OPEN

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but in the midst of life's activities I still found some time to continue painting and put things in order. 

This weekend, I especially enjoyed hosting an "OPEN house" on Friday evening. We sent out an OPEN invitation to our church family to stop by. What a joy it was to experience a house full of conversation and laughter. I was especially blessed to see the children running throughout the house and enjoying play. It is the fulfillment of a vision I saw with my mind's eye ever since we began work on this house. My sense has always been that this house's destiny is to embrace friends and family; to build community; to provide a place of peace and rest.

I know that many of you like to see the rooms as they are "finished". (I've provided several pictures for you below.) I put that word in quotation marks because finished may not be realized for quite some time yet. I still have vision for more decorative touches such as curtains, area rugs, paintings to hang on the walls, house plants, etc. 

The master bedroom BEFORE...

...and from the same viewpoint AFTER.

To the right of our bed is a doorway leading into the master bathroom. It was a smaller bedroom originally but it seemed best to make it into an en suite bathroom. Here's the room BEFORE...

And below you can see the transformation. Those doorways are no longer there. (one led to a tiny pink tile bathroom, the other opened into the hallway) Instead, we put a shower in that corner and the partial wall you see below hides the toilet from view. New windows with privacy glass work well here too.

The living room BEFORE...

and AFTER...

We spent 2 days painting the fireplace mantel and bookshelves. We primed the whole thing one evening while "watching" a couple of movies on TV. That made the monotonous task go much more quickly and it was wonderful to have a husband who didn't mind being my painting partner.

And so, most of the rooms are "finished". However, the four rooms on the 3rd floor are still untouched. In addition, the hallways and stairwells remain unpainted. In spite of that, our front door remains OPEN. Everything doesn't have to be perfect and complete in order for others to stop by.

Isn't that the way life should be? God is teaching me through this house to be real and OPEN. I want to be OPEN to love and bless others; to share life and possessions with others. Let's be real. We have a tendency to shut others out because we feel we're not perfect. We only want others to see the "finished" places in our hearts and lives. But we are all "under construction". Let's OPEN the door of our lives to others even though we aren't finished.