“Renovating not only restores the house , but restores the story of the home and the neighborhood.” -Unknown

So now the floors have been done. That is a huge step forward. And the nice thing is the house needed to be pretty much cleaned out for the guy to do his work, so it makes for the best look yet at what will be – possibly – just around the corner.

Now it is just about molding and touchup and appliances and cleaning and the general world of “finishes.”

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before in the ongoing commentary, but this is an absolute first for us. We have had work done before – a kitchen, a bathroom, a couple of front doors. But never anything remotely on this scale.

Literally every square inch of this house has been restored (not necessarily replaced). We have leaned into saving anything we possibly can, from windows that anyone in their right mind would have discarded (ditto exterior doors) to patching flooring rather than replacing, to repairing siding instead of going with aluminum or vinyl.

What’s new is all the plumbing and pipes, every inch of electrical wiring (the house still had knob-and-tube), every sink and faucet and shower and tub and toilet. We have done foundation work, rebuilt the front porch, removed two sets of concrete stairs, and built decking behind the kitchen. Also all the hardware, every single electrical fixture, the front steps and front walk, the HVAC system, hot water – and probably much more.

And of course the kitchen. The kitchen – when it is done – should probably be its own epic story.

It’s quite the process. The first photograph I have is from May 11 last year and work was already underway. It’s not been every day but there has been a steady stream of activity for almost ten months.

This is not one of those posts where the narrative suddenly turns on a key theological truth. Or maybe that sentence was the key truth? Maybe the key point here is that our lives as followers of Jesus are a constant work in progress, and that the end game is not putting a stop to the work but continuing to immerse ourselves in the possible.

And we do not know what is possible until we begin to move forward. And we cannot move forward without faith.

Stay tuned for what’s next. I can’t wait to find out! – DEREK