New Amazing Grace Home A Christ-centered home for pregnant women

Refurbishing progress since purchase November 2011

New Amazing Grace Home Exterior November 2011

Part of our Metro Womens Center Board & Center Director

Reviewing the purchase agreement. Special thanks to Dave Capetz, Affordable Real Estate Options, for his professional help and Godly counsel through this process!

At the closing!

The following are pictures of the interior of the home when MWC acquired it. The original owners built the home and raised their five children here.

Living Room

First Board meeting at the new home!

Foyer

Stairs to upper level of home

Upstairs alcove

Kitchen

Dining Room

Steps leading to the office area.

Laundry Room

Bedroom for one woman soon to be blue!

Bedroom for two women.

Bedroom for one woman soon to be sunny yellow!

Resident bathroom

Resident Manager Bedroom soon to be painted Gohbi Desert.

Resident Manager balcony

Resident Manager bathroom

Let the

renovations
begin!

Stripping wallpaper . . .

Wallpaper is gone!

Don Diehl, Dads Interiors, donated time and expertise to paint the house!

Foyer completed!

No more gold-foil wallpaper! Pastor Larry Brogen did the drywall repair throughout the house.

Angela painted the front doors and we used brass polish on the hardware.

Diane repainted all the wrought iron railings and the registers. They look brand new!

Kitchen being dismantled.

Dismantling successful!

Clarence Carlson, Master Electrician, came from Hibbing and supervised our electrical work!

Our electrical crew: Diane Eliason, Daniel Carlson and Rick and Holly Barnes (journeyman electrician), and many others!

Holly rewiring the kitchen.

Making progress, note the new light fixture in the dining room!

Kitchen cabinets stored in garage awaiting installation.

New countertops!

Donald and Mike, professional kitchen remodelers, volunteered to install the kitchen cabinets and counters.

First cupboard hung!

Kitchen floor ready for new laminate!

Thank you to Gene Dahmes and grandson, Cody, for volunteering to install the kitchen floor!

New kitchen floor!

New trac lighting in kitchen!

First appliance installed!

All kitchen appliances were provided by A. C. Carlson Appliances at a huge savings$1,000 for all six appliances!

Oh, happy day! The appliances are installed in the kitchen!

Alan Helfinstine removing old tile in the laundry room.

Laundry room is painted.

Laundry room cabinets installed.

Old Door being replaced by Diane and Daniel.

New door looks great!

Louis Stoll leveling the laundry room floor.

Measuring the vinyl for the laundry room floor.

Laundry room floor installed. Vinyl donated by Flooring Expo, Maple Grove!

Washer, dryer and dishwasher donated, too!

One more Bagster full thats five!

The office paneling was sanded down and prepped for primer and paint!

Office transformed!

Dale Anderson donated a sofa/sleeper for the office at the home. Steve Douglas and Al Helfinstine hauled it to the house. We had prayed for a sofa/sleeper for the respite house parents!

Office area set up!

Becker Furniture World donated a whole house full of furniture!

Wonder whats in here?

Couch Love Seat Dining Table Six Dining Chairs

Meredith and Vonne vacuumed and tested out the new couches! Its finally looking like a real living room.

Thank you, Becker Furniture for cozy furniture for the home! Even though they did not know our colors, the furniture is perfect.

Dining Room Table and Chairs also donated by Becker Furniture.

Friends of the ministry donated these kitchen stools. We were amazed to discover that these stools perfectly match the chairs from the dining room set donated by Becker. God is in the details!

Working? Yes! Kay and Meredith lined cupboards in the kitchen and scrubbed the floors!

Pots on the shelves and spices in the cupboard. YOU could come for dinner!

Becker Furniture World also donated: Four Twin Beds and frames Four Dressers

John Baxter getting ready to paint!

Soft grays, yellows, blues and greens are making our house warm and inviting for the women who will live here.

Al Hawkins applying a soft gray paint to the bedroom walls.

We have dubbed this room the tree room because of the wallpaper. It is the only wallpaper that has survived the rehabbing process.

Anita Mohinani getting started on the saphireberry (blue) room!

Becca Linville, Northland University, spent a week with us helping out at the Center and painting!

Blue room is coming together!

Meredith painted the yellow room. The color helps this small room appear larger!

Yellow room is almost done! Dressers also donated by Becker!

Resident Managers bedroom is painted Gohbi Desert! This area will provide a great retreat for the staff after busy days with the women in the home.

All the paint is gone so we must be done for a while!

Welcome baskets filled with sheets, towels, and other items have been created by ladies from local churches and await our new residents arrival!

LeRoy Gilbert setting the boxes for the ceiling fans.

Darlene Gilbert assisting LeRoy as he marks the center of a room.

Ceiling fans installed in all the rooms!

New plumbing work throughout the home was donated by Weld & Sons Plumbing.

Resident bathrooms old green tub being removed.

Cliff removing old vanity in residents bathroom.

Residents bathroom ready for a new look!

We arent leaving this commode on the balcony, we just didnt have any other place to put it for now!

All that was saved

New bathtub!

New sink, counter and tile donated for residents bathroom!

Fred Koestner helping with the reconstruction process.

Ready for tiling!

Cliff working on tiling the resident bathroom!

Almost done!

Flooring, vanity and hardware installed in resident bathroom.

Resident manager bathroom is the next target on our quest for renovation! Blue vanity is the last fixture to be removed from the house. That is Keith under the sink!

We are glad we removed this corroded faucet assembly!

Shower opening in Resident Manager bathroom was enlarged and is ready for new tile.

Rink Enterprises installing new mud base in the shower.

Pastor Jim Snow and Pastor Gordy Larson starting to retile Resident Manager bathroom.

After a long day of tiling, progress can be seen!

New shower door and shower floor tile.

Diane and Tom reconstructed the old floor in the Resident Manager bathroom and replaced it with a solid new floor.

New vinyl flooring, vanity and medicine cabinet in place!

We dont know who let these two characters onto the property . . . but something must be done about them!

Painting the basement . . .

and painting the Bible Baptist (Otsego) teens!

Even the little kids get to help! Malachi stopped by to lend a hand painting in the basement.

New water softener donated and installed.

New water heater donated, and installed.

Basement floor was a mess, so we applied epoxy primer to seal it and prepared to paint it a silver-gray.

Basement floor and steps painted, and runners installed!

Cabinets were donated for basement storage. Beautiful braided rugs and a nice table turn the area into usable space for study or crafts.

Volunteers organize the paper products, personal care items, and office supplies that have been given to the home by businesses and church groups. We appreciate these practical items!

Old basement door and frame were rotten. Tom and Diane spent many hours reframing the opening and cutting the new door to fit.

A B

August board meeting in the refurbished basement! We are tired, but so thankful!

There was insulation work to do in the basement and attic, it comes in big sheets.

Tom and Diane cut the insulation and Tom and Keith worked to install it.

All this insulation was blown into the attic by Tom and Daniel. They had to do major construction in the rafters. It was a long, hot job. Steve fed the insulation up to them.

Baker Carpet Cleaning donated carpet cleaning after the ducts were cleaned and insulation was blown in.

YUCK!!!!

There is a hole under the garage floor that was full of junk and grime. Diane cleaned it out and Lewis scrubbed down the walls in preparation for painting it with Kilz!

Freshly painted hole and steps! It smells much better down there!

This landscaping crew worked in 95 degree heat to spruce up the yard and gardens! Six churches were represented in this bunch! Prayer starts the day off right!

First round of weeding is done and lots of junk to haul away!

Some trees were removed.

Lots of stumps were pulled out!

Brush pile grows . . .

volunteers chip it all away!

Here lies the remains of the brush pile. People came and got wood chips for their gardens.

Lewis Tronson, John Baxter and Jose Ayala worked to trim hedges, remove stumps and move rock.

Keith Henderson, mighty stump wrestler! Well, a lot of digging and a big truck helped too!

We had donuts from the Lindstrom Bakery . . . someone couldnt have one until she washed up!

Rochelle and Jessica Lunde worked on more weeding and rock removal, thanks ladies!

Cheryl cleaned rock and Ruth dug, and dug, and dug!

Jose and Eliana Ayala conquered the hedge!

Pastor Lunde, Diane, and Tom worked on this trench all day! The tree roots were a real challenge but they persevered, and its now covered up with dirt!

Charles Harvin worked on the flower garden to the left of the front door. This crew found more ROCK and some loose change!

LeRoy Gilbert and Dan Larson sorted and washed more rock. LeRoy is thinking, Should I spray Dan, or not?

Tim Dueck and daughters washed the last of our rocks while Jack and Cameron helped gather rocks from the yard.

Re-grading rock beds for better drainage away from the house.

One more rock bed done!

Dan and Sam finished off the last of the rock work.

Window wells are all cleaned out!

The west side of the house had a water drainage problem, so Wes Thompson and John Baxter (shovel engineers), carried out an attack on the project.

Reinforcements arrived! Thanks Wes, Dave, John, Luke, Eric, Paul, and Kevin! We love men with shovels and hearts for service!

The old railroad timber retaining wall was no match for Wes and John. The wall was soon dismantled and the digging commenced!

Thank you Hedberg Aggregate for giving us a good deal on the block for our retaining wall.

Nick Barker came and built the new wall!

Almost finished!

The finished wall after the sod was installed.

Dave and Marcus Sebald came and hauled all the old wood away!

Beautiful hosta garden!

New central air conditioner, donated and installed!

Donated flowers are ready to be planted!

Rachel Calcamuggio ran the garden tiller.

We had fun making everything beautiful!

Old fish pond was transformed into a giant planter!

Lots of great helpers!

While we were planting this hosta garden, a bunny came to visit.

One Saturday in August there were more then 15 people working on different projects around the house! This group represents people from five different churches, all working together for LIFE!

More completed gardens!

A beautiful butterfly came to visit our new garden!

Potted up the annuals: papa pot, mama pot and baby pots!

Kristina, Shelly, Diana and Lilly worked together to paint the garden fence.

Charles Hervin replaced a missing fence section and Jen Hacker finished the painting!

Thanks Tim and Abby, Quality Grounds Landscaping, for donating lawn mowing and snow plowing services for the home!

The garden shed needed a fresh coat of paint, so the Hopper family went to work on it .

Ladies from New Day Church, New Prague, came and helped us do a first time window and screen cleaning.

After more construction projects, a donor gave us a gift certificate from Lions Share Maintenance for a professional high powered window cleaning!

Everyone pitched in to help by polishing bed frames, taking inventory of supplies, and filling in stump holes.

The pile of dirt on the right needs to be sifted to look like the pile on the left.

Jose, Gordon and Vonne took a crack at the pile, too. It is getting smaller!

Amanda, Brandon, and Deanna conquered the pile!

Thank you to to Hoffman Sod Farms, Elk River, for donating 450 sq.ft. of sod for the yard!

The sodding is almost finished!

Front view of the home after landscaping work.

Thank you Sunshine Duct Cleaning for your service!

There was a lot of YUK in those ducts!

Thank you FLOYD Total Security for donating $1,000 towards the installation of a home security system for AGH.

The nice man from Floyds even helped us remove the old mailbox and install a new one!

The Dust Busting Crew! Hannah, Beth, Amy, and Elizabeth cleaned the house after all the construction mess!

Thank you, ladies, for all your help!

Round Two Cleaning Crew: Lisa and Allie Moore and the Ayala Family, note the ScotchBrite knee pads on Cheryl from scrubbing the slate floor in the foyer.

Fireplace was full of old soot and rust. Allie and Elianna cleaned it all!

We were blessed with a donation of a van for ministry use!

Thank you for helping MWC provide shelter for pregnant women in Minnesota.

For more information call 763-533-8642 or Email info@metrowomenescenter.org.