Shorty the Flip House: Week 1

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  Come back every Friday to see how this house, aka Shorty, progresses from week to week.    If you're new here, you can find more about my 5 previous flip houses here.  Did you miss last week's intro post?  Check it out first to see where we started from and how far we've come already!

Aside from some needed yard cleanup, there wasn't too much I could dig my hands into just yet.  Before any REAL work could get done, the house needed to be cleaned out and cleaned out it has been!  If you happened to catch my Facebook Live walk-though yesterday, you've already gotten more than a sneak peek!  After 4 overflowing dump trucks of stuff were removed, we can finally see all the bones of the house.  Thankfully there were no surprises!!

Most of the hardwood floors should be salvageable, some may need patching, but refinishing all these original floors will be STUNNING!

I can't wait to work out the details of my kitchen plan.  I'm going to break the rules of "flipping" and totally not play things safe in this house.  If I don't make potential buyers say "WOW" when they walk into this room, I'll be very disappointed in myself.

I'm kind of in love with the china cabinet.  It's in surprisingly good shape and just needs a little repair.  I don't even think I'd take a paint brush to it!

The master bedroom is shockingly large for a small house of this age.  Even though you need to go through the bedroom above to get to it, I think this space will be a selling feature.  The awkward, walk-through bedroom... well, it's not ideal for a 3rd bedroom, but this is where staging comes in.  I'll stage it either as an office or a nursery and show how functional the space is!

Now that you can see beyond the piles, are you seeing what I'm seeing in this house????  Shorty's going to be turning some heads when I'm done with it!

Hopefully next week, my contractor will be getting started on fixing up the exterior, I'll be getting my electrician and flooring guy in and we can start to hit the ground running!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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Meet Shorty the Flip House

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  Come back every Friday to see how this house progresses from week to week.  If you're new here, you can find more about my 5 previous flip houses here. Are you ready to get Shorty?  I mean meet Shorty?

Shorty is our 6th flip house and each one is a bit more fun than the last.  Let's talk details- Shorty gets his name from the fact that we purchased it from a short sale.  Basically with a short sale, the house is about to be foreclosed on but instead of foreclose, the bank agrees to let the owners sell the house and pay the bank off at a loss.  It's a long drawn out process with the bank that we've been waiting with baited breath on since July, but the waiting finally paid off!

The house is 1,200sf, built in 1920 with "3 bedrooms" and 1 1/2 bathrooms.  I use quotes on the bedrooms since you need to walk through one to get to the other, but town record has it as 3 and that's what we will go by.  It has a nice sized level lot, vintage charm, and a great commuter location, but needs a LOT of love.  First step: clean-out.  We put it in our deal that we would take it completely as-is and that's what has been done.  This is the first property that will need cleaning before we can really scope out the full extent of the project, but I'm optimistic.  I know there's a really cool house under there that just needs the years of neglect peeled away.

First for a quick tour around the yard.  I'll try and shut up and let the pics speak for themselves:

Welcome inside... (I'll post a more extensive interior "before" tour once it gets cleaned out)...

Now imagine those rooms emptied, repaired, and brought back to life.  Can't you just see it now??  I know I can and you'll just have to follow along to see where it ends up!  Our goal is to get this house listed by mid-March, weather permitting.  We'll most likely be painting the exterior first thing in spring, so I'm already crossing my fingers for cooperative weather..... in March..... in New England... Just call me an optimist!!

Have a great weekend!!

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Flip Fridays Back Soon!

Can you believe it's been over a year since I've had a flip to share?!  That's crazy to me and I'm so sorry to make you guys wait!  The hot housing market in the area made finding a flip tough and additionally, Hubby and I agreed that now that my design business is keeping me more busy, we were done with flipping basic ranches and only wanted to focus on character homes and passion projects.  Well, guys, this one will be well worth the wait! Coming in just 2 WEEKS!!!  The still yet to be named next flip that I introduced you guys to back in July:

1,200sf of vintagey goodness built in 1921 and just a few minutes commute from our own house.  We waited 5 months for this one to happen, but we're really optimistic about this one being an awesome project!  Now that Hubby's also free from his 9to5 (and is now an awesome Realtor), he's eager to get his hands dirty too.  That's awesome because being pregnant, I know there are things that I just won't want to do... like paint ceilings...I've already informed him on that task.  We're also optimistic that this house will be back on the market if not sold before I'm done baking this little babe.  Fingers crossed!!!

My biggest design project in this house is going to be the kitchen.

The cabinets and counter aren't that old, but there are several issues in here:

#1 (and the biggest one in my book) a "modern", beachy-style kitchen just DOESN'T belong in a 1921 craftsman detailed home.  What you can't really tell from the pic is that the opening on the left opens into the dining room and is blocked by 2 sided glass cabinets.  The dining room side still has original beautiful wood trim and this side has nothing.  Quick, someone find me vintage trim to install!!

#2 the floor is practically non-existant- it's vinyl on plywood that's been scratched completely through by a dog.  New subfloor and floor will be a necessity.

#3 the layout just doesn't make much sense- do you see the small sink tucked in the corner and the wide open space under the window where it should be?  The fridge is also hanging out awkwardly outside of frame all the way to the right.  I guess technically they hit the coveted kitchen triangle, but not exactly optimally.  We're going to explore the option of removing a wall, but even if we leave all the walls, this can function SO much better!

I can just tell you I'm not going play it safe and that this kitchen will be the show-stopper of the house!  While I won't be planning the final layout and finishes until we get in there with a sledge hammer, I love looking at renovated vintage kitchens and gathering inspiration.  **As always, pretty please click through and Pin from original sources**

I can't wait to dig in and make a few bold and beautiful design decisions!!  With the advent of Flip Fridays again, and a few projects including a nursery up my sleeve, you'll be seeing regular posts again, so keep popping back or keep an eye on your inbox!!  *side note: if you have gmail, check your Promotions Tab for my e-mails!

Have a great weekend!!

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