Frankie: Week 12

I hope you enjoy these weekly updates as I learn to navigate through the business of flipping houses.  Check out other posts about Frankie the Fliphouse HERE. It's minorly discouraging when I realize that with Clark, our last flip, week 12 was the big reveal, but with last minute vacations, multiple holidays, and factory closures I guess it's understandable that Frankie's not quite done yet.  c'est la vie.

Since rooms are starting to reach partial completion, we've reached the time in my flip updates where I stop showing full rooms and just show teasers.  Sorry!  Ok, maybe I'm not so sorry, I like teasing you with the finished result, but I will share additional pics on my facebook and instagram pages (see, I'm not above shameless self-promotion).

Anyway, back to the wonderful world of painting...

I am very pleased and unbelievably beyond relieved to say, that aside from minor touch-ups, the entire main floor is DONE being painted.  Admittedly, painting took much longer than I planned for.  Great arm work-out, though.  I think I'll be rolling paint in my sleep for the next month.

week 12 living room

I'll still have to do major touch-ups on most of the window trim once the new windows get installed, but at least we finally have a date for that!  Even though I started the whole new-window process before we even closed on the house, I had a feeling that they'd be holding up listing and I was right.  Factories closed for the holidays, and tempered glass for the bathroom was back-ordered, making the windows the absolute last thing to do.  The windows are scheduled to be installed on Feb 6th and we plan to be listed as soon as I can finish touch-ups afterwards.

Fun flip fact:  it takes precisely 5 gallons of paint to paint 3 bedrooms and a living room.  (Recycled ReColor paint in canvas color to be precise)

week 12 recolor paint

I was also finally able to beat all the ceilings in this house into submission *halleluiah* and, thankfully, the 2 rooms that I attempted texture on didn't end up looking too terrible.

week 12 textured ceiling

The bathroom vanity got blinged out with a bit of hardware.  The vanity did come with plain ol' knobs, but adding shiny, slightly more custom-looking hardware will make the bathroom feel a bit richer as a whole.  It's the little things, people!  Side note: Please disregard how dirty the wood looks- it needs a major wipe-down due to leftover construction dust.

week 12 vanity

In all the tedium of painting though, I did have a little fun and get started on the island.  Painting furniture is so much more enjoyable than painting rooms.

week 12 island dresser

I'm still wavering on the color a tiny bit.  It's a little brighter in person, but I think it'll look pretty awesome when the room's all together.  And since the countertops are getting installed at long last today and may even be done by the time this posts (happy dance)!! I can finally pull the kitchen together!  This girl has a SERIOUS itch to tile a backsplash.  I may have to restrain myself from starting to tile the second the countertop guys leave.  Then again, why not?? Have a fantastic weekend!

Happy Hooks

For longer than I care to admit, my sister had been not-so-subtly hinting to Crafty Auntie Karen, that Cutest-Nephew-Ever Eli needed wall hooks in his room for his towel and bathrobe. (phew, that was a mouthful of a sentence!)  Well, for Christmas, I finally delivered. Boys room hooks

This was such a quick project, but I love how it turned out!  Cute enough for a little boy's room, but not so cutesy that it'll get swapped out when his interests change.

I apologize for not taking any progress pics, but I can assure you they'd be very boring since this project is so self-explanatory.

multi-color rustic kid hooks

The piece of wood started it all.  I found it in the woodworking section at Michael's and with a coupon, it ended up being right around $5.  2 of the hooks I already had, and the third came from from Hobby Lobby for just a couple bucks (on sale as well).  The hooks, which started as silver, white and black, got sprayed with spraypaint that I already had in my paint collection, and were then screwed to the wood.  I did splurge on new screws so they'd be uniform and shiny.  After it was all said and done, this cute set of hooks cost less than $10!

So to recap the exhausting process:  spraypaint 3 hooks.  attach 3 hooks to piece of wood.  hang on wall.  Ta da!!

multi-color rustic kid towel hooks

This project could easily be fancied up for a girl with different colors or more detailed hooks.  Seriously, the possibilities are endless!

I consider this a monstrous success simply with how happy Eli is with them.  If you ask to see his hooks, he'll happily take your hand, lead you upstairs to his room, then proceed to yank everything he can reach off the hooks.  Just look at that innocent face.

Eli and his hooks

Yeah... maybe innocent isn't the right word.... anyway, he's still adorable, and I'm happy that he loves his new hooks!

 

Weekend Clutter

Isn't it the worst when you have plans to work on refinishing a dresser that your friend is so patiently waiting for (Hi Krista, I haven't forgotten!) and end up getting distracted by organizing/purging the closets in your house?  In my defense, the closets were beyond 2 years overdue & the thrift store is getting a nice pile of donations this week.   That means that the main areas of my house are now uncluttered and I can properly focus, right? Let's go with that. In the theme of clearing clutter, here are 3 random things that occupied my brain this weekend:

1.  This runner from Dash and Albert

dash and albert rug

I ordered a 2'x3' rug to see if this could work as a runner for my stairs.  It's been a while since I talked about them here, but my plans are still the same and starting to move forward.  I debated going without a carpet, but with the way the kittens tear up the stairs and the amount of times I've almost fell down them, we need the traction.  For now, I'm eagerly awaiting my 'sample' rug's arrival!  image via Wayfair.com

 

2.  I'm obsessed Amanda Wachob's floral tattoos.  Seriously amazing.

amanda wachob floral

I want my next tattoo to be art, not just a pretty picture, and holy cow, is that her expertise!  According to her site, she's not taking any new appointments, so currently, having her as my artist is a delightful fantasy.  Do yourself a favor if you're a tattoo fan and go check out her AMAZING art!  image via www.amandawachob.com

 

3.  I missed the boat in signing up for this semester's upholstery class at the Eliot School, so now I'm trying to figure out how to learn how to reuholster this chair before my 30 Before 30 deadline (April 30th) without butchering it or it costing an arm and a leg.  Ideas?

antique red chair

 

And now that both my house and my mind are clutter free (HA!) I'm off to paint a living room and stalk a few flip vendors for install dates (ahem countertop and windows).  Hope your week is off to a good start!