I knew so little about remodeling houses before Jordan and I were married. Growing up, my Dad taught me how to ski and sell girl scout cookies and play catch. But I didn't learn to use a hammer or know the difference between the screw driver with four pokey sides and two pokey sides. In my family, we called the plumber when the sink leaked and hired a contractor to remodel the kitchen.
My lack of knowledge led me to assume the house would fall down if walls were taken out and that the entire ceiling would cave in if a hole was cut in it. I did not know about subfloors and drywall and the awesome gooey stuff you use to fill in cracks in the wall. I thought if you needed a room painted, you called Donald the painter.
Then I married Jordan and we bought an icky house. I was so nervous. But unbeknownst to me, he knew how to take out walls and build support beams. He fixed holes in the other walls. He tiled floors, replaced windows, and installed countertops. He even taught me to paint so we didn't have to call Donald. He turned our house into something beautiful.
He showed me that change is not impossible if you're willing to do the hard work. And hard it is, because anyone who's lived through a remodel knows it is messy and emotional and difficult, unless you don't mind dust in every crevice and can sleep through running power saws. But we press on and live with the dust because the end product is so worth it. At least the before and after pictures are.
Now I know that the houses we buy won't stay the same. It doesn't matter how ugly/scary/smelly a room is--I know it's going to go through a transformation. The biggest proof of this is that a control freak like me agreed to purchase our current house without seeing it in person. Because I knew if it was awful, Jordan could change it. He could fill in cracks, move walls, and add windows. My perspective had been shifted. I no longer held fast to my previous assumptions about remodeling.
There are other things I used to assume. Like that I would always be afraid to leave home or have my blood drawn or fly on an airplane. That I would always feel conscious around certain people. That I couldn't handle loss.
But I was wrong. Because Jesus doesn't let us stay the same. He changes us from cowardly to brave, from insecure to confident, and from weak to strong. The process isn't easy and can be more difficult and emotional and messy than remodeling a house. But the end product is even more worth it. Our life becomes the most beautiful before and after picture.
Here are some before and after pictures of Sunnyside Cottage--the house we're currently living in. Jordan did all this work before I moved in. These were all temporary fixes to make the house more livable. Eventually we plan to do a more complete remodel on this house, but for now, these "small" changes sufficed.
In our bedroom, he removed the wall creating the closets, enlarged the cabinet to be a half-closet, and installed a chandelier.
In the kitchen, Jordan opened up the doorway, installed some high wooden countertops (created from a slab of wood found in the backyard), installed a dishwasher, and painted the cabinets.
He's working on something very cool for that exposed area above the cut out. Please ignore it for now.
Here are some closer pictures of the kitchen and shots of the rest of the house.
