Last Minute Preparations to Move into Our Unfinished Fixer Upper

Our last minute preparations to move into our unfinished fixer upper were hectic to say the least! It was by no means ready, but we had to make it work!

We passed our framing inspection and it was approved! Now we are only days away from moving into the house and this was the condition of it! 

WALKTHROUGH BEFORE MOVING INTO OUR FIXER UPPER

I took a walkthrough of the house for a final tour before we moved in. It’s really crazy looking back at this footage to see what we went through during those final days. There were no real walls as the drywall was not up yet, but it was on the list of things to do. And there was nothing in the house yet. No appliances, nothing. Again, super crazy that we were about to move in!

Nate gave me a little wave and I could tell he was a bit stressed out about how this was all going to come together as our apartment lease was about to end. We just had to make it work – somehow! 

As I documented my tour of the house, I captured footage of all the stuff behind the scenes like the electrical wiring, plumbing pipes, new framing, etc. It’s like we are literally rebuilding this small house from scratch. And well, I guess we really are! It’s so hard to believe that two people with very little experience with something like this actually made it happen. But yea, we still have a long way to go!

PREPARATION DISCUSSIONS BEFORE MOVING IN

It was a Saturday evening and we were supposed to move in that following Wednesday. Nate reminded me that we didn’t have much time to get it ready. What were we going to do?

I wondered if we would be able to fit everything in the house as it looked much smaller to me at first since a lot of things were in there. As I continued to capture more and more footage, I couldn’t help but to think that this was a really tiny house! Not the kind on wheels, but a really small house. Let’s just say, I’m thinking where we live in Texas and how everything is bigger here, we have a tiny house by those standards! 

I was actually a bit excited about this whole experience coming up because it felt like we would be camping out in an unfinished wood cabin or something like that.

Look, when you’ve done missions work in third world countries and stayed in some shady shacks along the way, this house was something to really appreciate! 

Now it was Sunday and we were going to be moving in that following Wednesday. Nate was getting ready to add the insulation to the walls and finally some drywall. The framers also helped out with the drywall too!

THE STRESS OF MOVING INTO AN UNFINISHED FIXER UPPER

As we were getting ready to move in, Nate was stressed out and felt so bad for me. I found some old footage of him that I haven’t seen until now. 

He took some time on a car ride to vlog his thoughts about this whole process, including me! This was recorded the day that we were actually moving into our unfinished fixer upper.

“Today we put up drywall in the master bedroom and the bathroom and that’s almost done. I feel so bad right now for her because she’s going into.. she’s a classy woman and I just can’t get it prepared for her and I just feel so bad for her. I don’t know what I’m going to do. It’s been the most stressful time. It’s crazy. Plywood floors, drywall done in one room, no AC, no toilet, no running water inside the house. We do have hoses outside that are working. We need a miracle! I don’t know what to do. So overwhelmed right now. I’m just thankful I have a woman that’s less stressed than me about this. I don’t know if that’s going to change when she sees the inside of the house. See what happens. Help us Lord!”

Awe.. how sweet. It actually got me a bit teary eyed when I watched that. I have a good man!

Before we met each other we were both separately doing full time missions work out on the missions field in third world countries and many other places.

Because of this and the renovations we made on our tiny Hawaii studio while we were living in it, I had the tolerance to live in many types of living conditions. 

FINANCIAL FREEDOM BY MOVING INTO A FIXER UPPER

But, I think the beauty of this situation is that we worked so hard to buy and build this place on our own. We could’ve easily purchased a nicer and larger house by taking out a bigger mortgage, but we wanted to live more simply and within our means, and actually, more realistically below our means. 

And I know that we are totally going against the grain on a lot of these decisions that we have made and it certainly has been a challenging ride along the way, but it is worth it to us to have financial freedom. To live below our means so that we are not working for a 15 or 30 year mortgage. Yet it really makes me appreciate the little that we do have and to see how much we have actually accomplished. 

Not to mention all the new skills that we have learned along the way and continue to learn. We would have definitely missed out on all these adventures if we had just been paying on a 15 or 30 year mortgage for a move-in ready house. And.. that’s why we have budgeted to pay off this house in only three years!

Yes, I can’t wait to go and do my Dave Ramsey debt free scream! For real though!

MOVE IN DAY PREPARATIONS – UNFINISHED FIXER UPPER

Nate shared footage of the house the morning of the day that we were moving in as our apartment lease was up. Oh boy, it did not look ready to move into, but we were determined to make it happen! 

It looked crazy and he was trying to figure out how to get it ready. Since we planned on “living” mainly in the master bedroom while we finished up renovations on other parts of the house, that was the focus that day. 

Nate reflected on how crazy we were and that we spent more money than we thought and were not nearly as far as we were hoping so we had no choice, but to move in. We planned to just make the best of it. 

We planned to move into one room, the main bedroom and put our stuff where ever we could find room for it throughout the house as we continued to renovate while living in it. Since our apartment lease was up, we were not about to pay for apartment rent and a mortgage at the same time. No thank you!

Nate did a fabulous job getting the room ready for us by mopping the beautiful wonderful plywood flooring and then putting down some temporary vinyl flooring on top of it. Such a sweet man!

Oh and thank goodness he had the plumber come out the evening of the day that we were moving in to install our toilet! Wow, talk about cutting it close!

Luke 14:28

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic home mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!

You can also watch a video about this here.

To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.

🏚 CHECKING OUT THE CEILING FRAMES AND PLUMBING 🚽

🏚 DISCOVERING OLD ORIGINAL SIDING ON SMALL 1930’S COTTAGE 🏠

🌺 400 SQ FT STUDIO IN HAWAII | FURNITURE PLACEMENT 🛋️

Check out our YouTube channel here!

Read more about my story here. 

Stay tuned as I share about simple and minimal living in small spaces, DIY renovation projects while living simply in a literal construction zone, and how we’re learning to urban homestead in a small space.. all while working full time jobs!