Use what you have

     Even though it was a holiday week and it seemed every day had a family gathering, we were still able to get some work done.

     Here I am struggling to climb the broken front steps back when we first looked at the house. There was a real concern how we were going to repair the steps. The rise was too high and the flights were too short. Beside the fact the concrete was broken and poorly patched.

     New wooden steps were built with wider flights and less rise. This added one more step. I had removed the iron railing from another house when it was inspected. The tap screws into the cement had come loose and I could not get them to tighten down. The railing was not needed to pass code so it was easier to remove the railing than to get it tightened up.I cut them down to fit these steps and there we had free railing. Also half of the wood came off a closed in porch we had opened back up.

     The kitchen floor was the original style laminate. That type did not lock together. The planks had to be glued together. The glue had let loose and the planks had spread. Micah tore them out and the floor went to the landfill.

     We had 4 boxes of Tarkett oak laminate flooring in storage and those went into the kitchen. I do wish I had started on the west side of the room instead of the east. I need to buy a box because I came up 3 planks short of finishing the room. If I had started on the west the 3 planks missing would have been under the stove and I could have just grabbed another style and finished the room. No one would have ever seen the different flooring under the stove.

     There were a couple of pieces missing on the cupboards.

     We had a finished board in storage. I cut it and fixed it in place and there you go the cupboards are fixed.

     Micah had demanded new flooring upstairs just because it had some spots.

     He laid the floor Friday and Saturday

     Saturday afternoon we trimmed the rooms upstairs. It had previously not had trim along the floor or around the doorway. Russ had given us a bunch of trim boards earlier this year and we had more than enough to do the project.

     We used a lot of product out of storage this week. It cuts down on cost and we can use left over items instead of filling the landfill. It is a good feeling to use what you have to improve a house.

     That is a theme I am planning on using next year. Use what you have. I am not thinking of house remodels when I write that. I am thinking of how I live my life. Use the talents that God has given me to build His kingdom. Sometimes we think Oh if I could do this, or if I could do that, I could really work for God. God created each of us and has put all we need in our "storage" all we need to do to work for God, is use what He has already given us.