We’ve been working on our rental pushing really hard to get it done in only 2-3weeks with the goal of having it rented by September 1! We took some time off of work to do it, but now we are back to work and have all of our other responsibilities in addition to working on the rental. BUT we are over the hump. We are almost through the ugly part.

In a remodel, as in life, sometimes you have to go through ugly parts to see the beauty underneath. This house wasn’t too bad to start with so it was a real struggle for us whether or not we wanted to do a complete renovation or just a minor refurbishing. We decided to do it the way we would want it if we were to live there.

But in the process, you make things really, really messy and ugly. Britton tore out all the cabinets, cut a hole in the wall in the bathroom in order to put a showerhead up, pulled out the bathroom vanity and toilet so tile could go there. The only outside help we hired is for tile installation (but we still picked out, bought and delivered all the tile) and the floor refinishing. Everything else (painting, installing cabinets, cutting and installing the countertops, trim, new faucets, etc, etc) was done by us!

Making it ugly (Bathroom)

In order to make it pretty (almost finished!)

I really love doing these rentals. I think it’s because it’s like life. You go through so many frustrations, and joys all in the same project. You are able to have both end goals and process goals all in one. (The end goal being having the house remodeled and someone renting it, the process goals being all the stuff to get there, the checklist of items-showers, tile, floors, painting).

There can be a real sense of accomplishment and achievement. You learn as you go. You try your best. You make mistakes, and try again. You want to make things a little better for you having been there.  And you want to get ahead; you want to keep moving forward. And sometimes when it looks so ugly that you just want to give up, you have to look deep inside and find the strength to push just a little harder, a little further, and it will all be worth it and beautiful in the end.

Making it uglier than before we started (kitchen)


Nearly complete -and looking good