A Project House

We closed on a house this week. If you stand far enough away, and maybe squint your eyes some, it doesn't look too bad. Or it could be I am in denial.

But the closer you get the more issues you see. This will be a real project house. I have calculated 90 days worth of repairs and I might just be underestimating. Although last year we closed on a house on Feb 6 that needed a roof, siding, floors, doors, windows, furnace, and air conditioning and rented it April 15.

This house needs new electrical service, roof, siding, floors, doors, windows and about everything else. We can most likely save the studs and some plaster. It is a true project house.

Another landlord told me when he heard we had bought it he assumed we were going to demolish it and build on the site. 

We were told no one knows if the dishwasher works. I think that means it doesn't. The missing drawer front is laying inside the drawer. Maybe that is a good thing.

Interesting concept of open front shelving in the kitchen as well. Going to have to do something about that drop ceiling that has mismatched panels in it. If the rest of the house has the original ceilings exactly what happened to the ceiling in the kitchen? A small explosion?? A good grease fire that left soot?? Ok, I'm not sure I want to know at this point.

In the living room, I am not so sure of those windows 6 inches from the floor. They might have to go. There is no way those were installed when the house was built. At some time the house was modernized. Oh, yea, Baby!!

The paneling on the wall. No! That will have to go.

     The door on the vanity was bad and then Sharon tried to open a drawer. It came apart in her hand.Pressed sawdust board vanities in moist conditions, whose brilliant idea was that anyway?

And then there are the bedrooms. Is that pink or is that purple. Those single pane sliding windows are a good idea also if you want to heat the lawn as well as the house.

A pale paneling is always a good choice. I'm not sure I even want to know what they hid behind that travesty.

     At least all the old carpeting has been torn out. I am sure they did that to get some of the smell of pet urine out of the house. They did not succeed. All the subfloors will need to be treated.

     Next week a new electrical panel will go in and then we can get current into the house and begin work. This is definitely going to need a lot of work.

     Now is where I have a need to look at pictures of previous houses, just to remember what is possible.This was what the bathroom looked like when we purchased the last project house Feb. 2017

     This is what it looked like 60 days later. I have to remind myself that there is hope. Ugly can be fixed. All it took was a new vanity, sheet rock, toilet, shower, floor, and tile. See just a slight make-over.

     Most of us think our lives look like the fixed up version. I don't think that we are dealing in reality when we think that. When God looks at us He sees us as we are. We are all a project. God loves us already when our lives are a wreck and He starts fixing us. He starts to point out our sins and our deficiencies. He starts to remake us in His image. The image we were supposed to be when God created people. I think most of the time God has to throw about everything out of our lives before He can start to rebuild us. The tough part is to realize what we look like to God and how much of our lives and attitudes need to be fixed. Sometimes we have done some remodeling on our own and it still doesn't look right.We need to be open to God working on us. We need to recognize we are a project, a work in progress that will not be finished till we leave this world and live with God forever.