How My Fixer Upper House Fixed Me

Can I be really honest with you today? Like, genuinely open-book honest?

Because this episode is a little different. This one isn't about painting techniques or which roller cover to use. This one is about what happens when you take a leap of faith on a fixer upper house -- and it ends up fixing you in ways you never saw coming.

The house we almost didn't fall in love with

When my husband and I purchased our detached home in 2022, I won't sugarcoat it -- we were completely overwhelmed. My father-in-law was our realtor, and he told us later that he had never been present for someone's first walkthrough of their new home. He said maybe that was a good thing, because based on our reactions, it probably would have made his job a lot harder.

The house smelled old. There was patched paint everywhere. Our bedroom was bright yellow with bright pink ink stains on the walls -- not exactly the peaceful, relaxing retreat I had envisioned. It was a lot to take in.

But we got to work. My husband started ripping out carpets. I started painting. And little by little, over that first month, it started to feel like ours.

" I really had to let go of the expectation that everything had to be perfect right away and that was very difficult for me."

I'm the person who unpacks everything the second we get home from vacation just to feel settled. So learning to sit with the in-between, the half-finished, the not-yet — that was a real growth edge for me. Hard. But necessary.

When things got harder than expected

Shortly after moving in, we discovered mould in our upstairs bathroom. Which meant our family of four ended up living on the first floor of our house for two full years, sharing one bathroom. For context, in our previous townhome, we had three full bathrooms. There were definitely moments I questioned whether we had made the right choice.

But then I would look out at our private backyard. I would watch my girls play in the playroom. And I would remember why we did it.

When we finally completed the bathroom renovation in 2024, we were more than ready. With two kids now fully potty trained, the competition for the toilet had reached a whole new level, ha! But what I wasn't prepared for was the anxiety the renovation process brought with it.

The part I didn't expect to share -- but need to

Living in a state of constant chaos and decision-making during that reno was exhilarating in some ways. But it also left me completely burnt out. I was overthinking everything. I couldn't relax. I wasn't sleeping -- to the point where I was moving to the couch in the middle of the night so I wouldn't wake my husband.

He was worried about me. Honestly? I was too. But I was too stubborn to admit I was struggling.

It took my sister sitting me down and saying, "Sheri, the way your brain won't stop at night that sounds like anxiety," for me to finally listen. I made an appointment with my family doctor. I filled out a General Anxiety questionnaire. And when I saw my score -- on the higher end of the scale -- I broke down in tears.

I think I had been carrying this for years. With good habits and a full life, I had been functioning well enough that I never stopped to look at it clearly. My doctor put me on a low dose SSRI and it has genuinely changed my life. I sleep again. I'm not so afraid to fail. I'm taking risks-- building a website, starting a business, launching a podcast. If you had told me back in 2022 that I would be doing all of this by 2026, I truly would not have believed you.

"If we had kept the status quo, I would not have learned the DIY skills and I would not have been forced to look at my response to stress."

What the fixer upper actually taught me

Here's what I know now that I didn't know then: sometimes the leap of faith is the thing that changes everything. Not just the walls you paint or the floors you refinish but who you become in the process.

Buying that house forced me to do the introspection I had been avoiding. It pushed me past my comfort zone in every possible way. And I am so, so grateful.

So if you're in the middle of a fixer upper right now, if you're exhausted, overwhelmed, questioning every decision, wondering if it's always going to feel this hard, I want you to hear this: it won't. And the version of you that comes out the other side? She's going to surprise you.

Keep going, friend. One project at a time.