The House That Changed Me

You know that song called, "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert? It's one of my favorites! I could come up with my own version: "The House That Changed Me". But if you're thinking about buying a flip house anytime soon, you might not want to listen to it. =)

Really, it was God that used that house to change me.

Tomorrow marks the 2 year anniversary of the day we closed on this house:

We didn't live in it until 3 weeks later. 3 weeks astonishes me when I look back over these pictures. I can't believe we actually went through with this! We had an almost 1-yr. old and I was 6 months along with Shiloh. We had saved a bunch of money and wanted to invest it in flipping a house, while living in it. The market was right, interest rates at their lowest, and we found the cheapest house in the nicest neighborhood. What could be a better time to flip a house?! =)

I can't help but smile when I think of how excited we were, how many ideas we had, and how optimistic we were about that 2,100 square foot dump. And it really was. Most do not believe me when I tell them our house was bad. Then, they see pictures and...well...they believe me. Most of these pictures are not true "before" pictures, but they're enough to make me feel a pit in my stomach when I remember all the work.


That's me in all my 6-month-pregnant-glory scraping wall paper and crusted walls. There was not a smooth patch of wall in that house. Steven just said to me the other day, "If I had it to do all over again, I would have just paid somebody to install new sheet rock in the whole thing."

Here's another shot of the back of the house. That deck was the nicest feature of the house. (A railing was added in case you're wondering.) That's the only thing I've missed from our home since we've moved. I have many fond memories of sitting outside with the girls while they rode bikes, played on their play set, or swam in their little $10 pool. We planted flowers together in our pots on that deck; we hung Christmas lights out there; we sunbathed out there; we played with friends out there; we chatted with the nicest neighbor ever out there! Amazing really that you buy a house and your favorite spot is outside.

This is the best "before" picture I have of the kitchen. This was the day I came home from the hospital with Shiloh. You can't see it, but the floor was nasty. I scrubbed and scrubbed with bleach but the peeling laminate was permanently stained with neon pink spots and other unknown things.


This is a picture of our living room after demo had begun. It was severely termite damaged (which we knew before we bought it). causing all of the sub floor and cross beams to be unsalvageable.


The same was true of the laundry room (above) and parts of the 1st floor bathroom. (below)

This photo is of our Master Bedroom.

The bedrooms upstairs were in the best condition out of everything. The carpet was severely stained in some spots and still needs to be replaced.

The upstairs bathroom.

My favorite little space inside - a walk-in closet upstairs - that got transformed into my little sewing room.

I always struggle with how much to share here on a public blog. I have been blessed thoroughly by other people's honesty on the web. I myself prefer to be an open book. It's just my nature and an easier way of life for me honestly. But it's not all about me here on this blog. It's my husband's life and my children's lives getting documented as well. I've wrestled with God the last few days over how much to share here about the year and a half that I lived at this house. The spiritual breakthroughs, the refining process of our marriage, my personal pain and struggles, and the lessons learned. But I've not gotten the green light yet from God. So until then, trust me that I am a completely different person because God used that house and the events that occurred while I lived there to change me into looking less like me and more like Him.

So, there you have it. Tomorrow I'll share some of the process.