When God Turns “Ugly” into Unexpected Beauty
When we first moved into our 1920s-era mint-green house, I had no idea just how much green paint one house could possibly hold. My best guess? There must’ve been a sale on it sometime after an F5 tornado flattened much of our street back in 1985—because this house had green everywhere. And where it wasn’t green, it was covered in ugly paneling — including the bathroom. Think “Brady Bunch” … complete with gold flecks and streaks.
To say it “had character” would be generous. The linoleum had a hole in front of the toilet, the vanity was old, and the lighting somehow managed to be both blinding yet made everything look a little… sickly.
I am by no means a designer or DIY queen—just someone who tries her best. So one night my husband Greg and I decided to tackle this daunting project and cover the 1970s for good.
Pinterest told me terracotta was trending. It looked beautiful in the photos—warm, cozy, stylish. So, naturally, I bought the paint. But what Pinterest didn’t mention? Terracotta looks very different in a small, dimly lit bathroom. Around midnight, after hours of painting, Greg and I sat on the old floor, staring at the walls. I sighed the kind of sigh that comes from deep within your soul and said:
“This color makes me angry. I hate it.”
Greg just looked at me—probably trying to decide if this was the hill he wanted to die on—but in true loving-husband fashion, he simply said, “Then let’s paint over it.”
So at 1 a.m., we opened a can of leftover cream-colored paint from our living room, grabbed fresh rollers, and started all over again. It wasn’t easy covering that rusty red-orange, but after a couple of hours, our bathroom looked…better.
Over the years, we redid the floor (twice), repainted the vanity, and tried to patch leaks from our ancient shower. Each time something peeled or cracked, I felt frustrated. I wanted finished—not constant fight for progress.
But God says, “Be patient. Sometimes beauty takes layers.”
Fast forward several years and in the summer of 2025. When the toilet started to wobble a bit too much (and that’s never a good sign), we decided to call in the experts. Two weeks, a crew of local guys, and a lot of Pinterest inspiration later, my “ugly” bathroom was finally transformed into something beautiful. Soft boho wallpaper, marble countertop, brass fixtures, and light that actually flatters you in the mirror—it’s everything I dreamed of.
And here’s the faith lesson: sometimes, God does His best work in the messy, half-finished rooms of our lives. The ones we try to “fix” ourselves but can’t quite get right. He sees the full design plan when all we can see is the paneling, the cracks, and the colors that make us angry.
If your life feels like a bathroom stuck between “before” and “after,” hold on. God is not finished with you yet. The Designer always knows what He’s doing—and when He’s done, the beauty will be undeniable.
