This was/is my house.

Welcome to my home.

We bought a perfectly livable house and then–tore it apart. Sure, we could have moved in and not changed a thing. Sure, there was a functioning kitchen and two usable bathrooms. And yes, the electrical and air were working and the heater kicked on appropriately.

Instead, Biceps and I dusted off our sledgehammers, slapped on our tool belts and got to work ripping most our house down to the studs.
Our realtor thought we were crazy and told us “good luck”. Our neighbors helped themselves to our necessitated open door policy and gave us their opinions. Some scoffed. Some offered condolences. Some told us we should have left well enough alone.

We knew our vision and the plans that we had for the home. And that’s what powered us through dust-filled nights, cut fingers and aching backs.
It was a poorly laid out home with adjoining bedrooms, a room devoted to a sauna, awkward transitions and unusable spaces. To make things right in this house, we had to get rid of all the junky craftsmanship and all of the poor decisions made before we ever owned the home. We had to fix what appeared to be somewhat working but indeed was not working.

I was thinking about our home remodeling escapades and of course, being the über deep person that I am…related it to my own spiritual walk in life.
For example, my “house” looked fine to outsiders while in college. I was a decent person, maintaining good grades, keeping my arrest record clean and going to church regularly.

However, on the inside, I was a total mess. I was full of unforgiveness, envy, pride and a bunch of other horrible behaviors I’m sure you can imagine. My selfish decisions in life led me to a humiliating low point; one where I was unsure of who I was and unsure if God could ever love someone like me.

I realized there was no way I could ever be good enough to deserve forgiveness. But yet, He gave it to me freely. I accepted His forgiveness and the fact that I was a desperate sinner in need of a Holy Savior.

That’s when He went to work on my heart. He tore off all my facades and ripped apart my poor craftsmanship and took me back down to the “studs”. I was a shell of a person, ready and willing to be rebuilt by the master renovator.

My “house”, both physical and spiritual, have been rebuilt with a distinct purpose in mind. Both “houses” took years to become livable. Both were a terrible mess and needed an expert to make sense of it all. I am so thankful He replaced my disorder with His perfect design for me–and continues to do so.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will resettle your towns, and the ruins will be rebuilt.” Ezekiel 36:33

Amen and amen.

It’s Wednesday. And My Living Room is Still Gray.

House Theorem #17:Once you move into your house, you no longer want to remodel.

The things that just “had to go”, like peach tile in the guest bathroom, suddenly pale in comparison to just hoping for sheetrock and a working sink.

The green color that you painstakingly chose for the master bedroom and bathroom and at one point that you loved, soon is loathed each and every day. I blame my father’s army roots on this color choice.

But although you loathe it, it still takes you three long years to change it. Because you are waiting for it to “wear out” and earn its keep.

House Theorem #108: Once your walls are gray, you are scared to paint them a bold color, like this:

Aqua Blue with hints of bright orange, tan and browns. Because perhaps this is another green bedroom and you (and your guests) will have to live with it for years until this color too, has “earned its keep”.

So, it’s Wednesday. And my walls are still Gray. But, who knows-Sunday’s on the way.

(And if you know who I’m quoting from 80’s Christian pop music, then you deserve a hug. And some shoulder pads.)

BFF & Remodeling Her Bathroom

My BFF-Cynthia, needed a new bathroom and she had a week of vacation with which to reinvent her commode.
After volunteering to help her far in advance, I then learned that one side of my family would be leaving town just as another would be coming in at this same time. Simultaneously, I contracted bronchitis from an unnamed source.

I didn’t get to help as much as I would have liked to. But, at least I was able to help a bit. We painted, installed hexagon tile-with the help of Biceps and removed excess grout together.

Cynthia hired a plumber install the toilet and a new vanity-I wasn’t about to try and tackle plumbing after my debacle with one of my rent houses. I flooded the second story with my awesome plumbing skillz.

This is what her bathroom looked like before it was torn apart and renewed. Fine, but a bit boring.

My sweet brother, Pat, donated his time and removed the old toilet and vanity.

I removed and numbered all of the baseboards and light switch plates. We taped off the tiling and any other surface that needed to be protected with painter’s tape.

We knew we would get messy. Mostly on purpose.

Cynthia chose a beautiful limey green color for the walls, with accents of grays and whites. I tackled the cutting in and she had fun rolling the walls. And my pants.

Next, there were some floor leveling issues that needed to be addressed where a few loose tiles had been removed. So, I addressed them and asked, “Why aren’t you level, you stupid floor?”.

There was no response.

I grabbed my drill, a bag of dry mastic and got to work. Leveling a floor is a lot like icing a cake-except with dusty mastic, a drill, stinky clothes and severely dry hands afterwards.

We then paused for a moment and had some refreshments. This is what I live for when remodeling…

After our refreshments, we got back to work and scuffed up the linoleum floor with a sanding block, which helps the mastic stick to the flooring, holding the tile in place.

About halfway through the process of laying the tile, a frantic call was made to Biceps-who came right over.

That’s a good man.

We had little spare tile to work with, the mastic was drying too quickly, the tile saw blade was dulling, the angles needing to be cut were giving me a mathematical headache and…I was getting grouchy.

Pictured here is all that was leftover of the tile. Talk about cutting it close-literally. Hah.

After the tile was laid; my backs, knees and fingers breathed a sigh of relief.

We were a little delirious by the end of the night, as can be seen here. Nothing like photographing stinky remodelers at the end of the work day and then posting it online for the world to see.

I like to keep it real. Real-real.

The next day, Cynthia’s sweet mother came to her rescue, cleaning out excess mastic from between the tiles-with a toothpick. This is one devoted momma.

The two of them decided to tackle grouting together.

It did not go as planned.

Bicep’s and I were called and headed over to lend a hand. We found two tuckered out hard working women who desperately needed a break. The grout they had applied was a little too thick and was drying-quickly.

We used everything we had on hand to scrape off the excess grout-sponges, a grill brush, toothbrushes. It was a tense couple of hours until all of the grout was off. Although, Cynthia’s mother was just as happy as if she were picnicking in the park.

I could learn a lot from this woman.

After the grout incident, Cynthia was able to install her brand new toilet and vanity.

And here she is. So pretty.

I will post some pictures with the accessories Cynthia chose soon. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year! (Favorite Posts and Stuff.)

Dear Readers-
It’s a brand new year. 2011 is gone. 2012 is here. To celebrate moving forward, I thought I would peer back into my archives and share with maybe the newbies what was most popular here at Potholes and Pantyhose.
Here are a few favorites from 2011-those with the most comments, or the most hits.
 

Remodeling my Master Bathroom was a pleasure and a success.
Biceps was out of town and I got to work recreating our boring bathroom. I loved the end result-as did Biceps. I think he mostly loved not having to do it himself….

Secondly topping the list was my DIY Spinning Composter:
This horrible picture of me has been repinned on Pinterest over 2K times. I wish I would have had the foresight to change out of my work clothes. I suppose it’s good for you to see me grubby and gross from time to time…

My Broken Mirror Art still gets a lot of action.
Biceps and I created this mirror from sections we no longer needed after our remodel. It still sits above our fireplace and still gets the oohs and aahs from newcomers.

My tutorial on Canning Jalapeno Pepper Jelly received more responses than I had anticipated.
The recipe is very simple-and if you don’t burn yourself on the hot steam from the canner-it’s also pretty painless.

I have no idea why, but this silly little post seemed to spark some conversation. My frizzy hair needed help, and I asked you for your input.
You have never failed, me dear readers and gave me tons of insight into the world of hair care.

My Pretty Paper Christmas trees not only got a lot of ooh’s and aah’s around the internet world, they received praise from family members and friends alike.
Turquoise and red have become a favorite of mine. Free and cheap are also favorites.

For fear of boring you, I’m ending with this post. My DIY Recycled and Cheap Rain Barrel.
This is a simple solution to gathering your roof water. The tutorial is rather simple, the process takes a few hours and you can go to bed at night knowing your water bill won’t be astronomical during the dry season.
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed a walk with me down memory lane. I know that I have enjoyed my time with you!
Have a great New Year-be safe, drink lots of water and don’t eat too much cake.
Happy New Year!

Linking up to: http://diyshowoff.com/2012/01/diy-2011-recap-party.html