Les Portes

I'm blaming Hubby for starting this tradition.  Several years ago, on a work trip to France, I sent him with our old point and shoot digital camera.  Instead of filling the camera with pics of skylines and fancy meals like I expected, he had more pictures of doors than anything.  Fascinating doors.  Bright doors, fancy doors, paneled doors, etc.  So now when we travel together, that's one thing that catches both of our eyes. So, today I bring you: Doors of Bordeaux

 

The hardware is pretty dreamy too.  I've fallen in love with over-sized centered knobs, quirky door knockers, and over-sized pulls.

Now we only need to find some fun antiques to bring home with us!

Flip or Flop?

I'm on the edge of my seat here guys.  I'm hoping that by the time I get on a plane this evening I'll know whether or not I'll be coming back from France with a house to flip.  Honestly, it's not looking good.  After our accepted offer, we went in for a home inspection.  There was nothing drastically wrong that we weren't half way expecting.  The biggie here is knob and tube.  We knew there was some there going into the inspection... but dude it's everywhere.  Like rewire the ENTIRE house everywhere.  whomp whomp.  We need them to come down a lot on the price to make this project worth it. So I figured I'd just tease today (both you and me).  IF we can work this project out- and that's a big IF right now- this house has charm busting at the seams!

Even an original, maybe workable pocket door.

If I can get my hands on this kitchen, I WON'T be gutting it.  Gasp!  Nope, I'll be reworking and fixing up the existing cabinets.  I can totally see it, can you?

If this house hasn't charmed you already, these details will send you over the edge:

Oh yeah, and there's a delightfully not original to the house blue bathroom.

If only the ridiculous charm of this house made up for the mouse infestation, knob and tube and updates needed everywhere.  Cross your fingers for me that the seller agrees to the revised deal but it's a super long shot.  This would be a fun (ridiculously nerve-wracking) project that's not just another mid- century ranch.

**UPDATE** The sellers agreed to lower the price even more!  We've agreed to go forward with the sale, and as long as I keep a tight watch on the budget, this'll be a great project!!!

Dressers on the Brain

I always get these grand plans for how much I will get accomplished in between flips, yet it always ends up that I play catch-up, organize, clean, then wonder where all my time went for DIY or home projects.  I won't bore you with my to do list- mainly because looking at it will stress me out.  Vacations are great, but I'm pretty sure to do lists double when they see "vacation" on the calendar. I'm lucky enough to have a Hubby who works for a big travel company.  Wine tour through Bordeaux?  Ok, if you insist.  The only bad part is that I'm scrambling to get stuff set before we leave.  I would rather not be trying to buy one house and sell another with limited wifi 3500 miles away.  I can't be the only one that finds the lead up to a vacation very stressful.  Assuming I don't drive myself completely crazy in the next few days, next week posts might be looking a bit more European and influenced by wine.

As you can probably guess by the post's title, in addition to scrambling for vacation, I've got dressers on the brain.  In the midst of buying and selling houses, I'm also apparently buying and selling dressers.  I feel like the Oprah of dressers- You get a dresser, you get a dresser, YOU get a dresser!  Everybody gets a dresser!

Ok, maybe not everybody... just Hubby and Me, whoever buys our old dresser on craigslist, and our future niece.

This large black dresser that matches the entire bedroom set is on it's way out- fast.  After having it on craigslist for only a few hours, a buyer has checked it out and given me 1/2 the money until he can come back tomorrow and move it.  Why am I selling it??  If you follow me on social media, you may have an inkling.

A week and a half ago I picked up this guy for a whopping $60.  I love estate sales.  Since it was the second day, everything was 50% off, making this $75.  Still a deal at $75, but I ALWAYS ask if they can do any better and BAM $60.  Aside from one broken pull, this dresser is in amazing condition.  Like better-than-the-condition-of-the-dresser-that-I'm-replacing-and-50-years-older amazing condition.  Luckily I noticed the broken pull before taking it home and asked if the sellers minded me taking an unbroken one from the unsold matching night stand.  You don't get what you don't ask for!  So for a week and a half, although the drawers have made it up the stairs, this has been the view from the couch in the living room.

These are the times where a garage would come in really handy.  The new dresser doesn't fit in the bedroom until we clear out the old one.  Tomorrow, pretty new dresser.  Tomorrow! I can't wait.  This dresser's so much prettier in person.  The cat's agree.

Gratuitous cat shot? sure, but just take a gander at that dresser leg and the faceted detail!

I'm also heading out this afternoon to go and pick up a dresser for my future niece.  After Monday's post, I decided on one of the 3 options:

The shape mesmerizes me.  It'll be fun and girly without being cutesy or too girly.  Fingers crossed that it only needs a new paint job!

After this week, I think I'm going to put an embargo on moving any more dressers.