Shorty the Flip House: Week 16

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.  To catch up on the progress on Shorty, check out his previous posts here.  If you’re new here, (Hello!!!) you can find more about my 5 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!!  

Huge things happened this week in the form of floors, plumbing, electrical, and exterior paint prep.  All very exciting big steps but not as exciting to show pics of.  You've all seen a toilet ;-).

The floor is the most exciting thing to look at.  Refinished old floors are sexy.  I'm sorry, they just are.  They got a final coat of poly after I took these pics yesterday, but you can still see their sex appeal, no?

I love how the parquet floors came out in the entryway!  I know parquet isn't everyone's cup of tea and if it was in a full room I might be over it fast, however in this little 5'x5' (ish) entryway, it's just the right pop of something special.  These were the floors that I was most worried about not being refinish-able from their previous state, but once again, my flooring guy worked his magic.  Special thanks to Hubby, the foot model.

The bulk of the electrical got finished this week too.  All of the lights, switches, and outlets are in!  My electrician still has to clean up some wires in the basement ceiling, do some exterior stuff (but New England forgot that it's spring the past few days....) and run electrical to the new AC.  Hubby and I are so jealous of the new furnace and AC here that it might end up on our personal house project list for this summer.

Despite the temperatures dropping again, the exterior paint prep has finally started!  They even started priming today (no, this is not the chosen color, just a tinted primer).

As if my To Do list isn't long enough for the next week or 2, I'm also debating painting the brick of the living room fire place.  I haven't taken a picture of the fire place since week 1 probably, so the pic below is a flash to then.  The broken, dated insert has been taken off and I love the wood surround (even if it isn't original to the house), but I just can't shake the nagging feeling that it could use a pop of white to really make it a focal point.  Might be a game-time decision!

Lots of finishing to do this week!  Replacement trim to go in several rooms, final plumbing, new hot water heater, exterior painting, some remaining exterior painting, scrubbing, and lots and lots of little details.  I should probably be panicking about getting this done in just about a week but somehow I'm not.  I may be delusional, but I think we're in decent shape!  Crossing my fingers that everything goes smoothly this week!!!

Have an awesome weekend!!

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Shorty the Flip House: Week 15

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.  To catch up on the progress on Shorty, check out his previous posts here.  If you’re new here, (Hello!!!) you can find more about my 5 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!!  

The end is near!!  No matter how well I try to plan each flip, I always seems to be scrambling at the end.  The fun of the work at the end, though is each final piece makes SUCH a huge impact!

This week, I've had a house full of people almost every day (with the exception of a very snowy, miserable Tuesday) and will continue that trend through the end of next week.

Aside from a few last things to be painted (like the stair balusters, closets, a few trim pieces...) the interior is painted and what a difference it makes!!!  The woodwork will get a good clean once all the other work is done too.

The powder room walls got a light yellow paint and a narrow depth vanity since we only have about 20" between the wall and door.  I really wanted to add some storage in here and not just go with the tiny pedestal sink that was previously used.

There is NO more lime green in the kitchen- I repeat, NO MORE LIME GREEN!!! Game changer.  I am going to be a tease though and not show you the whole kitchen.  I have to save something for the big reveal at the end ;-).  BUT I sucked it up and had the backsplash tiled and am LOVING the tile.  It's not yet grouted, but I love it when rooms start to really show off in reality what I've been picturing in my head for months.

Plumber is coming tomorrow to hook up appliances, replace the hot water heater, and have indoor plumbing for the first time in months.

In addition to paint and tile, floors are also well on their way!  The upstairs floors got all sanded and stained and will get 3 coats of polyurethane to finish them off.  Due to the age of the floors and some lingering pet stains, we opted to stain the floors.  I can't wait to see them all poly'd and finished!!  Old floors are part of the reason I have such a soft spot for old houses.  They just have so much more character than new floors due to the old graining- modern wood is grown differently and harvested much quicker which doesn't give the grain the time to develop like old growth (I just found this great article that explains it better than I can).  Even a new house built to look like an old house will still feel different than an authentic antique home.  *steps off my soapbox*

After Tuesday's almost foot of snow and ice and more predicted (ick), it's not exactly looking good for painting the exterior next week.  I'm crossing my fingers for the week after!  What WILL be happening this coming week is all the floors and stairs getting completed, completed plumbing, completed electrical, removal of an old unused oil tank in the basement, hopefully remaining trim pieces will be installed, paint touched up, and my OCD working out all the final details.  On top of all this, we're hoping to finally get Copper Dot Baby's furniture into his room and not spread around in the living room, basement, and even at my parents' house.  Poor kid will have to wait a month or so until after he's born for all the details to be completed in there... gotta sell a flip first!! (Yes, I am fully aware that a baby doesn't care about having a completed nursery, but his mommy does).

Only 2 weeks left to finish up this vintage gem.  We're down to the wire, but it's looking like the pieces are fitting into place.  We just need another warm spell of weather so that we can get the exterior finished up too!!

Happy last weekend of winter!  Bring it on Spring!

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Shorty the Flip House: Week 14

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.  To catch up on the progress on Shorty, check out his previous posts here.  If you’re new here, (Hello!!!) you can find more about my 5 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!!  

I feel like I was crazily coordinating the remaining schedule for this house all week, but there's not a ton of photograph-able proof.  My infamous lists have made it into this house finally- at some point in every flip, to organize my own mental To Do lists, I tape a checklist in every room.  This time, I even put up a calendar of who will be working in the house when.  With only 3 weeks before we intend to finish (eeek!), I have a lot of details and people to coordinate- electrician, plumber, contractor, interior painter, exterior painter, gutter guy, floor refinisher....

More edging and painting happened upstairs, master closet doors have been installed, and light fixtures have been going up throughout the house.

Even though the dining room won't be painted until early next week (and I'm still not even sure about the color!), it got the fancy treatment yesterday with a beautiful new light fixture.

I even gave my contractor his own To Do list this time, although I have a feeling that I may be adding to it.  I'm still not willing to give up the task of tiling the kitchen backsplash... I've tiled the backsplash in the kitchen of all my flips, my own house, and our rental condo..... I'm trying to convince myself that if I get Hubby or Handy Dad to help that I can totally do it pregnant too. #stubbornmommy  We shall see.....  Anyway, my contractor started working through his list including installing the powder room door, remaining door knobs, and repairing damaged deck boards that he couldn't get to when there was snow on the ground.  It's a good thing he got to it already, because after several days of spring-like temps, it's snowing again today with even more predicted for next week.

And with the exterior painter coming in a week and a half (weather permitting, ugh) I need to figure out what color I want this house!!

The top paint is too light and too similar to the house next door.  I'm leaning toward the bottom paint although I can't remember which color it is.  I think it's Benjamin Moore's Philipsburg Blue.  If that's the case, the one above it is Ben Moore's Alfesco, although there's a small chance I have those 2 mixed up.  I need to check my test pots again to check which is which.  The trim is staying a crisp white.  I think the contrast will really add some much needed curb appeal.

This coming week will be an exciting one of MAJOR changes.  My flooring guy, interior painter (for the 1st floor), and plumber are all scheduled to do their thing this week.  Let's hope it all works out- having inside plumbing would be a nice feature, don't you think?  Which reminds me, I need to buy some toilets.

The race to the finish line has begun!!  Hubby's taking off his painter hat and putting on his Realtor hat and trying to build up a little hype pre-listing.  A "Coming Soon" sign will be in the yard any day, and he's already sent a mailer to the neighbors (Hi neighbors!!!).  I know I'm not the only one getting antsy to see this house finished!!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

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