Six months after my husband, Kenny, and I got married, we started saving and looking for a house.
After going to showings almost every weekend for several months, we finally came across a property with a lot of potential. It was only a little over 1,000 square feet and not much of a looker, but there was a creek in the backyard and a huge deck. The catch: it needed a lot of work.
The place had stained drop ceilings, old wiring, seven layers of flooring in the kitchen, turf-green carpet, zero insulation, and no doors beyond the front, back, and basement entrances. But despite the flaws, we decided it was the perfect home for us and put in an offer.
The first weekend we owned the place, we gathered friends and family and ripped out everything — walls, trim, closets, drop ceiling, carpet, and light fixtures.
Even though it was a mess, we decided to stay in the house throughout the renovation so we wouldn’t have to pay for other accommodations. The first month, we slept in a tent on the deck to avoid the dust and debris, but regardless, we were so excited about being homeowners.
More than a year later, and about $31,000 spent, we’re still living in the house as construction continues — but the end is finally in sight.
The state of our house really tested our marriage
Maria VerMulm
My husband and I are both 23, and we have completely different skill sets. He’s a hands-on carpenter and visualizer, and I’m a book-loving writer and analyzer.
His strengths are usually my weaknesses, and vice versa, which means we really work at understanding how the other one thinks. Living in a construction zone only tested that more.
There were days we longed for normalcy — or just a couch to sit on. All of our furniture was in storage, so we would either have dinner on the deck or on top of a tarp on the living room floor. Eventually, we brought out our kitchen table, which also served as my desk.
Until the new tub in our bathroom was ready, we even resorted to standing in a plastic storage bin with a tarp around it as a makeshift shower.
Maria VerMulm
There were days when the stress would bubble to the surface, and everything would tick us off. Sometimes we just had to say, “It’s the house, not you,” and get back to work.
Regardless of any tension between us, the pressure to finish always hung over us. In the fall of 2025, we really put our heads down and got to the grind.
It had been just a few months since we bought the place; demolition was complete, and rebuilding had begun.
Kenny worked nine-hour days Monday through Thursday and spent all day Friday and Saturday working on the house. I worked as a barista in the mornings and a bartender at night while starting my business.
Because of our busy schedules and the disarray of our home, it felt like we never had a moment to spend quality time together — we hadn’t had a date in months and skipped doing anything for our anniversary to save money.
It was challenging, but we knew that in the end, we were in this together, that it would all be worth it, and we never doubted our decision.
Our friends and family helped turn a construction site into a home
Maria VerMulm
Every once in a while, we’d throw parties at our house for our friends and family, calling it free labor in exchange for food.
We’ve found lots of excuses for get-togethers, from a drywalling party to a gathering where we removed all the staples and nails from the flooring.
These were the best parts of the renovation process. We’d proudly show our friends and family the tool-littered, grimy house and all the hard work we’d done so far — plus it was a great excuse to see our loved ones.
Our friends didn’t care about the mess — or the lack of walls. They didn’t even mind that the bathroom door was just a sheet of drywall that you slid across the open-framed walls. All that mattered to them was that we could spend time together.
Maria VerMulm
We might not be done with the remodel, but it already feels like home. We now have walls, pine floors, cabinets, a kitchen, and a beautiful archway between the living room and kitchen. The only things left to do are painting the kitchen trim, tiling the backsplash, and hanging pictures on the walls.
Now that it’s almost over, I’m so thankful we took the leap and bought the house. It’s put us ahead in life in a way that will compound over time, and I think by the time we’re 40, we’ll be very proud of the decisions we’re making now.
