Last week, in A Glimmer of Possibility: The Story Behind Our Home, I shared how a little spark of vision led us to the house we now call home. But as I look around these rooms today, I realize that the glimmer of possibility we saw then was only the beginning. What followed was a journey that took far longer than we anticipated, but one that taught us lessons far more valuable than we could have imagined. So come inside, pull up a chair, and hang out for a for a while as I share the rest of the story of how this house slowly became a home.
From the very first time we saw our home, we had a vision of what it could become. But boy, there was work to do.
We knew from the beginning that our home had knob and tube electrical wiring throughout, which we planned to replace and bring up to code as best we could. While we were at it, we thought we might as well update the kitchen and expand the upstairs bathroom so it could be a full ensuite for our future bedroom. And then we figured that if we were going to that extent, it would probably be best to just give everything a fresh coat of paint and make some other updates along the way to truly make our new house a home.
As soon as we knew we would be moving, we started planning our renovation. Before we even got the keys to our new home, I was already planning the new layout of our kitchen, calculating budgets, sourcing tile, purchasing appliances, and finding an absurd number of inspiration photos on Pinterest. Our goal was to have everything planned out and ready to go, so that as soon as we had the keys to our new home, we could just get ‘er done.
Looking back, we may have been slightly delusional. The plan was to do most of the work ourselves and live in a camper trailer parked in front of our house during the renovations. We were ambitious and confidently mapped out an entire schedule for our renovation (yes, including several weeks of contingencies “just in case”), calculating that this plan would all work out in time for us to move into our new home by winter.
And confident we were. We were, after all, quite familiar with the process of renovations. We had finished our own basement in our previous home, had tackled numerous other DIY projects, and I had been working with a custom home builder for a number of years by then. If anyone knew anything about renovations and what it would take, it was us.
But completely renovating a 2,500 square foot home with a crew of two – both still working full time – is not for the faint of heart. And we quickly learned that things take longer than expected – three times as long, in fact. What we had confidently planned to be a six month project, quickly (or should I say slowly?) turned into a year and a half long journey.
At first, everything seemed to be going as planned. We had quite a lot of fun ripping out old cabinets, removing carpet, smashing through lath and plaster, and prying up sheets of plywood to discover the original Douglas fir hardwood flooring underneath. Then came the process of framing, fishing new electrical wire to every socket, switch and fixture in our home, as well as reworking the plumbing upstairs to expand the ensuite. We had some slight surprises along the way, but all things considered things were progressing smoothly.
And then we began drywall and things slowed to a crawl. We had engaged a professional drywaller to do the work for us as the scope was a bit too big for us to handle on our own, but one thing after another seemed to cause delays. A job that should have taken a couple of weeks took over a month and we knew there was a lot more we needed to do before it started to get too cold for us to live in our trailer.
On top of that, we grew increasingly frustrated with ourselves that we couldn’t get everything done that we wanted to. We’d start the day with what we thought were reasonable ambitions and attainable goals, but we would come across an unexpected challenge or the work itself would take a lot longer than we thought. The list of to-dos was growing day by day and we couldn’t keep up.
It was sobering to realize that our confidently laid out plans were crumbling. We were overwhelmed and exhausted, disheartened and slightly disillusioned, but we knew that the only way out was through. We would finish our renovation, but we needed to keep going. And we needed to figure out a way to enjoy the journey in the meantime.
It was around this time that we made a conscious decision to reframe our expectations. Rather than trying to finish our entire renovation before moving in, what if we just focused on finishing our main floor? And rather than the entire main floor, what if we just got it to the point where the dusty and dirty work was largely finished? Rather than needing to finish the kitchen before we moved in, what if we could live with cooking on the BBQ and doing dishes in the bathtub for a bit? What if instead of focusing on all that we needed to finish in a day, we just focused on starting?
And reframing these expectations made all the difference. Instead of the burden of finishing things within an unrealistic timeline, we could simply be present along the journey, enjoying it for what it was. We set much smaller goals and found our rhythm of when to push hard to get things done, and when to take a much-needed break. We learned to resist the urge to let our renovations consume us, which opened the door for them to instead be a vessel for growth and blessing to us. And most importantly, we learned to celebrate the smallest of wins along the way.
Perhaps someday I will share the story of each of our spaces in full, but for now, here is a peek inside some of the spaces in our home that have become so dear to us.
As I look around our home now, I don’t just see beautifully renovated spaces. I see a kitchen that taught us patience and the joy of something as simple as doing dishes in a real sink again. I see a living room that taught us creativity, as we figured out how to fish wires overtop our ceiling so we could install our chandelier. I see a bathroom that taught us gratitude and the deep fulfillment of making something out of nothing. I see crown molding that taught us precision and the quiet satisfaction that comes from doing things well. I see a bedroom that taught us to embrace work in progress and to simply enjoy the process. And I see a home that has grown along with us on this journey of becoming.
This Darling Adventure 
4 thoughts on “Finding Joy in the Journey: How This House Became Home”