Frankie: Week 14

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. The last major item on the To Do list got checked off yesterday with about a dozen exclamation points- new windows!!

Despite the annoyance of scheduling the windows, the install guys were complete rock stars.  I'm resisting the temptation to show you a (very boring) series of window pics throughout the house.  Spoiler alert: they pretty much all look like this:

Seriously, though these are some sexy windows.  At least compared to their predecessors, remember?  They were even uglier up close.

In the back 2 bedrooms, I did keep the existing vinyl windows on the right, so the new windows don't match them (sad trombone).  There was a method to my madness, though: I wanted the sides of the house to have all the same windows and I wasn't prepared to spend an extra $1000 to replace the already replaced, but matching windows on the back.  Never fear!  I have a solution!  Installing neutral white miniblinds will help to unify the windows in the bedrooms(which are also different sizes) and add privacy.

With all the major items off the list, I've been working through my list of what feels like a million little things.

After trimming down several doors to allow for the new floor heights (which the contractor had already supposedly trimmed...), I was finally able to get ALL the doors rehung and start putting the newly painted hardware back on.

All the wonky electrical has now been fixed and updated throughout the house (by a pro!), I was finally able to glue & screw down the butcherblock island top,

and while the window install was happening upstairs, I finally got started on the basement.  Basement beginnings included removing about 3 kajillion nails from the ceiling, organizing everything left over from the upstairs work to keep/donate/trash piles, and prepping every single surface on the planet in the basement for paint.

The walls got prepped by scraping flaking paint and using a wire brush to remove all the efflorescence.  I'll follow this with paint designed to seal basement concrete walls.  I used this same process in the last flip and it seemed to do the job, so here's hoping it'll work again!

With the basement cleanup finally started and all the major items with a check next to them on my list, I feel a huge weight lifted off me.  Fingers crossed, but I'm hoping this last leg of the flip will go swimmingly!

Frankie: Week 13

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. It's crunch time here at Frankie!  Windows are getting installed in less than a week, and the goal is to do some touch-ups after, then LIST!  I'm not sure if the basement will be 100% complete at that point, but the main floor of the house is looking mighty pretty.  Especially the kitchen.

The kitchen now has countertops AND a pretty backsplash!!  And working plumbing!!

I'm loving the Moroccan shaped tiles- just the right amount of texture and interest.  My muscles don't appreciate the time bent over the counter and running up and down the stairs to make cuts (with the tile saw in the basement), but the result is worth it!

I still have to wipe them down again to get rid of the haze and make them super shiny...But I also have some fixing to do.  Probably later once EVERTHING else is done.... but I hate making mistakes.  It's no fun.  It's kind of embarrassing to admit that it took me a full day to realize why the grout looked kind of terrible once it dried.  I first tried to blame it on cheap grout, but eventually the reality set it that I just used the wrong product.  I used unsanded grout when I should have used sanded.  Rookie mistake!

I'm hoping that another coat of unsanded grout on top of the already dried grout will have the necessary structure not to sink in the gaps and look silly.  Fingers crossed!!!  I feel kind of foolish that I did this- I just didn't think it through and I really hope I don't have to scrape all the grout out and start over.  That would kinda suck (majorly).

But on a more positive note, I've started polishing up the hardwood floors and they're looking quite spiffy!  Even just a good clean made a huge difference.

I used Rejuvinate Floor Restorer in High Gloss (after remembering that  Young House Love had a good experience with it) and it didn't disappoint.

Hello Shiny!

As I finish up with the floors, I'm also rehanging doors at long last!!  Those buggers aren't the easiest to get realigned when you've completely taken them down.  Maybe today the bathroom'll actually get a door.  Apparently a door is a very important element to a bathroom.  Who knew?

Back down the hall in the kitchen, I was also finally able to cut down the butcherblock for the dresser/island.  I had to wait until I had a second pair of hands at the house to lift it- a 2"+ thick solid wood slab weighs a few pounds.  It's not attached to the island just yet, but I'm already finding it handy to have this additional surface.  I can only imagine how nice it would be to cook in this kitchen!  Ya know.... if I actually cooked....

I took a bit of time yesterday to really look at what's left and make a bajillion and a half lists.  Shopping lists, staging lists, to do lists....  I have a love/hate relationship with my to do lists.  There are few greater joys in life than crossing off item after item on a to do list, but in their beginning stage, they're just intimidating:

None of the items on the lists are huge tasks anymore, so I'm really hoping that I can make quick work of these lists!  Chop, chop, Karen, this house won't sell itself!  Anyone in the market for a nearly move-in-ready home in good ol' Worcester, MA?  The kitchen's going to be kind of amazing!

Frankie: Week 12

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. It's minorly discouraging when I realize that with Clark, our last flip, week 12 was the big reveal, but with last minute vacations, multiple holidays, and factory closures I guess it's understandable that Frankie's not quite done yet.  c'est la vie.

Since rooms are starting to reach partial completion, we've reached the time in my flip updates where I stop showing full rooms and just show teasers.  Sorry!  Ok, maybe I'm not so sorry, I like teasing you with the finished result, but I will share additional pics on my facebook and instagram pages (see, I'm not above shameless self-promotion).

Anyway, back to the wonderful world of painting...

I am very pleased and unbelievably beyond relieved to say, that aside from minor touch-ups, the entire main floor is DONE being painted.  Admittedly, painting took much longer than I planned for.  Great arm work-out, though.  I think I'll be rolling paint in my sleep for the next month.

I'll still have to do major touch-ups on most of the window trim once the new windows get installed, but at least we finally have a date for that!  Even though I started the whole new-window process before we even closed on the house, I had a feeling that they'd be holding up listing and I was right.  Factories closed for the holidays, and tempered glass for the bathroom was back-ordered, making the windows the absolute last thing to do.  The windows are scheduled to be installed on Feb 6th and we plan to be listed as soon as I can finish touch-ups afterwards.

Fun flip fact:  it takes precisely 5 gallons of paint to paint 3 bedrooms and a living room.  (Recycled ReColor paint in canvas color to be precise)

I was also finally able to beat all the ceilings in this house into submission *halleluiah* and, thankfully, the 2 rooms that I attempted texture on didn't end up looking too terrible.

The bathroom vanity got blinged out with a bit of hardware.  The vanity did come with plain ol' knobs, but adding shiny, slightly more custom-looking hardware will make the bathroom feel a bit richer as a whole.  It's the little things, people!  Side note: Please disregard how dirty the wood looks- it needs a major wipe-down due to leftover construction dust.

In all the tedium of painting though, I did have a little fun and get started on the island.  Painting furniture is so much more enjoyable than painting rooms.

I'm still wavering on the color a tiny bit.  It's a little brighter in person, but I think it'll look pretty awesome when the room's all together.  And since the countertops are getting installed at long last today and may even be done by the time this posts (happy dance)!! I can finally pull the kitchen together!  This girl has a SERIOUS itch to tile a backsplash.  I may have to restrain myself from starting to tile the second the countertop guys leave.  Then again, why not?? Have a fantastic weekend!