Millie: Week 14

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. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  (And if you're reading from outside the US, a wonderful week!)

I wish you could have seen the visual of me on Thanksgiving.  Millie's lock was stuck, so I stopped by to fix it on my way to my in-law's for dinner.  In my holiday best (skirt, tights, & kitten heels), I successfully broke into Millie to check on a few things, unstick the lock, and do a quick coat of spray paint on the kitchen radiator.  I think I should work in outfits like that every day.  Very practical.

Anyway, on to this week's progress......  This was a very strange week due to the holiday, so I don't have too much to physically show for it.  The biggest item off the to-do list is that the cabinets are ordered... twice.  I started with taking the trek to IKEA last Friday to order the kitchen (by trek, I mean it's about an hour from Millie, and a little over a half hour away from my house).  I ordered the kitchen, but there was a hitch- the gray that I had my heart set on has very limited availability.

So limited that I had to take 2 doors with me since they were available in the store, but no longer in the warehouse and one was already damaged with no replacement available.....  It turns out that as of Feb 1, they are introducing an entirely NEW kitchen system and their entire kitchen line is getting discontinued.  After a second trip to IKEA Saturday morning and a nagging feeling all weekend that something wasn't right, I decided to cancel my order.  If during installation I found that I had a damaged piece or was short, I wouldn't be able to get pieces to fix/finish.  Not cool.

NEW PLAN!  Home Depot also has gray cabinets available to order.  Better quality for just a few more dollars is definitely preferable.  SO, I ordered the kitchen again, this time from Home Depot and I'm even more excited with the way it's going to look.

A nice simple shaker-style door in the exact color that I want (in the square at the bottom).  I actually like this one a WHOLE LOT more than the IKEA ones.  The IKEA ones were super shiny and plastic looking.  These are classic and look painted.  Done and done.

Now I just have to wait 4-6 weeks for them to come in.  At least I can pretty much do everything else in the kitchen before they arrive.

In addition to kitchen ordering and planning, lots of very little things happened.  Little things like: freeing the leaded glass windows from their frames successfully without breaking any glass,

using upholstery staples to create a wider circle around the wiring on the canvas ceilings to allow for a legal electrical box (don't worry, I'll be hiding the staples behind a medallion),

discovering that the coolest key in the box of dozens of keys left for me actually works the lock on the super cool hope chest that was also left,

and moving lots more plaster from the basement.  Sadly, even though I've already moved tons, I still have more to go.

More exciting than all my little accomplishments, however is that all my contractors are freeing up and can finally go full steam ahead.  My contractor and my hard wood flooring guy are there today and I'm confident there will be a lot to show for you next week.  I need to make it happen!!!  I need leaps of progress to keep me sane ish!

Happy weekend!

Cursed Cabinet

Ah, the post-time change slump.  I've said it before and I will say it again... every single year.  I am solar powered.  Once I start running out of daylight at 4:30, my energy and motivation go with it.  Lately I can find motivation in the flip, but non-flip DIYs seem to be on hold and my pretty new sofa and this sweater have been acting like magnets.  My apologies if I'm getting a little one note here.  You can tell me.  I can take it.  Anyway.... Do you ever get an idea stuck in your head?

Yeah, me neither.  Have a great week!

Ha!  Yeah right.  We all know by now that stuck idea syndrome is an affliction I often have and this time it's about finding the perfect small glass cabinet to use for staging over at Millie.  While the house is nowhere near the staging stage, I've been trying to keep my eyes open for vintage pieces that could be a great fit.

This cabinet has been haunting me.  Literally.

This specific craigslist cabinet is missed opportunity #2.  The first was pretty much exactly the same cabinet on sale for $50.  I fell in love with the waterfall edges on the top and can just see it in the new master bath holding fancy towels and toiletries much like this dreamy bathroom by H2 Design + Build that I came across on Pinterest.

While I e-mailed the seller promptly and asked for dimensions, my follow-up response saying that I wanted it was a mere 1/2 hour too late.  Whomp whomp.

Minutes after that one escaped my grasp, instagram taunted me with it's twin styled up with linens that were on sale.  I can't for the life of me remember who's instagram it was and it was about a month ago, swallowed into the instagram abyss, so I'll just live with the taunting memory.

Returning to missed opportunity #2- the wound is still fresh.

I noticed this exact elusive cabinet (image from the listing) listed for FREE on the curb.  I didn't see the listing until about 10pm last night, but I e-mailed to see if it was still there, assumed it wasn't, forgot about it, and went to bed.  This morning I woke up to 2 things.  Driving rain and an e-mail from last night stating that the cabinet was still hanging out on the curb.  Wet.  Ruined. (presumably) I will mourn it's loss.

At this point, I figure it's one of 2 things.  A. either I'm not meant to own this cabinet or B. when I do find the right one it'll be all the more sweet.

I'm thinking more A at this point.  I mean, how many of these cabinets living in Eastern Mass are bound to get listed on craigslist in the exact timeframe when I'm hunting for one?  Maybe I will find that unicorn.  And maybe I'll win the lottery.

And maybe I should just avoid dreary, rainy Monday mornings following a night of sleep disturbed by nagging feelings that something is off with the flip kitchen.  On the bright side, Thanksgiving is this week and I welcome the family, food, and forced day off.  Bring on the turkey leg!

Millie: Week 13

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. One huge, fantastic thing happened at the house this week.  Let's see if you notice the change between the pics:

It's a subtle change, I know, but you guys are observant

I kid.  But, YES, the 3 layers of ugly vinyl tiles adhered to my beautiful wood with asbestos adhesive have been taken care of!  The cost of unburying this beautiful floor, however was almost 2 full days of not being able to work on the house.  What should have been only 1 day lead to 2 due to a miscommunication on the asbestos guy's end.  After day 1, the tiles were gone, but all the asbestos-filled adhesive was left.  Um, guys, that adhesive was the reason I payed you the big bucks for removal.  Thankfully after a polite reminder of our adhesives conversation when I hired them, they came back and rough sanded all the icky asbestos off of my floors like they should have in the first place.

My hardwood flooring guy is stopping by today to assess the small water-damaged spots, but I'm super hopeful that she's worth saving (I have decided that the floor is a 'she').

A few other notable things happened this week.

I finished the absolute LAST of demoing the basement ceilings (now to haul alllllll the plaster to the dumpster)

Inside the basement ceiling, under where the kitchen sink used to be, I found a few more trinkets this week:

an army man, a handy man (the box in his hand is labeled 'tools') and a poodle teacup.  I can't help but think that the teacup belongs in my last flip where I found poodle wallpaper.

The tub for the upstairs family bathroom got painted Rustolium Flat Moss Green.  I had Glossy Navy in my cart when the Moss caught my eye.  Suddenly the Gloss Navy seemed harsh, and Moss was the right move.  I adore the flat finish on this tub and the color will be dreamy with the marble hex tiles on the floor.

If you follow me on instagram or facebook (and come on, you totally should.  I'll give you a minute.....),

you probably saw that I had to reluctantly sacrifice the canvas ceiling in the future master bath for the sake of the renovations.

It was actually a good thing in the end because once I uncovered the water-damage from the old shower above, I also found that it was still damp and musty (ick!).  Plaster had to come down and I removed the water-damaged lathe.

BUT it was all for a good cause!  Bring on the master bath!!!  My contractor got started on framing out the doorway and new pocket door and this OFFICIALLY kicks off the rebuilding in this house!!!

I have smashed my last ceiling in here, pulled up my last floor, and sledge hammered my last wall.  Aside from minor clean-up smashing, I'm calling demo D.O.N.E.  Now, can I please put this house back together for sanity's sake??