No. 57: A Juicy Renovation Update

we have cabinets! we have tile! we have progress!

I designed my office floor based on a favorite antique French parquet and it’s been a labor of love I couldn’t be more excited about.

For anyone who has been following along with our home process, you know that two years ago next month, we announced we bought a home. We had actually bought the home ten months prior to that and waiting “that long” to share the news felt like an eternity. If we only knew what we were in for.

We bought this house when Zeameh was 9 months old and will move in (Lord willing and fingers crossed and all the things) when Enakhe is 9 months in. O called it serendipity the other day. I call it many other things less lovely things under my breath.

I was watching a Jane Williamson short the other day where she was making a spoof “influencer day in the life” video and she said mocked the way influencers complain about their move-in date for their palatial new build or renovation being pushed back again. And I get it. It is the definition of first world problems, sure. But only once you’ve built a home or renovated a space or just have been displaced for any length of time for any reason will you understand the unique difficulties.

It’s sort of like parenthood. You pray and you prepare and you finally have the baby you’re so grateful for. But just because you’re so thankful doesn’t mean it’s not the hardest thing you’ve ever done, you know? The difficulties aren’t an admission of regret. They don’t negate the blessing, they just acknowledge the hard. From the outside, building a custom home (or in our case, doing a gut renovation) can seem like it’s the most glamorous thing in the world. Of course, parts of it truly do feel that way! Designing cabinetry and choosing tile and floor plans and drawing elevations? The stuff of my dreams. I’ll never be able to articulate the gravity of getting to carry out one of my dreams—doing the interior design for my own home—and being able to live in that dream-come-true with my family. It’s the greatest gift.

But there have been a million challenges that revealed a million shortcomings along the way. O and I recorded a video about this when I was 37 weeks pregnant so I’ll share more about this topic in full detail soon, but today I hope this serves as a simple reminder.

In short, nothing is fully beautiful and without blemish but Christ. Behind every long awaited gift is the refining that comes from patience, the surrender that comes from disappointment and the contentment that comes from realizing no amount of effort in the world will guarantee the outcome you predicted.