Grover REVEALED!

There isn't a whole bunch of instant gratification when flipping a house, but if you can wait almost 5 months oh man, satisfaction city!  Congrats on making it all the way with me! Week 18, AKA Grover's Big Day!!!

This might end up being my longest post probably ever, but guys, this house is kinda pretty now.  Just kinda.

Let's start outside.  Before he was very blah.  The garage door was demanding more attention than the front door and he just looked tired.

It's amazing what a few small changes can do to curb appeal.

Aside from the biggies of new roof and windows, the foundation, stairs, garage door, and front door got painted, shrubs got trimmed, flowers got planted, mulch got spread, and the lights and mailbox got upgraded.  Now the front door demands the attention it deserves and the entrance has presence.

The outside is nice and all, but the inside is where the WOW is.

From the second potential buyers step in the front door, I'm hoping to take their breath away.

Before... dark dark dark and closed in.

Now?

Oh and remember how there used to be a wall?

What wall?

And who didn't love the scallops..

Oh right, me.

The view from the sofa has changed a tiny bit.  This might be my favorite spot in the entire house.  Ok, tour over.  I'm just going to hang out here.  You don't need to see the kitchen or the rest of the house.

Ohhhh, fine, I guess I'll show you the rest.

This once sexy dark kitchen with beautiful yellow laminate counters, fake wood-over linoleum floors and a fan to hit your head on was hard to tear out.  And by 'hard to tear out' I mean it was a sledge hammer's dream.

I'll just let you take in the difference here.

Is it weird that my favorite thing in this room might just be those stools?  (yes, they are almost identical to the ones from Young House Love's last kitchen)  I scored them for a whopping $35 on craigslist and we've bonded.  Their style is PERFECT for this kitchen and adds just the right vintage touch.  Handy dad helped me trim down the legs so they could be counter height instead of bar height and you'd never know.

I'll admit- I am planning to do another layer of grout to smooth over a bit.  Even though unsanded grout was the right one to use for this size grout line, I'm finding that the first layer always looks a bit rough.  Maybe it's just my OCD talking, but I need to fix it a bit to be comfortable handing this house over to the next owners

Continuing down the hall, first stop is the bathroom.  This gem was a wow before, but in a bad way.

Now it sports new everything- tub, toilet, vanity, wall tile, floor tile, paneling.

The 3 bedrooms thankfully just needed lots of paint and floor refinishing.

The back bedroom:

Master bedroom/largest bedroom:

And the smallest bedroom:

Not that the basement underwent a HUGE transition, but you totally need to see these 2 spaces.

The neon seafoam garage received a new electrical panel, neutral paint, and a new, functioning garage door opener.

And the weird, creepy, paneled room that looked like it belonged in a bad 70s porno...

Now is totally refreshed and could be the perfect play room, media room, family room, etc.

I still have a few items left on my punch-list to get this house completely done.  I know this post started strong with the fancy areas of the house then moved on to the less exciting, so I'll leave you with my favorite shot of the new open concept and kitchen.  Isn't he charming now??

Remember how this is a flip house and I'm selling it now??  Well guess what- it's listed!!! I didn't share the MLS listing with you at the top so you didn't get distracted, but here it is!  Go buy him!  He needs a wonderful family to love and take care of him!

Grover: Week 17

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out more about this flip, Grover, or check out posts about our last flip HERE.

Things are starting to finally look like a finished house!  Are you happy dancing with me??  The only unfortunate thing is that you only get iphone teaser pics in this post though- I can't give it all away before the big reveal post next week!!!  He's a beaut though!

For the first time since I bought this house, I can actually wash my hands in the sinks!!  For the past 17 weeks, there's been lots of purell, moist towelettes and washing things with the outside faucet.  It really got old bringing my brushes home and washing them every night.  But no more!  The kitchen sink works too!  I hear that's good for resale.

AND there's some pretty nifty granite countertops in there.  AND a sexy stand-alone vent hood.  Clearly I have some tiling work to do today.

In less shiny and exciting news, I've painted and installed baseboards!  This might only be exciting to me, but it instantly made the rooms look finished.

and because I can't resist showing you the dining room built-in again.

Meanwhile in the basement in the weird, creepy room with the garish glossy orange wood paneling......

It's fresh, white, bright, and no longer creepy!  I was so excited that I couldn't even take a clear pic.  I did hire the same painter who did the exterior foundation to come spray this room.  A job that would have taken me probably a week too him a day with his industrial sprayer.

House clean-out has also commenced... this is going to be my least favorite part.  I got a second dumpster to clean out the piles of trash that have been piling up in the garage.

I'm also planning several trips to my town's recycle center (they even recycle styrofoam!  #natickftw).  So if you ever need to know how much cardboard can fit in a CX-9, the answer is approximately a sh*t-ton

The only major items left on my list before Tuesday's photoshoot and listing on wednesday are tiling the backsplash, painting over the neon seafoam garage walls, and painting the stairwell to the basement.  Everything else is minor touch-ups.  Cross your fingers, but I think I can actually get this done in the next few days!!

Grover: Week 16

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out more about this flip, Grover, or check out posts about our last flip HERE. Happy 4th of July!!

And it is.  This is the first week where I actually believe that this house will be done soon- progress took visual leaps and bounds!

The biggest single transformation happened outside.

It looked like this a little over a week ago:

Not horrific, but nothing to turn your head.

I curb-appealed the crap out of this house this week!

I trimmed bushes, weeded lots, planted hydrangea and flowers, spread 19 bags of mulch, updated the lamp post with a new topper and some spraypaint, spraypainted the old house #s, installed a new mailbox and light on the house, finished painting the front door AND had a pro painter paint the foundation, stairs and garage door.  Phew!

No major changes, but it just looks so much fresher.

Inside is really starting to show the light at the end of the tunnel too.  Literally.  In addition to the 3 exterior exterior lights that I installed (including one on the back), I also installed 3 lights inside.  3 sexy lights inside.

And look!  Completed cabinets! (minus one panel that I just exchanged at IKEA cuz they gave me the wrong piece)

I've been using my flips as an excuse to experiment with different kitchen finishes.  These cabinets aren't my favorite that I've used so far, but they're totally going to look amazing once the countertop gets installed (Tuesday) and the backsplash gets tiled.

And speaking of tile- she's gonna be purdy.  I know I've professed my love for tiling backsplashes before and this house will be no different.  I just have to figure out if I can use my existing tools to cut glass mosaics.  Anyone have experience with that?

Across the room in the dining room, I finally got around to updating the built-in and what an impact!  (yes, Mom, I did steal inspiration from yours).  After removing the old scallop trim back in demo, I added a new, shallower back, added new trim, and am painting the doors.  Instant(ish) charm in the dining room.  Detailed how-to/before & after coming on Monday!

While I had my chop saw set up, I also cut all the pieces of new baseboard for the living/dining/kitchen.  You may remember when we bought the house, all that baseboard had been at one point replaced with door trim and looked quite silly.  I'll be painting and installing these new pieces within the next few days.

Oh, and after much debating and ignoring the putrid paneled room in the basement , I finally decided to have the painter come back and turn it white.  It would take me at least a week to prep, prime, and paint that garishly high gloss paneling- he's planning to bang it out in a day with his high powered sprayer and super gripping primer.  Deal.  One less thing on my to-finish list before we can SELL!  Fingers crossed that this house sells faster than the last, I'm not sure my fragile ego can handle another house sitting on the market for months.

Have a great holiday weekend!!