Meet Nessie!

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  Check in each Friday to see weekly update of how this house progresses!  To catch up on the progress on Nessie, check out her previous posts here.  If you’re new here (Hello!!!),  or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 6 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!! Sorry for the late post today, but I wanted to wait until we officially signed the paperwork!!

Meet Nessie!  That's right, "Nessie" won the popular vote.  If you're already confused/new here... we're the flipping weirdos who name each house.  Clark, Frankie, Grover, Millie, Dori, Shorty, and now Nessie.  Most of the time, the name has to do with the street it's on.  This one got her name from the fact that it's by a pond and on Lakeview Rd.  Not exactly Lock Ness, but still a catchy name ;).

Nessie can use some love and a healthy injection of character, but she's got great bones and an even better location!  I really REALLY *REALLY* want to add a front porch, but it's looking like that would require going in front of the zoning board and may take months for approval.  I'm going to look into it more and cross my fingers and toes that I can make it happen within our timeframe (and budget).

First thing will be a septic system.  Luckily for us, the sellers already did the legwork on this one, so we're hoping this will actually get started next week.  After the yard gets dug up for that there will be some serious landscape grooming/updating.

On the inside, I'm in love with the giant, solid front door, but the entry leaves some to be desired.

The living room has an awkward lower front portion which was originally the bungalow front porch.  We plan to raise up part of that floor, eliminate one column, and open this room up to the kitchen. (Wide angle shots from the real estate listing... the room's not quite as big)

I, of course, need to work my magic on the kitchen:

And a little more magic in the bathroom, including adding a window:

The bedrooms are going to need some reconfiguring- adding a closet in one, adding a window in another, and borrowing some space from a closet in the 3rd.

In the basement, we'll be refinishing the paneled 'bowling alley'

and hopefully adding a half bath into the laundry room at the bottom of the basement stairs

Such a blank slate!  I think this is going to be a fun project and I can't wait to really dig in!!

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On to Number 7

Every time I sit down to write one of these posts, "Oops I Did it Again" pops into my head.  Guess what??? We're buying another flip!  So for all of you who have been asking about the next and telling me how much you miss my flip Fridays, you've been heard- I'm buying a flip just for you!  I kid.  In reality, we've put in about a dozen rejected offers before we eventually got one accepted- and that's the way it is for most flips.  I keep my realtor/hubby busy like that.  This one is already fast moving- we saw it for the first time last weekend and we're hoping to close in the next 2 weeks or less.  

Let me tell you, the house itself is just OK to start with, but it screams LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION from the top of it's housey lungs.  Built in 1920, it has zero character, but that also means that it's a blank slate.  This '20s ranch-like bungalow boasts a different floorplan than the mid-century ranches I've done (like Dori, Grover, Frankie, & Clark which ALL had a version of the same basic floor plan... which is very similar to the ranch I grew up in....), which allows for some different possibilities and I plan on taking advantage of every single possibility I can squeeze into the budget!  From the front, it looks like the tiniest house ever, but BABY GOT BACK!

Complete with a wood on wood on wood kitchen:

And a basement bowling alley.... I mean 'finished' space:

I already have big plans for this house including a portico at the front door, taking down a wall, shifting a few others to reclaim some space, a couple new windows, an added powder room, and LOTS AND LOTS of drywall.

Just like the last house when we were about to buy, I'm not settled on a name yet, so I'm hoping you'll help!

There are 3 ideas floating around:

• "Lake" after Lakeview Rd
• Nessie- as in lock ness, since it's near a lake
• Dudley because that's the nearby lake
• OR something else entirely.  What do you think??

I know it's not an antique, character-filled home like I would prefer to rehab 100% of the time, but I think this house has tons of potential and needs a facelift!  Instead of rehabbing original character, I'll have to get creative and put character into this home.  Should be a fun project!

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Shorty the Flip House: Kitchen Reveal

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!!  

Have you been digging the reveals so far this week?  I feel like I've been building up to today's post.  If you haven't checked them out yet, before I put the cherry on top with today's reveal, click over to the before and after reveals of the living spaces, bedrooms, bathrooms, and exterior.

I'm SOOO excited to show you Shorty's kitchen today!  The previous kitchen had been a labor of love once upon a time, but aside from years of neglect, it had a few issues that I knew I could fix.  First of all, it was too contemporary a kitchen for a vintage home- there were no nods to the architecture of the rest of the house.  Second of all, I could see a better layout which would make the kitchen feel even larger.  Lastly, functionally, with a sink (in the back right corner), trash compacter, dishwasher, and fridge all squished in next to each other, the space available wasn't properly used.

Seeing those pictures again makes me even giddier to show you what the space looks like now.

Drumroll please....

The cabinet space is more strategic which maximizes storage while keeping it as open as possible.  There's a proper function "kitchen triangle" with the sink, stove, and fridge near each other but no longer crowding.  And can we just talk about how big the room feels now??

I can't take credit for the skylights since they were a part of a previous kitchen renovation, but they do WONDERS to helping the room feel open and bright.

The new sink location was a kitchen game-changer.  By moving it out of the corner, the sink becomes a part of the kitchen and someone standing at the sink can look right and see into the dining room, look left and see out to the back yard.  No one puts Baby in a corner.

My contractor (and his tile guy) were less than pleased with my tile choices, but sorry not sorry... the floor and backsplash tile rock my world.

Opening up the wall between the kitchen and living room was totally the right decision as well.  What was originally an opening the size of a door got opened to around 6 feet wide and helps to connect the entire first floor.  Rooms in antique houses are naturally more segregated due to the way people lived at that time.  While so many people love open concept these days, I think what's more successful in houses like these is creating the connection without opening everything up fully.

I know I mentioned it early in the process, but let's talk about WHY I did what I did here.  I mean, this is a flip, so shouldn't I have played it safe and done white cabinets?  HA.  As I always say, you need to give buyers something to fall in love with and in this house, I was banking on the kitchen (and it totally paid off!).  Painted cabinets and color were not uncommon in antique kitchens, and having a kitchen this size to play with, I KNEW it could pull it off.  I didn't want to shock potential buyers, however, so I kept all the other elements (tile, countertop, etc) neutral with a bit of architectural interest.

Are you as in love with the kitchen as I am??  I'm jealous that I don't have a kitchen like this in my own house... I might actually want to cook if I did! I hope this reveal was well worth the wait!!

Next week, I'll be posting all about paint colors and sources for the whole home so that you can bring in elements to your own space.

Have a stellar weekend!

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