Release Your Inner Chip + Jo: The Home Renovation Mama Life

In a world where many of us mamas wonder what it’s like to be Joanna Gaines, I get to try my hand at the glamorized renovation life every few months! Here’s the skinny on what it’s really like for those of us whom reno with a real life budget, no camera crew, and no full-time construction crew!

A year and a half ago Chip, I mean my husband Ryan {haha!} sat on the sidelines of my children’s soccer practice and revealed his heart to me. He batted his eye lashes, leaned into my side while we sat on a picnic blanket and said, “What do you think about finally making my dream from when I was in college come true?” Ryan, my high school sweet heart and hubby of 12 years explained how he really wanted to finally go after his dream of owning some rental properties in Flint near his old college campus. Lost in his baby blues, and ecstatic that he – my logical engineer – was finally dreaming again {something he doesn’t often do}…I said yes!

After some impressive financial maneuvering, we now have two properties we lovingly refer to as the Dupont and Chevy Houses. Named by their location, each of the homes have unique qualities. The Dupont home was built in 1928 and the Chevy in 1927, they are charming and have great character now. But when we bought both, our family, friends, favorite contractor, and our construction mentor called us crazy. 

The houses had been rented for decades by local college students and owned by slum lords that lived out of the area. To describe them as “trashed” wouldn’t even be enough of a statement. Before we could even look at underlining issues like the foundation or electrical wiring and safety, I had to remove some 30 contractor-sized garbage bags of college boy filth. That number of bags was from just one of the two homes. I stopped counting after that! Somehow I missed the boat on a quick exit for the construction team to get to work after walking through the dumps – I mean homes – re-envisioning their floor plan, color scheme, and furniture lay out. While my husband went to his day job an hour away, I spent months up to my elbows in garbage and dirt. And since I’m a homeschooling mom, I did it all with my kids in tow along with their school work. But hey, everyone has to start somewhere!  I do love the challenge of hard work, plus once the houses were cleaned my husband let me finally pretend to be Jojo selecting the color scheme and purchasing gently used furniture on Facebook Marketplace! I even have a hashtag on on my Instagram page: #fixingflint. 

So now, let’s talk before and afters. Before these projects began, these homes were rotting away from their foundation to their roof lines. Now, foundations have been restored, hazardous electrical updated, flooring refinished, carpets replaced, paint…paint…paint, and all of the historical integrity remains. My husband and I are working on our witty Chip and Jo banter, but arguing still exists as we figure out how to work together.

My kids love the neighborhood kids, and to be honest this is one of the largest reasons I said yes to this dream. To not only fix up old houses and bless the community, but build relationships with our neighbors and care for their hearts. I’ll share some stories soon of how we stopped an old man from screaming and physically threatening our renters, to little girls coming to our door and inviting us to attend church with them.

But for now, here is a pinch of the reno work we’ve sweat, bled, toiled, and yes…cried over.  

Have you and your spouse ever thought about releasing your inner Chip and Jo, and getting your reno on?