DIY Gift Guide: 2013

Currently my mind is occupied primarily by 2 things: the flip, and Christmas... can you tell? When it comes to Christmas, my family and I have simplified in the past few years, so DIY gifts have been catching my eye lately.  There are so many amazing DIY tutorials out there in blog-land lately that its hard to pick a favorite.  Here are 6 easy DIY's that would please anyone on your gift list.

1.  These macrame bracelets from Honestly WTF are so adorably chic and easy to make, how can you go wrong?

2.  Can I interest you in a classy beer opener?  via Decor and the Dog

3.  I would find it very hard to actually use these beautiful spoons from Design Mom, but hello cute but not kitschy kitchen art!

4.  Had to throw one of my project in here.  This DIY ipad case is one of my favorite projects to date, and so simple!

5.  I can't seem to locate the origin of this bike horn turned iphone speaker, but wherever it's from, I want it!  I guess that means that it would make a great DIY gift!

6.  I think I'd be willing to handwash a few dishes if said dishes were as pretty as these gold painted mugs from Garland of Grace.  These would be an amazing gift on their own or filled with favorite treats.

Frankie: Week 5

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out other posts about Frankie the Fliphouse HERE.

Since I was missing for week 4, I'll skip directly from week 3 to week 5.  This week's alternate post title is "Adventures in Tedium"

I'll warn you now- this week was b.o.r.i.n.g.  Well, not really boring for the work side, since I'm still pooped, but it was uneventful to say the least.  Prep was the key-word this week.

I did a LOT of scraping, patching, and sanding so that this ceiling

eventually looked like this

It was a miracle.... that involved numerous curse words and practically an entire package of sandpaper, but a miracle nonetheless.

If you were a hole in this house that wasn't supposed to be there, this week was not your week either.  I went on a patching frenzy!  I bought this 1 gal. bucket of spackle on Monday...

See what I mean about tedious, though?  Patch, sand, rinse, repeat.  Since I'll be painting every ounce of wood trim (it's in horrific condition), I have a lot of surfaces to prep.  A lot.  Seriously- every surface in the house with the exception of the floor is getting painted and it all needed patching and sanding.  Even the door knobs will be painted!

On top of all the mind numbing surface prep, my lists are back!  It makes me smile every time I get to check a box off!  Only a few boxes are checked, but I'm building momentum.

This week also made our bank account much lighter on account of having to purchase supplies for the next phase of the project- the rebuilding phase!  Purchases included:

-countertops

-bathroom vanity

-bathroom mirrors

-bathroom sconces

-tile- Kitchen/hall floor, bathroom floor, & shower walls

-kitchen pendant

-kitchen sink

I just keep telling myself that this messy, tedious week is leading up to the fun part.  Hopefully the contractor will be able to start on the bathroom next week, and I'll become one with the paint brush.  Once I start painting, I think this whole house will start coming back together pretty fast!

Frankie: Week 3

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out other posts about Frankie the Fliphouse HERE. An alternate title for this week's post is "Gone Baby Gone"

Although not a drastic difference from last week, I'm certainly relieved to have reached this point!

Kitchen?  Gone

Bathroom? Gone

Basement? Gone (mostly).  Buhbye sailboat wallpaper!

The only thing that got marginally prettier in this house and not messier this week was the outside.  With a few sunny, not freezing days, I decided to tackle some curb appeal before winter arrives in full force.  Since we plan to be selling in the colder months, I want to make it look as nice from the outside now as possible.  I painted the door, started painting the awning & railings, mulched, and trimmed bushes. Not done, but it's a giant step in the right direction.

I've also decided to start a new trend- a kitchen in your living room!  Think it'll catch on?

With my head 100% focused on completing demo this week so we could get the dumpster out of there, I surprisingly don't have my usual list of other accomplishments (unless you count breaking a water pipe- go me).  This week, what you see is what you get, for better or worse.

I made the mistake of looking back at where I was with Clark (the last flip house) at week 3 and the rebuilding had already begun.  There was less demo there, and I made the mistake of not doing all the demo at once, so I can't allow myself feel behind with this flip.  I'm really trying to approach this one more systematically and strategically.  Here's hoping that tactic works...

Next week'll be a bit of a hiatus from flip posts, but I have a fun alternative up my sleeve :) so stay tuned!