close beforeMy parents bought a fixer-upper!

mom & dad during

They just kept the shell of the little 800 square foot house they bought. The put on a new roof, new siding, new windows and doors, new plumbing, new electrical, new-almost-every-thing but a beautiful, chippy, built-in cabinet….

They knocked down most of the inside walls and turned this place from a 2 bedroom (tiny rooms) 1 bath, to a one bedroom two bath. They closed in the carport which gave them extra square footage and space for a family room, laundry room and an extra bathroom. And when I say “they” I mean the crew they hired–although my dad, Chad & the boys did put together all the kitchen cabinets over the weekend.

before

during

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cabinet

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Dad wanted arches in the house–just like in his grandparent’s house.

picking a color

Mom and Dad sold their house in January and since then have been rotating between living in my little 400 square foot office (with a new puppy!) or staying at Emily & John’s house.

Now that the walls are up and it’s getting finished, I’ll share more photos with you over the next few weeks. I’m so excited for them, it’s the CUTEST little house y’all!

old carport

And as a 40-something mom, looking at our fixer-upper with a literal 12 acre long to-do list–it’s been so encouraging to watch them take on this project. Because as I fret over the       s   l   o   w       pace that it seems we are going at our house, I’m reminded that we have a long, long time to enjoy this place with our family. I mean, look at my parents–they started fresh with a fixer just last year and we all are looking forward to enjoying it with them.

I used to always feel like it was my mission to “finish” our house for my boys. Like I was under some kind of deadline to get everything in the perfect place, to get us settled down and organized. THEN I’d let out a huge sigh of relief and we’d get on with our lives in our finished house that I didn’t have to think about anymore.

shed

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Life is like a fixer upper. There are things to do. And dreams to be had. And sometimes progress is SO SLOW and then before you know it people are waiting on you to make decisions and next week that part that you’ve fretted over for so long is over and done and you felt like it was going to take forever but somehow it also went by really fast.

Today, let’s enjoy where we are.

Because Home was never meant to be built in a day.