Grover: Week 15

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out more about this flip, Grover, or check out posts about our last flip HERE. This week, I decided to put aside my animosity of my paint brushes and bond once again.  And boy did I.  I painted practically everything on the kitchen side of the house.  Trim, interior doors, exterior doors, ceiling, walls....myself... (pro tip- it's usually best NOT to sit on paint tin lids)

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All in preparation for.....

Kitchen!

or almost

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An early morning yesterday to meet the installers may have lead to a large coffee, which may have lead to over-caffination, then subsequently awkward happy dancing and buying tiles at the ReStore that I don't need but couldn't stop thinking about....  But anyway, getting the kitchen installed really means that the end is near!!  (if you ignore the basement... it'll be our dirty little secret currently)

Meanwhile, outside the house, I've hired a painter to repaint the house's foundation, garage door, and retaining wall.  That was part of my never ending debate of time vs. $$.  Could I paint that stuff myself?- of course!  BUT we want this house listed sometime this decade and I need to delegate.  It's currently been pressure washed, so it's in the state of "worse before it gets better"

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I did, however attack the front door myself (after a day or so of color deliberation and swatch painting)

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The door told me it wanted to be red.  It did!  I tried yellow and green, but the red felt a bit traditional, with a touch of "look at me."  It clearly still needs at least another coat if not more, which will deepen the color a bit, but curb appeal is imminent.

I am reluctantly showing you this next image, but let me set the stage first.  In painting the door, I also painted and patched the trim around it and temporarily removed the house #s.  They'll get spraypainted and reinstalled, but currently the house is numberless.... and the kitchen installers were coming.  Soooo I took a brush I had on hand and some wet paint from that day's painting.... and butchered the ugly old mail box.  I'm replacing it anyway- it's a rusted pile of {insert word here}.  This will just be incentive for me to get the #s back up and replace the mailbox ASAP.

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There's my artistic skills at work.  Don't be jealous.

I'm finally feeling good about where I'm at with this house.  We're planning to list in just over 2 weeks, so the hustle is ON.  I know the upstairs is going to knock it out of the park... let's hope I can get the basement cleaned up and less creepy by then too.  Fingers crossed!

Make it Work: Steamer Trunk

What?  Another new series?  I'm on a roll!  I hope you're loving them! In the past I've shown you all the treasures (and some not so much...) for sale on Craigslist, but I though it would be fun to not just show you the piece, but also show you how you can make it work in your own space

This week's treasure:

The steamer trunk

Currently listed on the Boston/North Shore Craigslist for $10.  Seriously $10.  The picture makes it look pretty decent and if the inside is clean and usable, $10 is a steal!

craigslist steamer trunk

Antique steamer trunk, meet modern home:

How I would style this piece:

Well traveled steamer trunk living room // Year of Serendipity

1/ IKEA Stockholm sofa-  Surprise! Just goes to show you can have style at any budget!

2/ Olia Table Lamp via Lulu & Georgia

3/ Penelope Night Stand via West Elm

4/ Racing Stripe Pillow via Serena & Lily

5/ Domino Pillow via Lulu & Georgia

6/ Sculpted Metal + Leather Bowl Chair via West Elm (another surprise)

7/ Triangles Dhurrie Rug also via West Elm

 

Are you loving/hating my new series posts?  I'd love your feedback on Make it Work, 5 Ways, or Crash!

Caught White Handed

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Oh no, she got hold of the spray paint again!!  Every man for themselves! hiding-hand

I'm not sure what spoke to me about this hand vase (must have been sign language...), but when I saw it at an estate sale this weekend, I felt compelled to pick it up immediately.  $4? Ok, if you insist.  I've never seen anything like it before.  Even the strangest things can look elegant in white ceramic, right?

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I tried cleaning it up, but it still looked like dingy old off-white with a bad manicure.

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After checking it to make sure there were no markings that this was a priceless heirloom (spoiler alert: it wasn't), I took to it with some fine sand paper before I let her have it.

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Flat white spray paint was all I had on hand (pun intended, but also true).  The white paint was just what this piece needed to make it look fresh and clean.

I borrowed an air plant from the kitchen to test out my vision.  I need to get some more air plants.  In the past year I've only killed 1 out of 5.  That's pretty decent for me with plants- I've kept 4 alive!  Throw me a parade- I'm a saint here!  Too far?  Anyway, so HAND!

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For $4 you could get a fancy latte at Starbucks, but I think spending it on weird hand vases is so much more fulfilling.  It looks exactly how I pictured it on my shelf and I kind of love it.  High five! Sorry, sorry, I'll stop with the hand puns, scouts honor.... ok that was the last.  really.

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I've been picking up cool old books at tag sales and estate sales, so my living room bookcase is just screaming for a full restyle in the very near future and not just the shelves that end up in hand photo shoots.

Apparently I'm feeling very cheeky pre-coffee this Monday morning.  My apologies if my cheese level was off the charts- I'll try to be more docile in Wednesday's post.  No promises.

Happy Monday!