Revamping

I know I'm definitely in the right career field.  No doubt.  Why so sure?  Even in the midst of flipping a house and painting and the daily messes out at Frankie, I'm still planning design changes around my own house.  It's a sickness, really.  I come home from Frankie totally pooped, melt into the couch, and look around at what I want to change. I've left my living room alone for the past year and a half, although I've never been 100% pleased with it. Here's where it stands today:

Things just didn't mesh as I had hoped and the stark contrast of Clifford the giant red chair vs. the turquoise stripe wall is starting to grate on me.  With an idea in my head, I dug my (very very dusty) sketch pad out of the basement and decided to try putting my plans on paper.  I am not an artist and only usually sketch for a specific purpose (like my chair art), so please forgive the rather skewed perspectives.

Years ago I had the idea for a corner built-in bookcase, but put the idea aside thinking that it wasn't worth the effort.  Well, I'm still thinking about it 2+ years later, so in my book, that calls for another consideration.  Being a little more comfortable with building things and tools now, I feel like it's a totally accomplishable project that will completely make the room.  (plus I've found tutorials online that help to make it less intimidating)  Architectural interest, here I come!

Furniture-wise.....  Mr. couch must go.  He's a fine couch.  Just fine. and rather comfy ....but he's out of scale with the room, a little style-less, and I've been craving a different sofa for 3.5 years (we've had this one for 4.5... maybe I'll vent more another day).  Something like this sofa would totally do the trick.  Classic and stylish (and less lumpy), but still very versatile.  *swoon*

The red chair will get switched with our antique one that's currently in hubby's office which will get reupholstered with a more neutral pattern.

If this fabric wasn't $80 a yard ON SALE it would be a frontrunner.

The coffee tables will remain, but get an undisclosed make-over in the very near future.  They're gonna be sexy, let me tell you.  And the end tables which are some of the only remaining furniture from my "bachelorette pad" will get replaced with craigslisted or thrifted pieces similar to these which have been tempting me on Craigslist

The paint and rug will remain the same, the plate wall will remain, and the tv wall will be untouched, so it's not a TOTAL do-over, but I'm super duper excited!  We probably won't be buying a couch for a few months and I'll spare my building-buddy (Handy dad) and wait until the weather warms up a bit to do the bookcase, so I have plenty of time to obsess and plan (oh, and finish a fliphouse).

Are you planning any room do-overs or modifications?  or have you built any bookshelves?  tips are invited!

Frankie: Week 9

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. Sorry for the very very late update today- an unfortunate power outage this AM decided that I wasn't posting until after my work day at Frankie.

I have regained Frankie from the contractors and he's starting to look pretty darn spiffy!  Yes I said spiffy.  Frankie's from the 50's so that gives me the right to use cheesy words like spiffy, neat, and righto.  Got it?

The bathroom has walls, a floor, tile, a vanity, mirrors, sconces, and above all, functioning plumbing!

There's still quite a bit of touch-ups and final touches that'll need to happen in the bathroom (like a tub that's still pink for another 10 days), but I'm comfortable in saying that this room is about 90% complete!

The kitchen's been giving me troubles, though- namely the ceiling.  After scraping and patching the ceiling, I painted the first coat... and it started cracking and peeling again.  So I scraped off the peeling paint, patched it, and painted again... same issue.  ugh.  Here's the recipe that seemed to work in the end: scrape EVERY bit of loose paint (a utility knife worked rather well), sand, prime... THEN patch.  Prime over the dried patch, then finally paint.  It may have been overkill on the steps, but I didn't want to have to repeat myself a third time.

As you can see, the walls that won't be covered with cabinets are also painted, yay (minor touch-ups needed) and ready for the kitchen cabinets install this weekend (happy dance!)

The contractors also completed drywalling and adding some doors in the unfinished basement

And replaced the broken, rusty exterior railing to the side door.

As in previous weeks, I tried to stay out of the contractors ways by priming, painting, patching, and replacing the hall and kitchen lights.  Sadly, there's still a LOT more priming and painting to do, but this rebuilding phase is my favorite part!  My vision for Frankie is starting to be visible and not just all in my head!

Arrivederci 2013!

Wow, this is my last post of 2013.  That snuck up on me. 2013 was one for the books.

I quit my secure 9to5 job to flip houses then subsequently flipped a house!

While flipping, I learned how to tile and lay hardwoods, among other things.

We also redid our own kitchen and I'm still in love with it.

And I opened an etsy shop, Serendipity Vintage, giving me an excuse to collect more cool old stuff (I have so much cool stuff that I still have to list on the shop!)

Amongst the big-ticket items of 2013, there were a few fun little DIY projects sprinkled in there, like an ipad envelope

a wine rack

and a faux roman shade

Overall, I'd say 2013 was a great year, although I have a feeling that it was all just build-up for 2014.  I have a lot of plans for this next year and, even if only half of them pan out, 2014 should be epic!!

(raising a cup of coffee) Here's to 2013 and an even better year to come!!!