The House Is Changing… and So Are We

We’ve been living at Pauline Manor for about sixteen months now, and I’m honestly still catching my breath.

When we bought this house, we said it would be a five-year project. Not a flip. Not a quick refresh. A long, winding, patience-testing restoration. We meant it, and thank God we did, because that mindset has saved us more than once.

The photo above shows a pretty dramatic before-and-after. The top image is from early in the renovation, when the house was still a mix of bare block, peeling paint, mismatched siding, and old windows. The bottom image is today, April 19, 2024. The siding on the upstairs is finished, the house is closer to being one color again, and it finally feels like it’s starting to look like ours.

But what you can’t see in the photos is what’s changed behind the scenes.

This house has been one of the hardest, most rewarding things we’ve ever taken on. There have been moments of pure joy and moments where we questioned everything. Contractors not showing up. Budgets blown. Delays that turned into months. It’s been the slowest process and somehow also the fastest 16 months of our lives.

Through it all, Mike and I have grown closer than ever. I know a lot of couples say projects like this can break you. And it definitely could have. But we’ve learned how to be a team more than ever before.

We've learned how to vent and not take things out on each other. We've learned how to take turns losing our minds and pulling each other back from the ledge. We’ve learned how to step back, take a breath, and remind ourselves that it’s all still moving forward, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

We’ve also learned how to slow down. Before this, life moved fast. Everything felt urgent. Now, we live in a house that quite literally will not be rushed. And that’s forced us to change too. We plan differently. We prioritize differently. We’ve found joy in the progress, even when it’s not perfect.

This house has changed so much in 16 months. But we’ve changed too. And honestly, I think that’s the real transformation.

It’s not just about restoring a 1908 house. It’s about building a life inside it that actually feels like our own.