A renovated life

I’ll never forget the day that my husband looked at me and called me over to his computer screen.

There it was, the ugliest house I had ever seen. 

Painted a hateful shade of forest green with maroon front door. 

Trees grown over the front and a drab picture taken on a what had to have been the ugliest day in Alabama history. 

I looked at it. 

“cool.” I said, hoping he would drop it. 

“Look, it’s foreclosed and has a nice open floor plan. AND it was built in 1929… think of the history.” He said.

Dang it, he had me at historic home. 

*he knows me well*

So we looked at it. We had no money or business buying a house. 

Zero, ziltch.

We walked in and the house nearly slapped us in the face with the smell of cat urine. 

Cat hair was floating around in the hair and coated to window seals and door frames. 

The floors had “history” for sure as we essentially walked *downhill* to the master bedroom of the house. 

It was slanted and the original hardwoods were stained with the urine we smelled.

“Charm” the realtor said and smiled. 

‘… or crap’ I thought. 

No way was I buying this house. 

But my husband wanted to. 

He knew that he could fix it the way it needed to be fixed and do to it what needed to be done. 

I believed he could even though I had never actually seen him renovate any type of home before… ever. 

I can even remember bringing others to come look at this house and the looks on their faces as they walked through in disbelief that we actually would want to buy that place.

We bought it. 

Way below asking price. 

We lived in it as we renovated.

Let me tell you, that is not glamorous, you are not Joanna Gaines. 

We lived in the cat hair infested house. 

We lived in a bathroom that no matter how much you cleaned it, kitty litter from the previous owner never went away. 

It was a drafty old house, and we renovated in the winter. 

But we did it. 

One day the dust settled. 

The polyurethane smell disappeared. 

The cat hair had been fully cleaned out. 

The bathroom was redone and the walls had all been painted. 

Then, after only four months of living there, my husband wanted to sell it to pay off debt.

Now let me tell you, we had moved three times already in a year and a half and had just had a winter of renovations and misery…. I wanted to enjoy this house and my husband wanted to sell it.

Well, we did. 

and you can read the whole story of how that happened HERE. 

Within the next year and a half of selling that house, paying off all our student loan debt AND the house, we have now renovated two more “homes”. More like 4 apartments. 

Multifamily homes to be exact.

Not because we are experts, but because we are willing to try, we are willing to work and we are willing to get our hands dirty to get the job done. 

And we have learned through it that:

Youtube is your friend. 

Budgets are a priority. 

Pizza delivery is required. 

Face masks are needed. 

Patience will run thin. 

Laughter will happen AFTER THE FACT most days.

But then you look at the house that smelled like cat urine and forget about the chaos that went into when you see the finished product. 

You see what it looks like when you make the choice to try instead of being afraid of screwing up. 

And I learned that from my husband. 

A man who never stops trying. 

A man willing to fail and figure it out again. 

A man who keeps running into hurdles and jumps right over them to find success. 

It’s fascinating and it’s valuable. 

My advice on finances and renovating houses. 

Try. 

Over and over again.

Eat the same meal over and over again. 

Find opportunity and do not cower. 

Try, and you just may find out that when you do, you heart may be renovated all over again in the process. 

Tell me, would you be interested in learning more about renovating from us? 

Tips, tricks, money saving hacks? 

I have created top ten things that I wish I knew before renovating a home and would love to share it with you! :)

Learn more HERE

Share your thoughts here, I’d love to engage with you.