One Room Challenge: The Finale

If we knew in advance that we wouldn’t be able to finish the One Room Challenge, we still would’ve entered.

Why?

Because we are closer to finishing our dream porch than we were just eight short weeks ago.

I signed us up (without Rob’s knowledge) because I thought it would give us the kick in the pants we needed to get started.

In the course of life, it’s so easy to get blown off course of our dreams. Life happens. Infrastructure, like electrical wiring, plumbing, and roofing, take precedence. Raising children. Enduring a pandemic. Career changes.

This project, especially coming off the heels of building our garden, was such a great reminder that there’s a sweetness in chasing dreams. Especially dreams that serve to bring more beauty (or enjoyment of that beauty) into the world.

This porch looks a little different than we initially imagined. Some of our plans turned out to be cost-prohibitive (looking at you, composite flooring). Some of our plans turned out to be problematic and required a pivot (so long, opaque roof).

And that’s true of dreams, too.

Sometimes we have to work just a little harder or employ a little more imagination to find the right way forward.

The porch is as finished as it’s going to be for probably a few weeks. And that’s ok. For now, I have a place to sit to watch the boys play in the pool and jump on the trampoline and watch life happen on the lake.

It’s still missing a roof, railing, and all of the cushions will be mis-matched until I find a pocket of time to recover them. But just as I’m learning the value of pursuing dreams, I’m also learning to be content “in the middle” of a project.

The middle is a place where Rob and I are laboring together to make something beautiful.

I’ve said this quite a bit here, but I think it bears repeating: The Internet would sometimes have us believe that things happen at lightning speed. That a renovation or project should be posted about in days rather than weeks.

One Room Challenge’s concept is beautiful; it reminds us all that, for the majority, projects take time. That many of us will have to find ways to do things ourselves versus hire them out. That projects take time, patience, and vision. I’m a One Room Challenge participant for life!