It's Like Christmas Morning!

We are currently 16 weeks into The Secret Garden project.  I love this house. I love this project. I am having a wonderful time.  I swear this house is like Christmas morning everyday! How, you say? Well, just let me tell ya all about it! 

Once I came to check on the house and its progress.  The new doors had just been installed. It looked exactly like I pictured in my mind and I cried a little. Like that time you got the gift you wanted so bad for Christmas and you were just so overcome with joy you couldn't hold it in anymore.

Another time I came to check on progress and the copper awning had been cleaned and polished by the guys.  I wasn’t anticipating it to be finished. I didn’t think it was on the agenda for this week. If I could do a heel kick jump I totally would have, but acrobatics are not my strong suit!  I knew it would look just like new once finished, but everyone thought I was crazy... they couldn’t see it, but I could! Bam!! It was beautiful!!    

  

In the beginning, I was freaking out about how I was going to get all the stuff the previous owner left behind sorted through BEFORE Rusty and his crew, Robert, Matt, and Talon, got there for demo.  Freaking out as in losing sleep, worried I will need to take a leave from my property management work?! Sorting through each drawer, each chest, each page was not ideal for the guys as a project. It all looks like junk to everyone BUT ME!  So I prayed about it because it was worrying me. And guess what.. Rusty’s Dad had some free time and offered his services. Royce lives in Florida. He has a handyman service and previously owned a landscape business prior to a heart attack that nearly took his life a couple of years ago. Since his recovery, he had started the hobby of estate and garage sale shopping with his wife, Sue.  

SO let me break that down for you what I saw… God sent me a man that was Trustworthy.  A man that had wisdom about hidden treasures in other people's junk! He sent me a man that knew the difference between a weed and a flower!!  He sent me someone who cared and that would take this burden off of me! BAM! Asked and Received PLUS MORE! Power of prayer.  

The treasures found through clean up fill a 15X35 storage building!  I plan to use them as I stage the home. I plan to repurpose some of the items.  I also intend to sell them in an estate sale/open house once the project is finished.  Having enough free stuff to repurpose and decorate with is an amazing Christmas morning gift.

The clean up outside revealed a brick sidewalk and a fully intact iron fence, as well as two large lamp posts, three functioning gates, 28 tires, and 15 gas cans... Christmas morning... Most years you get some good stuff and then some underwear or socks too.  The tires and gas cans are that ugly Christmas sweater you got from your Great Aunt! Aww thanks…

The demo revealed three beautiful fireplaces! We thought there were only two and that one of those was a stove, but behind the “stove” is a brick fireplace.  Behind the piano (which is a marble piano) was another brick fireplace! BAM!!! THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!! 

After the overgrown foliage was removed, the siding is in good shape!  The landscape is still in recoverable shape. The roof was removed and the decking was in good shape on both the house and guest house!  The guest house is in really good shape, although dated. The WATER HEATER WORKS! The HVAC system works. The gas lines have already been capped.   It's just the gift that keeps on giving! 

I love this house!  I love this project!  

Have we had some setbacks?  Yep!  

The first large setback.   I underestimated the electrical repairs exponentially!  We had hoped we could just rewire the guest house and update the house, but during the demo we saw too many past repairs, plus locating all those would be just as expensive as rewiring the home.  The electrical has to be right or it’s not worth doing the project at all. So, we took the bad news and are having the house rewired as well as the guest house. Once the electricians are finished, the guest house will have its own electric meter.  My thought process behind this change is one, safety, and two, the guest house could be easily rented or turned off if not in use.    

Another negative is the original wood floor was not worth saving after the foundation repairs.  Plus a lot more of the sub-floor was heavily water damaged from plumbing leaks and neglect. Rusty decided laying a new sub-floor was the best solution to resolve this issue. 

House remodeling and life lessons are very similar.  There are still more setbacks to come I am sure, but we will navigate those too.  I still feel like this house is like a never-ending Christmas morning. My daughter needed a hair dryer, this house had one.  My church needed some matching platters to serve with, this house had some. I needed a new Pyrex dish, The Secret Garden had one.  My daughter needed a desk for her room, presto chango we have a desk! The library was missing some yearbooks and this house had them.  I could go on and on but I will save that for another time.  

Every time I pull up I am smiling because I know The Secret Garden is something I am meant to do.  It feels good. It feels like the excitement of Christmas morning every time. I prayed for God to make a way.  I prayed for a project way less exciting than this, but God gave me abundantly more than I asked for. And He will throughout this project because everyday I pull up, I thank Him.  I thank Him for making a way in the wilderness. I thank Him for making me brave and bold. I thank Him for giving me eyes to see and ears to hear! I am sharing this with you so you will be inspired to pray for your dreams.  Pray for your goals.  

I hope you find that Christmas morning feeling in something you do.  If not, start praying, start soul searching, do something. This is your life.  LIVE IT! 

Come on!   Let’s Make Somethin Outta Nothin! 

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