It can be hard, but sometimes you have to take a situation that most would consider bad luck and find the good in it.

For example, a few weeks ago my husband, Mike, and I encountered a home maintenance issue that could have led to a disaster.

We had the best of intentions when it all started. We bought all new faucets to install in the sink and bath tub, hoping to eliminate some leaky joints in the old faucets and improve the overall look of the room. Our water is rather hard, and all of the existing fixtures had mineral deposits built up on them, making them dull and leading to poor function.

In the process of changing that first faucet, Mike apparently jiggled things beneath the sink around a bit more than they could withstand. So, even though he had successfully changed the faucet, that wasn’t going to be the end of the story.

A day later, Mike stepped on the rug in front that sink and noticed that it was pretty damp. He checked all of the connections he had established and found no leak. So, he initially concluded that we had spilled some water on the rug without realizing it.

I removed the rug and hung it up to dry. Within minutes, I realized that it was so wet that it was dripping onto the floor. We took a closer look and realized the entire rug was completely soaked. What could have happened?

As we inspected the sink more thoroughly, Mike found water just barely seeping from beneath the kickplate on the vanity. He concluded that one of the pipes that was enclosed beneath the cabinet had come apart and begun to leak as a result of being moved during his faucet work.

We didn’t know quite what to do. What we did know was that we wouldn’t be able to fix the leak if we couldn’t get to it. We examined the entire setup and realized there was no access to that area — no screws we could remove, no special panel to lift out of the way — everything was simply built in.

Finally, Mike decided he would have to cut a hole in the base of the cabinet. We didn’t really know where the pipes were underneath it, so he finally just picked a spot where he would start.

At the last second, I said, “Wait!”

Standing off to the side watching as he prepared to cut, I realized that the whole kickplate was saturated and would have to be replaced. I urged him to just tear that off rather than cutting into the cabinet. Boy, was that a lucky break.

It turns out that right where he had been about to make a hole, he would have encountered a drain pipe. Had he accidentially cut that, we would have had a whole new set of problems.

With the kickplate off, though, Mike was able to assess the problem, go to the basement and find parts, and he was able to fix the leak on the spot. We haven’t had any more trouble with it since.

So, where was a bright spot in that series of events?

That thick, braided rug that I had on the floor soaked up at least 24 hours’ worth of seeping water. If it hadn’t been there, I believe we would have come home to find water dripping through our living room ceiling. And, we didn’t accidentally cut a pipe. And, because we had parts on hand, we didn’t have to leave water to the house turned off for a long period of time.

It’s all about how you look at things, and I choose to embrace the positive. Give it a try when you face a challenge.