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!

Coming Soon!

After months of losing bidding war after bidding war, we finally came out victorious. Meet Frankie- our soon-to-be second flip house!

The scope of work is rather similar to Clark (our first flip)- kitchen, bathroom, update windows, update electrical & plumbing, clean up finishable basement (of course with lots of small details along the way).  I also followed the trend I started with Clark, and based his name off of it's street name.  "Frankie" is short for Franklin- no need to be so formal.

Built in 1954, he's currently sporting up-to-date design trends like a pink bathtub,

a dishwasher in a closet,

and sail boat wallpaper in the basement.  He's stylish like that.

I have pretty awesome plans for this house.  I'm thinking retro-chic with an emphasis on clean and functional.

We're hopefully closing in a few short weeks, so I have some hustling to do!