I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses. This flip, Millie is the most challenging and most exciting yet! You can find more about this house and about my 3 previous flip houses here. Holy cow- week 31 and I'm still not done with this silly house. We've even pushed the list date back a week due to circumstances beyond my control. (NO, I am NOT procreating yet!) Hopefully those reasons will turn into something awesome and I can then shout it from the roof tops, but until then I am not at liberty to share. Just know it has potential to be big and it's worth pushing the listing off a week.
The good thing to me, however is that I'm at the point that I come to in every house that I'm only going to be showing you teasers until the big reveal in a few weeks. I love hitting this point. I like being a tease apparently, but I can't be showing you the full rooms anymore- it'll ruin the mystery and the surprise or something. Gotta build that antici....
pation.
This week I did a lot of painting and priming (with help from my fam) and took care of a lot of little details.
Happily, every wall on the first floor has at least one coat of paint and more than half the ceilings are primed. The living rooms and dining room are getting just a nice shade of off white to highlight the trim and make them feel as open and bright as possible. The new master, since I want it to feel a bit cozier and set it apart from the rest of the first floor, got a custom mixed green that compliments the wood.
Also, for the first time in 6 months, there are not weird holes in the front door. I don't think I went into much detail, but once upon a time there were several holes in the front door for locks that no longer functioned. Only the bottom lock with the handle was to remain, so what's a girl to do with gaping holes in my gorgeous oak door?
Months ago, Handy Dad helped me fit new brass plates and I just now got around to using a brass darkener on them so they weren't garishly bright. Now that they're installed, I may buff out the darkener a little bit more so it seems more naturally worn.
My kitchen tile is finally grouted so I can start hanging stuff like the vent hood and shelves. I still have to clean the grout up a bit more and caulk the edges, but I was a bit all over the place this week so I have yet to get to that.
I did, however, decide to rip the band-aid off and make a first attempt at drilling through my precious tile to add anchors for my vent hood and shelves. Anchor #1 was a bust- the dang thing wouldn't go in even with the drill size required. I think anchor #2 will work, but now there's a hole in my tile. Yes, the hole will have a shelf bracket on it, but it's still painful.
Meanwhile in the basement, the cabinet doors have been primed and have coat #1 of paint. I can not wait to get these back up. These will make the kitchen feel usable again!
In addition to all that, I've started hoarding staging furniture upstairs and in the sun room. It feels a bit like I'm putting the cart before the horse since I can't put the furniture in most of the house yet, but being that I'm intending to use thrifted and Craigslisted pieces, I need to grab them when they're available.
These coming 2 weeks are going to be HUGE for this house. The goal is to have an accepted offer by my birthday at the end of April. Wish me luck!!!