Pondering God's Plan

Things are coming along on the renovation as we continue to live our lives in the Queen City.  We have made much progress these past few weeks.  Thank goodness as I really needed a boost!  Some days our goal of a Thanksgiving move in timeframe seems next to impossible.  Every morning (I try) to take time to reflect and "be still" pondering our life, God and how everything fits together.  It seems my devotional continually reflects on hardship, adversity, challenge and how it makes you a stronger and better person.  I can't say why our lives lead us in the direction of where it goes, but I know that God has a plan.  We never know where he will lead us, but I KNOW that it will be a worthwhile path.  I have trusted in this so many times in my life.  When I lost my sister, met my hubby, never thought we would have a family, nearly lost my life, our precious E was brought to our lives, and we moved to Singapore.  Everything has a reason; we just don't know what it is until he is ready for us to see it.

So, the kitchen is nearly done with all of the cabinets in.  The hubby did 80% of the work himself with a little help from me.  Our contractor guy helped build out some supports for the dishwasher wall.  It's is amazing to think that we did it ourselves and when we step back and look at the results we are proud!  We know how every cabinet is hung and how everything works.  We put each and every drawer, hinge, door, and leg in place.  Counter tops are ordered and we are weeks away from kitchen use!  

The small bathroom is near completion as well.  We decided to hire out the tile job for the shower.  Good thing too as once I saw Paul the tile guy do his work I knew that task would have totally stressed me out!  Sometimes it's better to just let someone else do it.  Even with the extra cost it is worth it!  I learned a lot about tiling and ended up searching all of Charlotte for just the right threshold to the shower.  That took an entire morning and the results  were amazing!  We made the right choices and our teeny tiny bathroom looks almost "normal" size.

One thing that we have been trying to do is to stay true to the period of the house with necessary modern upgrades.  To keep with the style we are trying to match all of the doors and moulding that was original to the house.  That has put me on a quest to finding doors to match the rest.  I started with an architectural antique store.  I found one door, but at $65 a pop I decided to keep shopping.  On to the ReStore (Habitat for Humanity Repurpose Store).  Score!  I found the perfect door for only $8.  I had decided to strip the door and repaint it as it was in pretty bad condition.  Little did I know that it would take hours of work.  Was it worth it?  I would say yes, as the door looks fantastic and I learned how to strip paint from an old door.  After that I thought I might hire out doing the rest of the doors in the house.  Not going to happen!  The first quote for 6 doors came in at $1800.  Ouch!  I think I will find a different way to fix my doors.  I also, found another door from a neighbor via our neighborhood facebook site!

Last week demolition began on our hall bathroom.  This bathroom has had little to no improvement since the house was build.  Originally, the tile was yellow and black which I had refinished some years ago to white.  The white had since been stained and the grout cracks were back.  The hubby and my nephew started the job and the hubby finished it off.  Again, he did pretty much all of the work.  I think he is actually starting to like this work.  He even mentioned wanting to make home rehab his "new" job.  Really?  Please dear God, help him find something else he likes better!  I don't think we are cut out for that type of career.  I will say, he is pretty happy doing it.  So, we are currently in the process of re-supporting the floor and all of the floor joists.  Again we found plumbing and ductwork placed by someone cutting through floor joists.  There was so much sag in the floor that it had dropped as much as 1 inch.  Well, we know that our house will be solid and well supported when we are finished - Right?

Still much more to do and lots more shopping to come.  (tile, bathtubs, vanities, appliances)  That's the fun part, right?

Door Rehab

My door ready for a new life!

Bathroom Demo

Look how thick that plaster was behind the tile!

Mold and rotten floors

Nothing like some bangin' on a cast iron tub for some stress relief

No more tub!

Newly supported floor

Bathroom tile 

(That red stuff is called Red Guard, seals the seams and turns red when it is dry)

Ready for grout! Beautiful!

Ikea cabinet installation team!

Sink wall

Fridge and range wall

Our cutie in our cubby

Our office

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)