Millie: Week 31

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  This flip, Millie is the most challenging and most exciting yet! You can find more about this house and about my 3 previous flip houses here. Holy cow- week 31 and I'm still not done with this silly house.  We've even pushed the list date back a week due to circumstances beyond my control. (NO, I am NOT procreating yet!) Hopefully those reasons will turn into something awesome and I can then shout it from the roof tops, but until then I am not at liberty to share.  Just know it has potential to be big and it's worth pushing the listing off a week.

The good thing to me, however is that I'm at the point that I come to in every house that I'm only going to be showing you teasers until the big reveal in a few weeks.  I love hitting this point.  I like being a tease apparently, but I can't be showing you the full rooms anymore- it'll ruin the mystery and the surprise or something.  Gotta build that antici....

pation.

This week I did a lot of painting and priming (with help from my fam) and took care of a lot of little details.

Happily, every wall on the first floor has at least one coat of paint and more than half the ceilings are primed. The living rooms and dining room are getting just a nice shade of off white to highlight the trim and make them feel as open and bright as possible.  The new master, since I want it to feel a bit cozier and set it apart from the rest of the first floor, got a custom mixed green that compliments the wood.

Also, for the first time in 6 months, there are not weird holes in the front door.  I don't think I went into much detail, but once upon a time there were several holes in the front door for locks that no longer functioned.  Only the bottom lock with the handle was to remain, so what's a girl to do with gaping holes in my gorgeous oak door?

Months ago, Handy Dad helped me fit new brass plates and I just now got around to using a brass darkener on them so they weren't garishly bright.  Now that they're installed, I may buff out the darkener a little bit more so it seems more naturally worn.

My kitchen tile is finally grouted so I can start hanging stuff like the vent hood and shelves.  I still have to clean the grout up a bit more and caulk the edges, but I was a bit all over the place this week so I have yet to get to that.

I did, however, decide to rip the band-aid off and make a first attempt at drilling through my precious tile to add anchors for my vent hood and shelves.  Anchor #1 was a bust- the dang thing wouldn't go in even with the drill size required.  I think anchor #2 will work, but now there's a hole in my tile.  Yes, the hole will have a shelf bracket on it, but it's still painful.

Meanwhile in the basement, the cabinet doors have been primed and have coat #1 of paint.  I can not wait to get these back up.  These will make the kitchen feel usable again!

In addition to all that, I've started hoarding staging furniture upstairs and in the sun room.  It feels a bit like I'm putting the cart before the horse since I can't put the furniture in most of the house yet, but being that I'm intending to use thrifted and Craigslisted pieces, I need to grab them when they're available.

These coming 2 weeks are going to be HUGE for this house.  The goal is to have an accepted offer by my birthday at the end of April.  Wish me luck!!!

A Craigslist PSA

Dear Craigslisters: I believe you have been overvaluing your silly items and wrongly representing them.  Please let me assist in clarifying with a little vocabulary lesson.

luxurious

adjective lux·u·ri·ous (ˌ)ləg-ˈzhu̇r-ē-əs, (ˌ)lək-ˈshu̇r-

(1) very comfortable and expensive : richly appealing (2) feeling or showing a desire for expensive things

If your chair has hunting scenes on it, please do not represent it as "luxurious."  Manly, maybe.  Luxurious? no.  This word should be used VERY sparingly as most items that are being sold on craigslist are well, NOT luxurious.

gorgeous

adjective gor·geous ˈgȯr-jəs

(1) very beautiful or attractive (2) very enjoyable or pleasant

Another word that should be used sparingly or never on craigslist.

Your 'gorgeous custom painted desk' hurts my eyes.  How about calling it "funky," "fun," or "bright."  These words are all positive and might actually prepare the potential buyer's retinas for this vision.

rare

adjective ˈrer

(1)  marked by unusual quality, merit, or appeal :  distinctive

The word "rare" should be used only if your item is very very very Very Very VERY hard to come by.  Most of the time, using the word makes you look a bit like a sleazy used car salesman.

This old phone is certainly antique and cool, but I would never use the word rare for it.  If I can go to a flea market and come across at least 1 or more each time, rare it is not.  In this seller's defense, it seems that either English is not a language they are comfortable with or they attempted to write this listing on their phone with their toes as this is the entire listing: "thissa really nice and good conditions hand work player.....good price..."

Aside from "luxurious," "gorgeous," and "rare," a few more words that should be primarily avoided include "amazing," "custom," and "high-end"

Instead of trying to describe your items with cliches or over ambitious descriptive words, how about being straight forward.  I recently read a winning description that told the story of a husband who was selling an area rug because a new rug just 'happened to appear in the room.'  While the rug wasn't one I wanted, I wish I had saved the listing- it was hilarious.

So please, next time you write up a listing on craigslist, leave your delusions about your item or it's value aside and put forth a listing that is honest and fairly priced.  I guarantee you'll sell it faster.

Yours Truly,

A Craigslist Addict

Millie: Week 30

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  This flip, Millie is the most challenging and most exciting yet! You can find more about this house and about my 3 previous flip houses here. Let's just pretend that I didn't go all crazy work-aholic flipper this week and neglect this blog m-kay?  It's worth it, I promise.

If you follow me on instagram or facebook you've seen peeks this week.  At long long long long long last, this house is finally looking liveable.

First of all, the dresser-turned-vanity has functioning drawers with new slides and cut down drawers so they avoid the plumbing.  Oh how far this little beast has come.

The other looker this week was once again the kitchen tile.  All installed and getting grouted tomorrow, followed by my happy dance.  It's a good thing Hubby and I have a strong relationship and that it's impossible to marry inanimate objects, because this tile would give him a serious run for his money.

I can't wait to get the open shelves up there!  Vintage style shelf brackets with stained wood shelves, styled up to perfection.  That's what dreams are made of.

The other thing that dreams were made of this week was smooth walls.  I finally was able to get plasterers in to skimcoat the walls in the dining room, living rooms, and new master.  While it was a little tough for me to decide to fork over the cash to have this done, it was well worth it.

Nice and smooth and clean and not wallpapered and did I mention smooth?  It'll be even smoother tomorrow when they come back and sand it.

The dining room used to have terribly repaired texture on top of textured plaster on top of painted wallpaper. Now I can't get over how smooth the walls are.  The look won't change drastically once I paint since it will just be a slight off white.  A nice neutral contrast for the starring woodwork.

While my to do list still seems insurmountable, the majority of the items are detail elements.  Once I get these walls painted and the floors refinished, all the big stuff will be taken care of.  I've already started hoarding craigslist finds for staging.  I'm itching to stage!  Staging is my jam.

More nose to the grindstone.  Listing in 2 1/2 weeks!  AK!