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!!

Grover: Week 15

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. This week, I decided to put aside my animosity of my paint brushes and bond once again.  And boy did I.  I painted practically everything on the kitchen side of the house.  Trim, interior doors, exterior doors, ceiling, walls....myself... (pro tip- it's usually best NOT to sit on paint tin lids)

All in preparation for.....

Kitchen!

or almost

An early morning yesterday to meet the installers may have lead to a large coffee, which may have lead to over-caffination, then subsequently awkward happy dancing and buying tiles at the ReStore that I don't need but couldn't stop thinking about....  But anyway, getting the kitchen installed really means that the end is near!!  (if you ignore the basement... it'll be our dirty little secret currently)

Meanwhile, outside the house, I've hired a painter to repaint the house's foundation, garage door, and retaining wall.  That was part of my never ending debate of time vs. $$.  Could I paint that stuff myself?- of course!  BUT we want this house listed sometime this decade and I need to delegate.  It's currently been pressure washed, so it's in the state of "worse before it gets better"

I did, however attack the front door myself (after a day or so of color deliberation and swatch painting)

The door told me it wanted to be red.  It did!  I tried yellow and green, but the red felt a bit traditional, with a touch of "look at me."  It clearly still needs at least another coat if not more, which will deepen the color a bit, but curb appeal is imminent.

I am reluctantly showing you this next image, but let me set the stage first.  In painting the door, I also painted and patched the trim around it and temporarily removed the house #s.  They'll get spraypainted and reinstalled, but currently the house is numberless.... and the kitchen installers were coming.  Soooo I took a brush I had on hand and some wet paint from that day's painting.... and butchered the ugly old mail box.  I'm replacing it anyway- it's a rusted pile of {insert word here}.  This will just be incentive for me to get the #s back up and replace the mailbox ASAP.

There's my artistic skills at work.  Don't be jealous.

I'm finally feeling good about where I'm at with this house.  We're planning to list in just over 2 weeks, so the hustle is ON.  I know the upstairs is going to knock it out of the park... let's hope I can get the basement cleaned up and less creepy by then too.  Fingers crossed!