and could not even guess at how many hours I have spent painting, staining, varnishing and then repeat!
I have learned that no matter how many coats of paint, you cannot slap a coat of paint on an old thing and call it good or even beautiful! Trust me this goes for people and for walls and doors. No matter how you try to dress up old, it still shows through. Only God can create from nothing and as we have learned we do not have that talent! We have learned that we have to work with what we have and pray hard for the creativity to bring out the beauty.
God does the same, we each, personally bring nothing to the table when we start our life with Him and yet if we let Him, He sands off our rough edges, digs out those old war wounds and replaces it with His goodness. He gives us new life, breaths into us fresh fire and takes the time to make us new. He is totally in the reno business.
House reno’s are a season of Plan B’s. You might have a plan in your head, a plan down on paper but when you reno a house, you had better be able to think on your feet, think outside your box and come up with Plan B, Plan C and possibly Plan D.
I found that my husband is not quite into altering the Plan as I am. He is not quite as flexible to go off Plan as me and that has created some interesting and tense moments in our marriage. I have wondered how on earth we used to work together on wood working projects and reno projects. I am not sure we could do that again, that season may have genuinely passed.
I have come to watch our day and reno’s go sideways when we did not pray and ask God to help us with our plans and sometimes we had to do this more than once a day. Go figure, my husband does not appreciate when I watch him struggle, sit back, smile and say, “did you pray about it?” I am lucky he is a patient man.
Reno’s build character. If you have ever lived through reno’s you know what I am talking about. Only on a tv show can a reno be done in one hour. They test every nerve in your body and a lot of days they play on that last nerve something fierce!
You become friends and first name basis with your local hardware store and kick yourself that you did not invest in the company because maybe, just maybe you could get back some of the thousands of dollars you spent there. My husband often helps other customers at the store since we know where almost everything is located usually better than most of the staff.
My husband has a tool selection that is to be envied, as I have learned, apparently you need a different tool for all the different jobs. While we might not exactly know where it is in the mess, we certainly know we own one!
I have learned that my hubby is very talented, God has given him the ability to create and build. Reno’s teach us what we are good at. He is the builder, I am the finisher and it is good to know which projects belong to you.
You must have amazing friends during reno’s. You end up calling on them to come and help when you get stuck or tired. They check on you to make sure you are still alive. Friends are refreshment to the soul during reno’s. They cheer you on and get excited when you complete a step in your projects giving you the illusion that the reno’s might be near completion.
Having a puppy during reno’s is a bit of a challenge. Mocha has been painted at least 3 different colors. She loves to eat gyproc, lick wet paint, chew on wood, and really try to eat almost anything that falls to the ground. She crawls on top of you if you sit or lay on the floor adding a new dimension to whatever it is you are doing. It would not be high on my recommendations to try while doing reno’s.
I hope you enjoyed the little video I put together for you, the surprise at the end will have to be a tantalizing mystery for another blog in the future. I know, that is unfair, but how else will I keep you reading! Plus to be honest the future plans are not in place because we have not finished with this house. God has said He will tell us when the time comes, meanwhile, we wait and reno!