Clark: Week 11

If you’re new to my weekly progress posts, Clark is my first ever flip house (named for the street that he’s on). Check out my previous posts here. The end is near!!!  This is veryveryvery exciting!  Our realtor is coming over today to take pictures for the listing which will go live on MONDAY!!!  w00t!  Even with the listing live Monday, we won't be doing any showings until the open house the following Saturday (our agents strategy to drum up interest and build antici...wait for it....pation).  So that means that I have next week to do all my finishing touches- and there are a lot.

Since I'm not doing my big reveal here until I finish a few last things & don't want to post almost finished room pics, you just get teaser shots today.  So much finish work happened this week- this is the most exciting part for me!

With the amazing weather this week, I was more than happy to spend some time outside adding curb appeal.  The house painting is complete and I started adding a few accessories.  Yup, I went with a yellow door.  On a slate gray house it looks A.MAZ.ING. (in my humble opinion)

The previously untouched front garden:

got a bush-ectomy, weeding, and a bunch of mulch

and speaking of mulch, it now lines the 2 banks on either side of the driveway.  Lots and lots of mulch.  30 bags in the front yard!

The backyard just got a lot of cleanup and throwing away trash that was piled.  Not a huge transformation, so no pics, sorry.  I figured I'd spare you the "look, I raked and trimed weeds" pic.

Back inside, the hard wood floors are ALL DONE.  Phew.

The previously ignored bedrooms finally got attention.

This is all that's left of the blood-red bedroom.  so sad.

All three bedrooms got new light fixtures more appropriate for the size of the rooms (the old ones were severely undersized).  I actually reused the light that was originally in the kitchen (since it wasn't bad, just not right for the kitchen) and bought 2 others to match which worked perfectly!

The bedroom carpets also got shampooed.  We borrowed my parent's carpet cleaner, but it needed a new belt before it could be used.

Nothing really happened in the kitchen except cleaning, but I'll post a gratuitous kitchen shot just because it's a damn pretty kitchen.

Clark's ready for his photoshoot, just not his close-ups just yet.  To get him ready for the Open House and showings, I still have to:

• fill LOTS of nail holes in the floor and trim
• finish the hard wood transitions at the front and side doors
• get the kitchen sink and dishwasher hooked up (they look pretty, but don't work yet)
• have the electrician come look at a 3way switch that isn't working
• paint a few more closets and doors
• install the shower knobs
• clean up the basement and paint 1 last wall
• dispose of the remaining brush from the back yard
• clean
• clean
• clean

And since I never have enough on my plate, guess what time it is!

This season's challenge is hosted by these lovely ladies: Sherry @ Young House Love (who just bought a new house!!), Katie @ Bower Power Blog, Emily @ Sparkle Meets Pop, and Renee at RedBirdBlue.  (Check out my past season's challenge projects HERE.)

Since I'm already working on a little project for a very special little boy's first birthday this weekend, I totally have a plan to incorporate the challenge.

Ah, so many exciting things happening!

Clark: Week 10

If you’re new to my weekly progress posts, Clark is my first ever flip house (named for the street that he’s on). Check out my previous posts here. Excuse me, how did week 10 happen?? Big things are happening, just not as quick as I want (of course). We were originally scrambling to get the house listed for Monday (then put the finishing touches on that week before the open house), but we're further away than we had hoped and it's not worth killing ourselves over. One more week won't bust our budget, but it will give me a few moments to breathe between paint touch-ups, landscaping, and finishing touches.

It's become standard out at Clark for each week to start with some unexpected challenges. This week, it was the deck. again.

I know I mentioned the deterioration that I discovered last week, but it got worse when my contractors came to fix it. The more they took apart, the more wood rot they found. Naturally this also quadrupled the cost I was anticipating spending on the deck.

Lucky for me (and Clark), I picked some good contractors and they repaired/rebuilt this guy in just a day. One day people! And under budget to boot!

Now I can give a huge sigh of relief that I don't have to worry about this little porch anymore. If this is the worst surprise expense on this flip, I'm considering it a win!

As the porch was happening on one side of the house, other things were happening on the other sides. House painting!! and it's almost done! The painters are hopefully finishing up by the end of the week and Clark will no longer look like an ugly step-sister. It's so amazing what some paint can do!

Back on the inside, I've been busy. Very busy. But since the end is near, I'm not going to show you all the full room transformations until they're all done, just little snippets. I have to tease you a little, right?

The kitchen backsplash got installed and grouted. And I discovered how tiring leaning over a countertop for several hours can be. Totally worth it though. The best compliment I've heard about this kitchen is from Hubby- he said he's jealous that this kitchen isn't in our house (as in the house we live in, although Clark is technically our house too).

The living room got a second coat on the ceiling, 2 coats on the walls, and an almost complete wood floor. Almost because I ran out of usable wood and need to go buy a few more boxes.

Last week, Hubby left this gift on the floor, so I had to make sure to document it before I covered it with the new wood floor.

I finally got started on the bedrooms too. Bedroom #1 has a painted ceiling, closet, trim & walls. The radiator still needs to get painted and the carpet needs a good cleaning.

Bedroom #2, the "master", got painted trim, ceiling and the start of the walls.

We also got a lot of help this week. My parents and Hubby's mom kindly chipped in some of their painting skills (THANKS!!). None of them would win the award of "cutest helper," though (sorry Dad). That award goes to my nephew Eli.

He knew exactly what to do with that brush. He was wiping it on the wall and then fake dipping it into paint. The kid's very smart for a 1 year old. Cutest. Nephew. Ever.

And if you ever wondered what to get a flipper for her birthday, tools are always a good bet (or if you're married to me, jewelry or something pretty for our house.... just sayin...). My mother-in-law knew just what I needed (to remove an old lock box that no one knew the origin of).

Now I just have a lot of finishing to do. A lot. Paint touch ups, clean ups, recycling boxes, minor landscaping, final plumbing and electrical fixes... you get the idea.

The end is in sight and I'm so excited!!

Clark: Week 9

It's just craziness in the Boston area today and this week.  Hubby's currently home from work until the city gets out of lockdown.  I really hope this gets resolved quickly and no more innocent people get hurt.

Monday was not a great day out at Clark- every time I turned around, I discovered an issue that added to my costs.  Obviously, my bad day was swiftly put into perspective when I heard about the Marathon.  I'm really speechless about the whole thing, so I'm just going to go on with today's update.  #bostonstrong

If you’re new to my weekly progress posts, Clark is my first ever flip house (named for the street that he’s on).  Check out my previous posts here.

The kitchen is one step closer to being done- we have granite countertops!

The first issue I ran into Monday was actually the sink.  It's a fine sink- just not the sink I thought I was getting.  It was included with the countertops, but I was expecting more of a standard rectangular single-bowl sink.  Since it wasn't what I expected, I needed a single hole faucet offset and could not use the faucet that I had previously ordered.  (insert sad trombone here) I was assured by the granite company owner that this is the most popular sink style in granite countertops currently, but it's new to me.  I'm over it now though- the kitchen looks nice, the countertops are gorgeous, the new faucet looks great.  Once I get the dishwasher and sink plumbed they'll be good to go.

I'm hoping to get started on the tile backsplash today- it's one of the few larger tasks still on my To Do list.

The opening between the living room and kitchen got a finished ledge.  The ledge is a new piece I purchased, but I reused the trim from another area in the house.  (This pic should help orient a bit- the door on the right is the front door into the living room)

The living room also finally got a bit of attention this week.  The trim and ceiling got painted and the wall paint got started.  It'll be a nice creamy color called Canvas.

The ceiling went from dingy to crisp white, although it still needs a second coat.

I actually love this ceiling.  It's the only textured ceiling in the house and it's in perfect condition.  I love the character it adds without being overwhelming.

The other HUGE thing this week is the bathroom!  The paneling and trim is up and painted, a new low-flow dual flush toilet is installed, the sink is partially reinstalled, the door has been trimmed down to accommodate the new tile floor, and there is a new ceiling vent fan.  Phew, that was a lot of work!

I was hoping to be able to open up the recess for the medicine cabinet to install a slightly larger one, but that was another speedbump this week.  I'll be reusing/revamping the existing medicine cabinet instead (I'll be showing how in a separate post)

Moving outside, I haven't done any landscaping YET but it'll mainly be cleanup and a lot of mulch.  I may decide to steal this guy for my own house.  (Is it stealing if you take it from one house you own to another?)

One of the other issues that I ran into Monday was the side porch.  I knew it needed a few repairs, but as I checked it out after getting pressure washed and sanded by the painters, it needed more repairs that I had anticipated.  Luckily my contractor is coming to the rescue and is going to be repairing it this weekend before the house gets painted (and also luckily for a very reasonable cost).

In my last post, you saw my instagram shot of the driveway in progress.  I don't think I ever showed you how terrible the before driveway actually was.  The bump-up in the center was probably as high as a foot- my car bottomed out every time I went into the garage.  This needed to happen for resale purposes- it's the first thing that people will see when they come to the house.

Ahhhhhhhh.  A nice, level driveway with no bumps or cracks.

This week I also:

• trimmed down several closet doors for extra clearance over the new wood floors
• squared up the side screen door so that it closes properly
• finished installing floor trim in the kitchen
• got new mirrors cut for the old medicine cabinet
• organized a lot of the mess- now there's a reuse pile, a donate pile, recycle pile, etc.

Our plan is to list Clark a week from Monday (insert panic here) and I have a LOT of work to do before then!  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the house will get painted early next week and we can get new gutters installed.  I need to be a painting fiend so I can crank out the painting of the 3 bedrooms (including ceilings, trim and walls).  I can't wait to take completed pictures and share the total before and after with you.  I'm a sucker for before and after comparisons and Clark's transformation has been huge.  With that said, I'm off to tile and paint!

Boston map image via SparrowMercantile on etsy