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 1

Welcome to the first of many Friday Fliphouse updates.  Check out other posts about Frankie the Fliphouse HERE. Monday late afternoon, we finally got word that all the papers had been signed properly by the seller and the sale was recorded.  Translation- Frankie was officially ours!  And do you know what that means?

Smashy smashy!

Eventually the above kitchen became this:

The lower cabinets actually have water lines running directly below the countertop- good thing we looked before smashing.... otherwise this picture would be significantly wetter.

The bathroom has only been the subject of minor destruction so far, but that won't be for long.  It's one of today's targets.

For future reference: this is NOT how to install a recessed medicine cabinet.  Not. at. all.

Continuing to the basement.  Say Goodbye sailboats, and Hello open plan!

In less smashy news, the 3 planting beds also got cleaned out and let me tell you, that was a b*tch.  Mint plants had taken over everywhere and old landscape fabric was actually a breeding ground for weeds, not a preventor.  There were some areas that just ripping out all the landscape fabric took care of the weeding.

Before:

Less jungle-like and awaiting mulch:

There still quite a bit more destruction and smashing to happen, but Frankie's well on its way.  Knock on wood, but I'm feeling optimistic about this house and my timeline.

I also accomplished a ton of running around, planning and prepping including:

-Getting a dumpster! which I neglected to get a pic of...

-Purchasing kitchen cabinets

-Picking out countertop & appliances (just haven't placed the orders yet)

-Getting quotes from contractors, window installers, & tub refinishers

Hopefully next week will mark the end of destruction and the beginning of rebuilding.  I can't WAIT to see it all come together!

Meet Frankie

We've run into a few paperwork filing issues (and an elderly seller in Florida), so we're still waiting to technically own the house.  That means no sledge hammers until at least Monday (pout).  It is what it is, I'm just antsy. I can, however, show you where we'll be starting from!

Meet Franklin, AKA Frankie!  Our second-ever flip house!

The exterior doesn't have a long to do list:

• -New windows
• -Siding repair
• -New side railing
• -Paint front railing and awning
• -Clean up planting beds

The kitchen on the other hand:

Aside from the weirdness of the dishwasher closet (which used to house a washer and dryer apparently) the cabinets don't look too bad... until you open them up.  The insides are not pretty.  or sanitary. or salvageable.  Much like the fridge.  ick.

At least that makes my list for the kitchen pretty easy (ha):

• -Demo entire kitchen
• -New floors, cabinets, appliances
• -Plumbing & electrical for new layout
• -Paint

The living room and the bedrooms are luckily no big.  I'll need to paint pretty much everywhere and polish the wood floors, but that's it. Phew!

And then we reach the bathroom.  Oh the bathroom.  It's getting gutted down to the studs.  It looks soooooo much worse in person, trust me.  I need to take some good detail shots before the sledge hammer comes in.

Tile has been removed from all the walls, but instead of removing the old adhesive or tiling over it, they just painted over it.  Lovely. Oh, and that green spot in the shower?  Instead of redoing the shower, they just placed greenboard over the old wall board and put a plastic shower surround on that.  Not the right way to do it so much.

So the list here:

• -Gut.
• -Salvage toilet & countertop
• -Repaint pink tub
• -Replace all wall board
• -New tile, vanity, mirrors, lights
• -Paint

Then we have the basement.  I'll spare you and not show you the utility side since I don't plan to do much aside from clean up, but the other side is going to transform a bit.

To do here?

• -Add wall to separate bright, usable area from dark, utility space
• -Peel & stick floor tiles
• -Replace drop ceiling
• -Paint!!!

Ah, the lists seem so short!  Good thing I know better by now!  We're hoping to get this diamond in the rough back on the market in just under 3 months.

So what do you think of our next flip endeavor?  Can I make it awesome?

Keep your fingers crossed!