Inspired By

Between shoveling, moving buckets of concrete into a bagster, and rolling Drylok (paint as thick as frosting) on the basement walls, my arms are sure to look like Popeye's soon.  I'm not sure it's a look I'll be able to pull off, but it sure beats paying extra for a gym membership!  Even though I'm been physically hard at work getting this flip ready to list this weekend, my brain has been collecting inspiration and planning ideas for the next flip and for our own house! Here are some of my favorite inspirations from around the web that I've pinned recently.

This sweet table styled for valentines day by Carrie over at Dream Green DIY hits the right balance.  It's sweet and girly with a bit of vintage flare to keep it grounded.  I see those salt and pepper shakers everywhere... this table's making me think about picking them up next time they cross my path.

Every time I look at Dina from Honey and Fitz's bedroom I fall in love all over again with the reading lights.

If you've read my blog for more than a week, you may have figured out that I've been fixated on gold lately.  It's no wonder that I'm enamored by this bathroom from Cuckoo 4 Design.  Gold... dots AND stripes... and still neutral enough to accessorize.... why, yes please!

Since I REALLY need to get going on my basement work space if I plan to accomplish it for my 30 before 30 list, creative work spaces have been catching my eye.  This one from Be True Image Design is such a cute, family friendly space.

Last but certainly not least- you rarely see high chairs make an appearance in professionally styled and photographed dining rooms, but with a high chair like this, why not??  I don't think I can find a single thing with Jessica and Scott's eating nook (featured on Apartment Therapy) that I would change.  The mix of patterns and the light really bewitch me.

What's been inspiring you lately?

Chalk it up

Back when I was at IKEA shopping for Frankie's kitchen a few months ago, I picked up this guy, the LUNS chalkboard, with staging in mind.

It's lacking a bit of personality, but for $15 I knew I could Tim Gunn it ("Make it work!")

In reality, as you can see from the pic below, the wood was very light- nice for some spaces, but clashed a bit with the wood cabinets in the kitchen where I planned to put it.

Luckily, light wood is problem easily remedied with a bit of stain, so I attacked it with Minwax Polyshades in Bombay Mahogany that I already had in my arsenal.

After one coat, it wasn't drastic, but added the richness needed to stand up against the reddish-brown cabinets.

Stain alone wasn't enough to kick up the personality, so I painted the box below the chalkboard with the wall color and added a fun corner detail.

The top corners each got 2 strategically places screws (for decoration only) and sprayed with a hammered silver spraypaint.

After everything had dried and I pulled off the painters tape, I listened to the little IKEA cartoon man's assembly instructions, then proceeded to have fun playing with chalk.

To help orient you, this little section of wall is in between the living room (left) and the kitchen (right).  I'm also making an attempt at not-so-subliminal messages for potential buyers.  I think it screams "BUY ME!!" but in a classy way.

Just a few small items left to stage and the upstairs will be ready for it's photo shoot!

The basement, however is another story.  Another messy, neglected story that I need to hustle on this week.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed for no more snow days and an amazingly productive week!

Frankie: Week 15

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. This is your last teaser post before Frankie's big reveal next week!  Are you excited!  I am!  So excited, in fact, that I may overuse the exclamation point in this post.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

Come hell or high water, I WILL have this house done and ready to list by the end of next week.  Especially since as of today we'll own 3 houses... what what??  #1, our house...#2, Frankie...and #3.....

That's right, flip #3!!!  Another ranch!  My specialty apparently.  Hubby's named him Grover (following our naming convention of using part of the street name).  I may just end up calling him Grove.  We shall see.  We won't be starting in on the house right away, so I'll have time to finish Frankie and take a short breather before jumping in with both feet.  Until then, I'm going to start dreaming about ripping out this delightfully modern bathroom.

Woof.  It even matches the exterior... as it should.....  My sledge hammer is going to be my bff.

But anyway, back to the current flip!  Frankie is almost all grown up and ready to leave the nest.

It's honestly hard for me to believe the transformation here- he's really a looker!!  I've got the upstairs at about 95%, just some touch-ups, cleaning, and minor staging needed.

Just look at all those check marks!  That's what flipping dreams are made of.

Thankfully, I was able to fix my botched grout job with another layer of the same unsanded grout, now it's pretty and smooth as it was intended.  Yay! As the kitchen cleaning commenced, I started peeling the protective film off the appliances.  It was like unwrapping presents to reveal a sparkly kitchen.  Almost as gratifying as painting/refinishing furniture.  Almost.

The bedrooms and bathroom all got inexpensive blinds for privacy.  My secret for making them look less cheap and more custom: trim them to fit inside the window frames!  No more messy bunch at the bottom!

After touching up all the window trims and sills and polishing up the floors, I can't help but show you a teaser of the living room.

When I started on this house, my goal was to make it clean, functional and livable- three things it was not before.  This house cleaned up better than even I expected- it just puts a smile on my face, and hopefully the next owner's.

My To Do list pretty much has one thing still left unchecked: the basement.  I have to tackle it with lots and lots and lots of paint, so I anticipate being covered in paint next week... maybe I'll even get a bit on the walls.  It will be so worth it, though, trust me!

The end is near!  I can't wait to show you guys Frankie's full transformation next Friday!!