We’re currently in the midst of having our kitchen renovated. For those of you who’ve gone through kitchen remodeling, I can hear your kind words of sympathy right now. Thank you. Please pass along your condolences. I need all I can get! 🙂
You know what it’s like to have a kitchen that looks like this:
You know what it’s like to eat for a couple of weeks here: (in the garage)
And you may even know what it’s like to not be able to walk through your house because of this: (having to let the tile sit in stages!)
We’ve had to set up barricades, like this, to keep the pets off the floor:
I’ve had to move my coffee pot upstairs to my office: (In all of the messes, I accidentally used decaf for two days instead of regular! And boy, did I pay for it!)
Chaos.
Those five little letters describe my life in a big way over the past couple of weeks. The work of having to empty out cupboards and transport everything to the basement (which is now a mess of boxes and bags too). The dust, the dirt, the grind of the saw, the tromping of workers in and out of the house. The inconvenience of not being able to cook for two weeks.
On more than one occasion, when I was rinsing out a bowl in the bathtub or realizing I needed something that was packed away, I wondered why we decided to have our kitchen updated. Weren’t the green counters and chipped cabinets working out just fine? Sure the linoleum was sliced up and grimy, but it was still serviceable.
The doubts assailed me. Why was I putting myself through such upheaval?
I kept telling myself, “It will all be worth it in the end.” When all of the destruction and work is done, I’ll have a fresh, pretty, new kitchen to enjoy.
The same is true of life too, isn’t it?
Lesson: Usually we have to go through pain and grueling hardship in order to finally experience something that’s beautiful and worthwhile.
I’ve learned that lesson through running. I had to endure weeks of muscle pain before I finally reached a point of fitness where I could run with relative ease.
I’ve learned that lesson in my writing. I spent years studying writing techniques and wrote five full length novels before I was able to garner attention from publishers. Even now, I continue to labor hard every day to have a successful writing career.
I’ve learned that lesson with raising children. Over the years I’ve invested my life training and teaching my children. It’s taken incredible sacrifice, sleepless night, and lots of tears. But when I see the character developing in their lives, I know the pain has been worth it.
Isn’t interesting that with most things in nature and life, God uses difficulties, destruction, and sometimes even death to bring about new life?
So next time we face chaos (in the kitchen or elsewhere!), let’s remember that something good can come out of the pain.
Nearing Completion! Floor and cabinets done. Counter tops still left to go!
How about you? Have you ever remodeled your kitchen? Or any room in your house? What’s the most chaotic thing you’ve lived through?
Jody Hedlund
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Jody, it will be finished and you will forget the pain!! At least you still have a kitchen sink! LOL I know exactly what you are going through – those pictures are illustrations of our remodeling experience except that ours lasted for three months!!!! It was totally worth all the chaos and I have never regretted that we suffered for all those days!! Enjoy your new kitchen!
Three months!!! I’m so ready to be done after two weeks!! We still have counter tops which I’m told will take three more weeks, but I’m hoping to have a somewhat functional kitchen soon! 🙂
Oy…I’ve never experienced a kitchen remodel (I’m a renter) but I’ve hand-held friends who have. I find it totally fascinating in a macabre kind of way. And no one’s kitchen was done in the time line promised. Best case scenario was friend A who had her reno done in the summer and they barbecued every night. Worst case was friend B who had an early winter reno (like before Christmas) and was very pregnant. Christmas and the baby came before the kitchen!
Love how you tied this into a life lesson. Those are the best kinds. 🙂
Oh, I purposefully planned on a spring/summer renovation so that we could eat in the garage and outside. I don’t know how we would have done it here in Michigan in the winter! It would have been awful! And you’re so right about timing. Everything always takes longer than we anticipate! 🙂
Ahhhhhh how I love the coffee RIGHT by the computer!!! We did our kitchen last year and it was quite the undertaking. And then we did both bathrooms – the biggest of which gave us tons of fits and had to be redone twice more. It was an interesting project to take on in the first year of marriage. We figure if we survived that – we can survive anything!!! 🙂
Hi Bekah! Yes! The essentials, right? 😉 I told Jeff I think I like having a coffee pot in my office! I could get used to it very easily! And you are a very brave couple attempting all the remodeling your first year of marriage. LOL At least in our case, since we know each other so well, we can make *most* of the decisions without too much conflict! 🙂
I love the gated wall to keep the pets out! Hysterical! Did you have to tear that down and reconstruct every time you wanted to walk in the room? That’s a lot of work!
It is quite the contraption! LOL We actually have another doorway that leads into the kitchen that has a real door that we could open and close. So thank goodness for that! 🙂
Jody, you inspire me and scare me at the same time. I’ve been thinking off and on for a couple years that I would love to get new counter tops (at the least) for my kitchen. My dream is to have new cabinets as well, but I might be able to live with the old ones if the counters were updated. But weeks without a kitchen? Ouch. That’s tough. Good excuse to eat out more frequently, but I do that enough as it is. Maybe I’ll count my blessings and keep that status quo a while longer. Hope your counters are in soon!
Hi Karen,
I tell you, God is sure changing me and helping me to be much more flexible than I ever dreamed I could be! 🙂 We’ve been REALLY blessed to be able to eat most dinners over at my mom’s house. She lives about 5 minutes away from us and has graciously done all of the cooking over the past two weeks. I don’t know how we would have survived without her!
OH yes. We went through that! Not easy to do at all. Especially when you don’t have use of any cooking appliances. Hello PB&J sandwiches. LOL. I wish you peace until it is all done!
Hi Susan,
My kids are complaining about how many sandwiches we’ve had to eat for most lunches. And of course, I remind them that way back when I was a child (like a million years ago 🙂 ), we had to eat sandwiches every day for school lunches and we never complained. They just love hearing that. LOL
True. It’s sometimes hard to remind ourselves of this. Thanks, Jody. Your new kitchen is looking very nice.
Oh Jody – – this is SO timely for me today! 😉 Although what I’m experiencing is nowhere close to the major project you have, it’s a BIG hassle today (and I keep reminding myself it’s necessary!).
We have two bathrooms upstairs and after one bathroom flooded a few days ago, I knew I had to call a plumber.
So two plumbers arrived this morning, and after knocking HOLES in both bathroom walls they FINALLY located the
problem. They left 2 hours ago to purchase a new toilet (one got accidentally broken by one of the plumbers), and when I went out to my mailbox a little while ago, I saw they’d left the old toilet sitting on my walkway that leads to my front porch!! I had to laugh, and even snapped a photo and sent my kiddos (with the caption: Look at our classy front yard). 😉 I keep looking out the window, and will be glad when they return with the new toilet, and take the broken, old one away (this is a first for me—have never had this kind of “lawn ornament” LOL).
I know your new kitchen will be beautiful and you’ll enjoy it, but I’m sure it’s been a major hassle.
Thanks for sharing with us, and using this experience to remind us of a valuable life lesson. 🙂
Hugs, Patti Jo
You have my sympathy dear Jody! Just remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”
I’m sure you’ll have the most stunning kitchen in the whole of Michigan:).
As for your Mom ,she is one lovely Lady! What a Blessing she is to you and your Family. Thinking of you my friend!:)
We decided to replace all our floors in our 27 year old house. We had to rent a portable storage in our yard to store all our furniture. It was a mess and we never got everything back in place.
We’ve remodeled kitchens twice in two different houses. And, end the end, the chaos really is worthwhile! Also, it looks as though your coffee maker is now fabulously near to your computer…which seems like a nice perk. Pun intended.
Wonderful post! God truly does use trial and destruction to bright about beautiful new beginnings. Be sure to post ‘after’ pictures next time you blog!
Yes, I’ve been through remodeling and it is worth it in the end and from the pictures it looks like your kitchen will be gorgeous! I think moving to a new state is arduous, too. I just don’t see why we can’t stay in one house and one place all our lives, but then I guess we wouldn’t grow! Hang in there, brighter days are coming when you get everything done, unpacked and start cooking in that lovely kitchen. You may even ask, “why didn’t I do this sooner!”….Blessings, Linda
We did all of our flooring in our home at one time when foundation work was being done. At the same time we had all of the rooms painted. We were out of the house at the time so we weren’t living in the mess. A few months before that we had new counters, faucet, stove, dishwasher, knobs and drawer pulls installed in our kitchen. The hardest remodel was when we redid our bath before my mother moved in. It was a crazy mess and I hated living like that, but I got through it.
We remodeled our kitchen a couple of years ago. We, my family of 6, were living without the kitchen for a month. Yes…I washed dishes in the bathroom…..much to my mother’s dismay. Cooked in a microwave or on the grill….But it was well worth it.