Cole the Flip House: Week 6 & 7

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  If you’re new here (Hello!!!) or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 7 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride as I jump into flip #8!!!  Check out previous posts about this house here and follow along on my insta-stories for more behind the scenes goodness! This post may contain affiliate links.  For more information, see my disclosures here.  

The past few weeks have been painfully slow for outward progress.  That doesn't mean things haven't been moving along, though.  I was trying to wait until doors were installed last week to post, but it escaped me since we didn't have new doors until Friday afternoon.  After a lengthy battle with a nest of wasps that had taken up residence inside the wood below the front door, Cole now has 2 snazzy new exterior doors that I need to decide on a color for!

Meanwhile inside, insulation was added wherever needed, vent fans were added into the bathrooms, and inspections started happening!

With a building permit, you need to get rough sign-offs for things inside the walls before they close them up so the town knows that things are being done properly.  Electrical, plumbing, framing, and insulation were all signed off on so now we can get to drywalling!!!  The drywall boards have been delivered and should start going up today!!!!!!!!!!  I'm excited for this step.  Can you tell??

Appliances and kitchen cabinets are getting delivered next Thursday, so we're really full steam ahead now!!  Walls are always the turning point from a house in destruction to one that looks livable.  As I was starting to get antsy wanting to see the 'pretty' progress, I set at ordering tiles, vanity, and light fixtures.  We have a very tight budget on this one since we're paying a bit more to have my contractor manage sub-contractors (which I have done in the past and just don't have time to do now), so I'm counting every penny.  You should know by now, however, that while I am cost conscious, my goal is for the finished product not to look like it!

In the bathroom, even though I've decided to stick to my go-to subway tile shower to conserve budget, I've ordered a much more exciting floor tile!  I need to figure out if I'll be able to use a vintage medicine cabinet that I have in the storage unit, but I'm going for a vintage cafe vibe in here.  Cafe bathroom?

Light // Vanity // Floor Tile // Accessories // Shower Curtain

I haven't landed on a backsplash tile for the kitchen just yet because all the ones I'm drawn to are over what is currently budgeted.  I'm hoping I can shuffle a few numbers to make it happen, though!  With drywall on it's way, next week should bring some exciting progress!!  My contractor assures me that we're still on track to be finishing up hopefully the end of October.  If you know anyone who will be looking for a new home soon in my area, send them my way!!

Have a fantastic fall weekend!

Cole the Flip House: Week 5

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  If you’re new here (Hello!!!) or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 7 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride as I jump into flip #8!!!  Check out previous posts about this house here and follow along on my insta-stories for more behind the scenes goodness!  

Cole was a busy place last weekend, but then was relatively quiet all week.  Even with it being largely a quiet week, significant progress was made!  It's just not the prettiest progress, but it's what will make this house function flawlessly!

To orient you, the pic above is taken from the living room, dining room is the open room on the left, kitchen is right behind the stairs and the full bath is a bump-out off the middle of the back of the house- you can see the bathroom built-in and the new tub glaring white in the distance there.

Even though the new furnace hasn't been installed yet, all of the new ductwork has been run.  The house has been completely rewired and new plumbing has been run for the kitchen, existing bathroom, and the NEW upstairs powder room!  This is the same wall/chase that I showed you last week, but now it has hvac, plumbing, electrical, and a bit more framing to it.  It's no longer a pass-through to the kitchen, but as you can see from the panorama above, a doorway there is no longer needed!

The new upstairs powder room is starting to look like more than just a closet!  It's not going to be super spacious, but in my opinion, it's presence on the second floor is such a bonus for this house!  This view is going to be non-existent once drywall is up, but this was taken from the top of the stairs where there will be a small linen closet through the vanity wall of the powder room.  On the floor in the back you can see the toilet flange and water line.

In giving up the existing master closet for the new powder room, we had to do something about closets.  Do you think this is a big enough closet for this room?  That's a trick question.  The answer is YES!  It's gigantic for the size and age of the house!  My own closet is jealous.

I'm getting eager to see drywall go up, but I know there are several other things that need completing first.  The big one being rough inspections by the town.  On top of that, all new doors will be going in before drywall can happen.  The house is already leaps and bounds beyond where it started, though, don't you think?

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Cole the Flip House: Week 4

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I navigate through the business of flipping houses one house at a time!!  If you’re new here (Hello!!!) or just enjoy walking down memory lane, you can see my 7 previous flip houses here.  Thanks for coming along for the ride as I jump into flip #8!!!  Check out previous posts about this house here and follow along on my insta-stories for more behind the scenes goodness!  

Progress seems to creep at the beginning as a lot of behind the scenes things are happening.  All that visually happened this week was the start of HVAC install.  When I pulled up to the house yesterday, I was excited to see the telltale signs in the yard that progress was happening: a pile of scrap metal in the yard that once was the old HVAC system.  The new one is being installed as we speak.

We had to have them totally rerun the duct work for the second floor- only 1 room had heat, and the run went right through the kitchen wall I wanted to remove.  The trade-off for that, however is that we need to have a decent sized chase running next to the chimney on the living room side, but I think it's a fair trade to have heat and AC in both bedrooms and the bathroom upstairs.  If this wasn't the prime tv-mounting wall in the living room, I probably would have done a built-in, but gotta provide the tv a home!

More systems fun is happening this weekend with both plumbing and electrical going in.  The bath tub is also going in today as well.  Even though it may not look like it, this house is moving along nicely.  It's always more satisfying visually to see things like drywall, tile, and cabinets, but we need to make sure what's behind the wall is right first!

I can't, however leave you with no eye-candy this week!  I've finally started to put my brain toward the decorative elements- especially when it comes to the kitchen.  Most of the cabinetry will actually be wood with only 3 cabinets flanking the sink in a soft dove gray.  I want to add a vintage vibe with tumbled marble subway tile with a decorative detail above the stove (grout color TBD), then balance out the traditional with modern white quartz counters and funkier hardware and lighting.  As always, this could change 10,000 times before the project is over, but I think it's hitting the right vintage modern vibe.

I'm actually looking forward to doing wood cabinets on this one.  Aside from the wood island at Shorty, it's been a while since I did wood cabinets, and I'm excited to be playing around with the balance of vintage feeling and a few more fun elements.  What do you think?

Have a fantastic weekend!!!