Looking Back Offers Appreciation
The front of the house before concrete and the balcony handrailing.
Have you ever heard the saying “ never look back”? It always seems to be associated with not having feelings of regret. In business it should be your motto. Dwelling on past decisions in business will offer nothing and it may even keep you from moving forward unless you view it as “experience” which will in turn create a stronger and smarter version of your goals. However, sometimes looking back allows you to appreciate how far you have come. In my case, I like to look at how far we have come with the ranch house. When I look back , I am flooded with a great sense of appreciation for how far we really have come in just 18 months.
Abby painting the wall mural. The wall of this nook outside our bedroom had not been built yet.
This is the before view of the laundry room after we tore a wall out before we built the wall which now houses the laundry room sink and our master bath shower wall. The pass through from the master bathroom to the laundry room now has a custom shelving unit built by Eddy and on the laundry room side a hydrangea picture by Abby.
When we moved into the house we had a kitchen sink with a plywood frame in a temporary cabinet and a shower and 3 toilets, not another sink in the house. The concrete floors were dull and stained from indoor house pets. Trim was not done and the lay out was, well lets just say interesting, and not what our family needed. We had two bedrooms for the five of us, and only one had a closet with a rod but it fell down after putting a few of our clothes on it the day we moved in. The stair treads were cupped and did not have hand railing. Speaking of hand railing there was none on the balcony which insurance dictated was necessary for approval, so it moved to the top of the priority list immediately. The upstairs had only the plywood sub floor. You could use the master bedroom toilet and look through the laundry room into the hallway. There are so many other “unique” features of our house which I will dive into through more ranch renovation posts. Despite all of these obstacles, the appeal of this house was so strong because it was like a blank canvas waiting for brush strokes of design to make it beautiful. I could see the potential and I was brimming with excitement to make this little house a gem, hence the term ranch renovation.
Despite the photo quality it gives a glimpse of where we started. The totes holding all of our kitchen wares became our countertops for 11 weeks.
Design vision always starts with looking at the strengths of a project and building up from there. The house had 10 foot ceilings lined with pine tongue and groove. The floor once refinished was a durable easy-to-clean surface. Most important though the plumbing for the kitchen sink was under the window where I could view my fountain in the potager garden. These key components were the good bones we started with and what we focused on. The rest like cabinets and countertops were just icing on the cake, which for me is the best part of design. All other apparent obstacles could either be gutted or reworked to suit our family lifestyle. Reviewing a design project is really not much different than viewing other aspects of life. We should always be looking for people’s strengths and focusing on those attributes, not their weaknesses.
Life would have been so mundane if the house had been finished. We would not have had the challenging experiences of no kitchen, bathrooms, or closets, which we now can giggle about together. I would not have had the opportunity to place my own personal touch on the design, and for this reason and this alone, I am so grateful for the struggles with patience as we continue on our ranch renovation path.
Has anyone else had a rocky road but could see the blessings in the “bump”?
