Floored!

You guys, floors.  Between my own floor refinishing and starting the new flip, clearly I've had them on the mind lately.  I'm hopping on my soapbox here, although I doubt you'll be shocked. The right flooring can make or break a space.  I repeat- the RIGHT flooring can make or break a space.  It's more important than the paint color and even the decor.  The floor is your foundation both literally and visually.

image via GoHaus

As a designer, I know this, but its nice to be reminded.  Refinishing my upstairs floors has been not only a reminder, but a full on smack in the face.  Before we even closed on our house 4 1/2 years ago we knew the carpets had to go.  I hated them so much I did my best to include as little as possible in any pics that I shared with you. Dingy carpet, plus cheap IKEA rug- I was embarrassed. So was Bear.

Then we dragged our feet for years.  And now I'm wondering why in the world we waited so long!  I'm so eager to start moving furniture back in today!!

Night and day!  Don't get me wrong, wall-to-wall carpets have their place, they just felt like a poorly planned afterthought here and didn't fit with the character of the 115 year old home.  Now with a fitting foundation, my mental design roadblocks have dissolved and all the pieces can fall into place.  It's amazing what a good floor can do!

Flooring is also going to have a HUGE impact on my latest flip.  Picking the right flooring for the right spaces will help the house feel cozy, warm, fresh, and welcoming.  Yes, the floors will do that!

This house is a tiny on-slab ranch with layers of stained vinyl tile stuck directly to concrete.  Is there anything about this floor that makes you want to live here?  If you say yes you are either lying or need you head checked.

Now picture cozy plush carpeting in the bedrooms and engineered wood throughout the living space.  This is where wall-to-wall carpeting makes sense- it will serve to warm up the small bedrooms.  Breaking up the flooring for different spaces in this house will help to delineate the more 'public' living spaces from the cozy private spaces.

I'm almost always an advocate for real wood floors, but every material has an appropriate application and real wood on concrete slabs is a big no no.  GoHaus has a great post detailing the pros and cons of real hardwood vs engineered hardwood.  Engineered is 100% the right application for this space.  By installing wood floors in the living area I'll be adding a classic feel with the warmth of wood and the versatility of being adaptable to any decor style.  Perfect for resale!

image via GoHaus

I'll step off my soapbox now since I think I've driven my point home.  Flooring is awesome.

Meet Dori, Flip House #5

On to flip house #5!  Since we didn't close until Friday afternoon, I wanted to wait until today to show her off. Meet Dori!  She's clearly a bit of a change from the last house, but still quite a challenge in her own right.

As always with my flips, this house is named after it's street, but this time there's a bit more to it.  The name of the street is the same street name (although a different state) that my Grandma lived on for 50+ years, so this house is getting named after her: Doris or Dori since she'll soon be a modern gal.

Dori really doesn't have any character to speak of, so any personality this house will have in the end will be brute-forced in by your truly.  What this flip house does have going for it are the 3 Ls- Location, Location, Location... ok, I'll add a 4th "L" to that since she also has a very generous Lot for the area: part grass and quite a bit of woods behind.

I'm still working out the details, but the basics include, new windows and doors, new drywall walls and ceilings and trim everywhere, new flooring in all but 1 room, a new bathroom, a new kitchen, updating the wiring and plumbing, making the utility/laundry room look less like a horror movie, sprucing up the yard and garage, and adding a bit of curb appeal.  That's nothing, right?

I'm going to try REALLY hard to take a bit more hands-off approach, but we all know I cannot actually be hands-off.  I can't let the contractors have all the fun!

My pet projects where I'll be getting my hands the dirtiest here will be making the small kitchen highly functional and pinterest-worthy, and making the laundry/utility room a space where you might actually want to do laundry.

Let's just say, the whole house currently smells the way it looks- smoky, musty, and dated.  (Dated can be a smell, right?)

There's no escaping that fact that Dori the flip house is a starter home, but with a swift injection of creativity, she's going to be a fun/funky little home for the right family- I can see it now!  Use you're imagination when looking at the pics- just picture clean and fresh walls, snazzy new floors, crisp trim....

At only 1068sf there's a whole lotta ick packed into each square foot.  I need to get her to a blank slate before I can start adding character.  My mind is racing with all the things that I need to do and coordinate.  Let the games begin!!

Friday I'll be resuming my regular "Flip Fridays" and show you how destructive I get this week with my buddy the sledgehammer.

My Office Plan

Oh my office.  I'm excited to make this a workable office.  and tv room. and workout room.  It wears many hats, but the primary one needs to be workable office.  This is where the design magic needs to happen. Before we tore out the carpet, my office had stalled out shy of usable office.  No desk or workspace and the computer placement made me feel like I was in a cave.

While I'm still fleshing out the layout, I know what feel I want here.  This office (via House Beautiful) spoke to me.

Clearly I don't have anywhere near the space or want to fork over budget to replicate this, but I'm inspired.  Sometimes it's the hardest as a designer to work on your own spaces because of all the possibilities in front of you.  When I find myself getting tripped up like this I always try to pick a jumping off point.  For my office, it's this rug that I stumbled on at HomeGoods.  It's so soft and more subtle in person.  Traditional and feminine without being too girly.

From there I was inspired.

1.  IKEA ranarp task lamp.  I've had this lamp for over a year and I still love it- it just needs a better home.

2.  My vintage craigslisted settee will need to stay in the space (for the tv room functionality portion), but it requires some new pillows!  This fun stripe is Color Lesson, Cantaloupe from Tonic Living

3.  I love the way yellow pops with the rug, so my office chair might get a good dose of Heni Slub Goldenrod from Fabric.com

4.  #polkadotsforlife.  Polka dots make me weak in the knees, so I'm very very seriously considering a roman shade in this Small Ikat Dot from Tonic Living

5.  This room needs plants!  I'm still not so great at keeping them alive, but I'm officially a plant addict.  The one pictured is technically a small, artificial one from IKEA, but you get the idea.

6.  This image is courtesy of Apartment Therapy, but I am actively on the hunt for a small scale desk to maximize my worksurface in my small scale space.  Hopefully my besty Craigslist will help me out.

7.  Totally the same rug as above but it changes color in different lights- more beigy at times, and others more blue.  It's actually billed as silver which is probably accurate.  I stumbled on mine for an amazing deal at HomeGoods, but I found it later at Target as well- Safavieh Calista Rug

8.  If you have a really good memory, you might remember this guy as my $25 Brimfield pick from a year ago.  He's been patiently waiting in the basement for new upholstery- I'm thinking #3 above.  A nice yellow pattern would make him look super dapper, don't you think?

I have a few other tricks up my sleeve here too (like a creative way to hide the TV), but the bedroom floors are still unfinished, which means 1/3 of the bedroom is currently shoved into my office.  Another 1/3 in Hubby's office, and the last 1/3 in the living room.  The cats seem a bit bewildered as to why there's a mattress taking up the entire living room floor.