Renovate Your Life & Make It Beautiful

Is your life beautiful?

Renovating – it’s been the theme of our lives for nearly ten years!

When my husband and I bought our current home, we knew serious projects were in our future. Immediately after closing, we met our contractor at our house and the renovations began with adding and removing walls.

Next, we gutted the kitchen and reconfigured it. Then we replaced carpet with hardwood and refinished all the floors on first floor.

Soon after, we replaced the wood balusters with iron in our railings and removed the dangerous steps down to our basement – a must for safety reasons. Next, we finished the basement, turning it into a “copy room” for our business, storage, and my happy workout space.

Then, a long pause. Having workman in your house for weeks on end gets old!

Next, we ventured outside and added shutters, replaced the siding, and added a deck for some much-needed outdoor space.

Forced to Make Changes

A destructive Easter storm hit Chattanooga in 2020 that sent seven trees crashing down onto our house and deck leading to more major outdoor projects.

We enjoyed another break until last year when we replaced the carpet upstairs with hardwoods and installed new carpet in a few rooms.

Finally, we tackled our biggest project – a major overhaul on our primary bathroom. A LONG and involved project that I shared a quick peak here. And a project we did mostly ourselves.

Another brief pause.

And, we are back at it! Recently we replaced the tile in the remaining two bathrooms, as well as our sun room. Now we are in the process of updating the bathrooms. This is the home stretch! Just a small laundry room ahead!

A fully renovated home is a wildly exciting prospect, especially since we’ve never completed any of our previous homes. I long to simply enjoy our home without all the hard work, because it’s challenging to renovate!

The Funny Thing…

I’m hooked on renovation shows! There’s something about seeing an ugly, outdated, and impractical layout transformed into a beautiful and functional space that’s mesmerizing! I appreciate the vision, creativity, and ingenuity that takes.

Even with challenges – a home renovation on TV is resolved in the space of 30-60 minutes. The shows can’t reflect the turmoil of living through a renovation or the weight of so many choices.

With a real-life renovation you feel the burden – the unforeseen expenses, the frustration of living in a mess, and the wondering when the project will finally be completed.

Renovating is not for the faint of heart! I speak from experience! The process is overwhelming. Lots of inconveniences, like having to stay in a hotel while our floors were being refinished or cooking in an electric skillet and washing dishes in the bathroom. Then there’s the dust, dust, and more dust. And the strangers in and out.

To complicate matters, my husband and I both work from home, so the noise, mess, and workers in your house gets old quick – even when the workers are nice!

You’ll only dare to renovate if you keep your sights on the end product: a beautiful and functional home! If you don’t, you’ll settle and put up with the way things are.

Happy Changes!

I love everything we’ve done to our home. Each change makes the house function so much better and is more aesthetically pleasing! Despite the mess and frustrations, I’m glad that we’ve persisted.

You may have no desire to renovate your home, but I’m guessing you want a life that functions well – a beautiful life! Yet when you think about making changes, perhaps thoughts like this run through your head…

• Making personal changes and growing is too much work – too hard.
• A “beautiful life” is for everyone else.
• I’m not even sure what I want my life to look like.
• I have no idea what to change or where to start.
• I’m not disciplined enough to renovate my life.
• Change is not fun!
• What if I make the wrong changes?
• My life isn’t that bad.
  

Maybe your life needs a major renovation like our frumpy fixer-upper home did. Or maybe your life just needs a few cosmetic touch ups. Either way, while the process may seem uncomfortable and messy, you won’t regret making the effort to renovate your life!

If you dare, here are a few things to keep in mind as you set out to renovate your life:

1. Remember Your Focus

First and foremost, remember who God created you to be! If you aren’t sure, here’s a great place to start. Once you have a clear sense of who God created you to be, then you’ll know what to make your focus as you make changes. Maybe God created you to be loving, courageous, trusting, or authentic. Whoever He created you to be will probably not come naturally to you. You will have to rely on Him to walk in that fully. But as you center yourself in God’s love and provision for you, and lean into whoever God created you to be, the process becomes that much easier.

Next, stay true to your values – the minute you stray, you’ll feel the rub, and you don’t need any additional distractions in the process of renovating your life.

And last, but not least, focus in on what God has you in this season. Do the changes or goals you are chasing align with what God has in mind for you right now?

God often has bigger goals and dreams in mind for you than you have for yourself. Pursuits that force you out of your comfort zone and into a place of greater dependence on Him.

In the midst of all the remodeling, my focus was the end result. Creating a comfortable, functional, and beautiful home is something I value enough to suffer through the hard stuff in order to get there.

Do you value a beautiful life enough to do the hard work?

2. Be Realistic

Be realistic – as they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Making changes takes time! It requires patience and a big dose of persistence and consistency. In fact, slow and steady beats fast and furious when it comes to making personal changes.

Anticipate challenges, setbacks, and obstacles along the way.

3. Do Your Part

You are you are responsible for faithfully doing your part – doing the hard work! What are the habits and actions you need to be taking daily in order to successfully renovate your life?

4. Trust God

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to make the changes happen! While you must do your part, you must also trust God to do His part. He’s with you in the process even when the circumstances might suggest otherwise.

Keep in mind that God desires good things for you! Don’t miss the treasured life lessons that are nestled in the surprises. Those “challenging” experiences are preparing you for what’s ahead. God uses it all – the good, the bad, and the ugly to help you become the person He knows you have the potential to be.

5. Get Help!

Have you watched the renovation shows that feature a home renovation expert helping a newbie renovator fix their mistakes? When you are renovating, you don’t know what you don’t know. You need help!

I’m fortunate. My husband is quite handy. He’s done a ton of work on our house. I’ve tackled many of the finishing touches. And we’ve enlisted the help of dozens of contractors and experts in the process of our remodeling projects. Why? For two reasons: 1) they are more knowledgeable and more skilled and 2) they are speedier than we are.

Besides, it’s rare to see a home renovation show where the renovator works solo. They typically work in pairs or have a team. So even the best of the best don’t go it alone!

As you set out to makes life changes, don’t go it alone. Enlist the help of a coach – someone to support you during the ups and downs, and guide you so that you avoid common mistakes and grow in ways you might not on your own.

Imagine yourself enjoying a well-functioning and beautiful life! What renovations would need to take place for that to be true?

• Are there things you need to let go?
• Habits you need to eliminate or habits you need to embrace?
• Mindsets that need some attention?
• Skills that need sharpening like delegating, communicating, working smarter rather than harder?
• Do you need to identify your values and align your life with them?
• Is your life out of balance?
• Is there something that God’s put on your heart, but you’ve not been brave enough to pursue?

For a more beautiful life, where does your life need a little renovating?