IT IS FINISHED....the big reno "real"veal...

Hip hip horray...it'a all done! I do have to say, these renos and clean ups this spring have been the best ones yet. Jesus has been so great to work with and has done such excellent work. In fact, remember the kitchen grout and tile job that we decided to add on in "our spare time"? Jesus told us EXACTLY which cleaner to buy, left us his nice big sponge to use, made up new grout for us, and then proceeded to regrout our entire kitchen for us while telling us the story of how God moved his family to Texas. We did the cleaner (which made my counters sparkle in a way I've never seen before!) and did the sealed the grout after it was dry. 

But I'm not gonna lie, even thought it was only a couple of days, I was getting tired of stuff being everywhere. 

 On the bar, on the island....

 on the dining room table...

 and then in my bathroom...EVERYTHING was out of the drawers and cabinets and put on the counter...

 on the floor...

 and in boxes, laundry baskets, etc. all over my floor.

 But this is real life. I'm putting the "real" in "real"veal...For the final product to look so lovely, there's just the messy stage in the middle. Where your stuff is all out in the open, where the work is in progress and you can't tell for sure how great the end is going to look, when you are sweaty and tired and ready for it to all be over and then you realize, there's ANOTHER coat of paint to put on, or ANOTHER hour to wait before you can put the finish on, or hardware that still needs to be put back on the doors before you can hang them. Isn't that just like life, though, The reno of our lives just takes work, and it gets ugly before it gets pretty. We just have to keep pressing on...don't skip the "primer", don't let the mess wear you down, trust the process, stick with it to the end. Because the final reveal is awesome!

 Here's my sparkling clean kitchen with sparkly tile! :-)

 I didn't put as much stuff back on my counters because after looking at them completely cleaned off for days, I didn't want to fill them back up with stuff.

 And wowza! Look at my sink with the BEIGE grout (not black!!). I also scraped around the faucets to get the hard water scale off and scrubbed out the sink. This definitely makes me want to eat out for days and days! Who wants to put dirty dishes back in those sink??!!

And then...at long last.. the master bathroom!

 Isn't she gorgeous! The cabinets are darker (they started the color of the cabinets in the kitchen) and they look amazing!

 Here's our new shower. I'm loving the frameless glass and not at all missing the space we took out of the shower. It doesn't feel any smaller and with the clear glass, you don't miss the space AT ALL.

AND MY BATHTUB!!! I'm so in love! We all are actually! We've taken SO.MANY.BATHS in the last month. When Michael and the boys having been working outside, they love having a bath to soak in. My back has LOVED having a bath to soak in! We've gotten remote control candles to put in the bathroom. It's so dreamy...candles, a bath with , musical spa playing on Pandora! Aaaahhhhh...just makes my body relax just thinking about it.

I'm so very thankful to my sweet husband for making this happen! And thankful to Jesus (both Jesus Himself and Jesus-the contractor) for making it happen!