This Old House or Any Old House?

Twenty five years ago, I took off a couple of years from work to remodel Mother's house, the same house I now call home. It was in dire need of repair and I wanted Mother to have a nice home for he retirement years. My grandmother paid for the supplies and I provided the labor. I didn't have much experience at stuff like this. I'd put in half a dozen different interiors in my blue Ford van and I worked for an interior decorator while in high school... but there aren't many dashboards in a house. And I couldn't afford decorator style treatments for over a dozen windows.

So, I watched every This Old House episode and bought lots of books.This was before the days of HGTV, the DIY Network or any of those other great shows on cable. I didn't have the internet for research. There was Timmons Hardware, Ken's Lumber and not much more in El Do. So, I talked with carpenters, plumbers and electricians I knew. Best of all, I had friends like Steve Rogers who got dirty right along with me, teaching me the tricks learned along the way in the real world, stuff you can't read about in books. I didn't know much when I started but I sure learned a lot along the way.

It was tough work, too. One of my projects was to re-wire the house. That meant spending days working in the crawlspace beneath the house, crawling on my belly like a reptile pulling electrical wire, phone lines and cable. I lost count of the splinters pulled out of my fingers. And the sheetrock dust! I thought I was going to sneeze up a cinder block at one point. But, I kept on working on that house.

I never quite finished it. Dad needed me back full time in the chemical company so I moved back to Monroe in January of '87. Now, I'm back working living in that same house, catching up for a few lost years and making even more improvements.

And yes, I like it.

I enjoy making plans, working hard and seeing an improvement. I like looking at how it has been and figuring a better way to get something done. I lost count of how many notebooks I went through redesigning the kitchen. But, it's fun.

In thinking about it, relationships are a lot like houses. You can go find a spec house that looks a lot like all the other houses in the neighborhood, personalize it with your choice of wallpaper and carpet, and call it home. Or, you can find a neat older home, probably neglected and in much need of repair. Most spec houses can be built in three months. I invested two years in Mother's house and only got two thirds of the way done.

I cringe when I hear an older woman say of her husband of forty or fifty years "Well, he's been good to me." What? I know guys who say the same about their hunting dog. Where's the passion? Where's the life? That sounds like someone who settled for a spec house, slapped a fresh coat of paint on it every few years and did little more than exist along the way.

Boring.

But, I think some folks are happy with that kind of life. I don't get it. And it doesn't sound like much abundance in life. Jesus said "I came that you might have life and have it abundantly." That's what I want.

It's like they never get deeper into their homes than the surface of the sheetrock, the kitchen sink or the thermostat. Changing air conditioning filters is big time maintenance for them. They wouldn't consider tearing out a few walls or doing my next project... crawling underneath to support some sagging joists in the foundation. They wouldn't know a stud from a joist from a rafter. And they are happy to live in their ignorance. They are happy with just "OK". They seem to be satisfied with a home that looks just like every other one on the block. They are fine with "any old house".

Besides, they'll be moving in a few years anyway. A house is just a place to sleep and get your mail, right?

Not me.

I want a neat home that has character. And I'm not afraid to learn how to make the repairs necessary to keep it around for generations to come. When I get over my head, I'm not afraid to call in the pros for help. And I'm willing to invest the time, the energy and even accept a fair bit of pain along the way in order to create a showpiece instead of a spec house.

I'm also an energy efficiency nut. I'm all about saving energy and will do all sorts of little things to save a kilowatt here or there. And it pays off. In twenty years down in Monroe I cut the utility bills by two thirds. It definitely is worth the effort.

And relationships are worth the effort, too. This metaphor applies easily to marriage but I think it has merit for family relationships, close friends and maybe even our own relationships with the Lord. It even applies to our own lives.

I see some folks who are barely living, more existing. They go from day to day much the same. I can't tell if they are in some sort of fog or just don't care. Maybe they don't know anything better is possible. Maybe they were hurt while working on a house years ago and get nervous around construction sites. I find it all very sad.

Me? I enjoy a challenge. I enjoy always looking at ways to improve, even if it is a good thing to start with. I enjoy knowing how something works before it breaks... on the weekend when there is no one around to call in for repairs. And I like having options... like a backup generator, solar water heat and such.

And I'd rather have a well built cottage than a fancy big house that is only a facade. I've had the big house. And they are nice. But I find it easier to create a real home in the smaller cottage than the big fine house.

What are you investing in? Any old house? Or "This Old House"?