Clark: Week 1

I think I've sufficiently shocked my body this week- going from sitting at a desk 8 hours a day to on my feet demo-ing for 8 hours a day.  I need a massage more than ever before. But, enough about me, you want to hear all about Clark!  We closed on him a week ago yesterday and I've been out at the house almost every day since.  I took some updated pictures right before I left last night, so here's how he currently stands.  (To see what he looked like before the demo, check it out here)

The biggest change so far has been in the kitchen.  Or should I say "what kitchen?"

Notice the closet bump-out that used to be in the right corner is now gone- yay!  Now we'll have room for a normal size fridge and dishwasher.

Guess what else is happening on that wall:

It makes the space feel so much larger- a HUGE plus on a house under 1000sf.  Our realtor suggested this and she was totally right (thanks Amy!).  The contractor's going to be back this afternoon to finish the openings.

The demo pile has been hanging out in the living room for now.  We got a bagster, but parking's limited, so I didn't want a dumpster or bagster taking up my spot.  Next week I'll put it out when I call for a pickup.  Once I cut down most of these boards, I'm hoping we can fit almost all of it in the bagster (it can hold up to 3300 lbs!).  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

The Habitat for Humanity ReStore that's a few minutes away is going to get a ton of stuff from Clark including the kitchen sink and whatever other usable fixtures I remove.  I also plan on sourcing as much as possible from the ReStore as well, so it's a win-win in my opinion.  I already found one treasure there.

I'm going to be spraying the metal parts silver, but for $5 plus tax I couldn't resist.  This guy's going to look AWESOME hanging over the kitchen sink!

BUT, the kitchen/living room isn't the only area that's undergone a transformation!  Just a few hours after the closing, Hubby and I got to work on the bathroom.

When we started pulling down the cracked plastic shower surround, we discovered delightful pink plastic marbled tile underneath.  It entertained me, so I rescued a few undamaged pieces for posterity.

All week, I've literally been chipping away at the bathroom piece by piece.

I wish I could express to you the smell when I started opening up walls and demoing cabinets.  Like I said before, he LOOKED decent in pictures, but nothing was nice.  Nothing.  There was mold in the shower walls and water damage under the kitchen sink, and 50+ years of grime.  Yummy.  Everything needed to go, so it went.  I'm really excited for the rebuilding part.  That's the part that makes this designer giddy.  I'm planning to add back some vintage charm through finishes and really give him character.  That's what's going to sell it.  (I'll put together a mood board next week to show you my plans)

Although this past week was mainly demo, it wasn't exclusive.  We also:

• had several small plumbing issues fixed (by a plumber, I'm not brave enough to give that a try)
• With the help of my mom, we scraped the peeling paint off of all the basement walls to prep for a new coat (I know I haven't shown you the basement yet- its a basement, nothing special)
• Started prepping walls throughout the house for paint
• Got several quotes on tile work and hard wood floors (yup, hardwood- I'm excited!)
• Made many many trips to Home Depot (and anticipate many many more)

I'm hoping that we can finalize any last demo today and tomorrow and next week can start the rebuilding phase.

How's that for a weeks worth of progress?

Meet Clark

Yes, I named my flip house.  Wouldn't you?  After weeks of referring to him as "The flip house" which felt weird, I decided that I'd name him after his street. Meet Clark.  (WARNING: lots of pics ahead!)

Clark looks decent on the surface, but the closer you look, the crappier he gets.  He was the victim of a VERY bad attempt at a flip which is probably the reason he was a foreclosure.  When you're flipping, you obviously want to do things on the cheap.  You do not, however want to cut corners and have it LOOK like you did it on the cheap.  Now I have to undo all the bad and make him awesome.  Challenge accepted!

He's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath charmer (or soon-to-be charmer) and needs a complete kitchen and bath gut.  Luckily, the rest of the rooms mostly need patching and painting.  Lots of painting.  Every surface- walls, ceilings, trims, closets....

The Living Room:

Looks decent on the surface, but the walls need lots of patching and painting.

The original hardwood in this room needs a bit of love (read: complete refinishing).  I'm going to attempt this project with my own 2 hands, although a few things need to happen first.  Like opening up the wall between the kitchen and living room (the one with the arched doorway).  When I'm done with this room, Clark'll charm your pants off when you open the front door.

The Kitchen:

A good size but dark and dingy.  No room for a full-size fridge or a dishwasher- both a necessity for a happy home (in my humble opinion).  The bump-out on the right is the living room's coat closet.  Say buh-bye, cuz it's totally going away to make room for a better kitchen layout.

This is the aforementioned wall that will soon offer a pass-through to the living room, allowing for more light and better sight lines.

The previous bad flipper painted the lower cabinets to make them look better, but it was like putting lipstick on a pig.  Still a pig.  And pigs don't make for nice kitchens.

Neither do peel and stick tiles.  Vinyl peel and stick over green VCT (vinyl composition tiles).  YUM.  We're awaiting the results of our asbestos test to see if the VCT needs to stay (but be covered) or if we can rip it out. (I'm crossing my fingers we can rip it out with vengeance!)

The Bathroom:

This room is the most deceiving.  Looks rather nice/unoffensive in pictures.  Looks dreadful in person.  Only the sink and tub are slated to stay.

Linoleum that's molding from below= lovely.

Don't let your eyes deceive you- this it NOT tile.  This is chipboard molded to look like tile.  Cheap tile with visible finish nails everywhere...

Now that we've gotten through the worst of it, the bedrooms are a walk in the park.  They all have newish carpeting in a neutral color that needs a quick clean and just need lots of paint and new lights to make them sparkle.

Bedroom #1:

Bedroom #2:

Like I said, lots of paint in the bedrooms.

Master Bedroom:

I didn't get any images of the backyard yet, since it's covered in snow.  When the snow melts more, I'll take some befores of that too.  Its a quaint backyard that needs weed-whackers and cleanup.

I'm really excited to start the transformations and get Clark back on the market.  The goal is to get him done and listed in under 2 months.

Full steam ahead!!!

Happy Day

Happy Flip Day!  or Valentine's Day, whichever you prefer. Since Hubby and I are so romantic, we're buying each other a house for Valentine's Day.  One without a usable kitchen and a dilapidated bathroom.  So romantic, no?  We even plan to top off our v-day date by starting some demo after we get those keys in hand.  Is it getting too hot in here for ya?  I need to get used to the glamorous life of a house flipper.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a slew of "before" pics!