Sold!

After many months of hard work, sweat, tears and maybe even a little blood we are done with and have sold the house. We have learned many lessons from this experience. I figured that I would make a list of what we learned and share them with you. If you are ever considering getting into flipping houses or even just remodeling please take these pointers into consideration.

1) Make a budget... then double or triple it.

2) Make a timeline... then double or triple it.
3) Be financialy secure. Anything can come up: like losing your job, slow market or anything that you can imagine.

4) You will be stressed

5) It starts out fun in the beginning. Then you go over your budget and the fun is over.

6) If you break even after selling then count your blessings.

A very sweet young woman bought the house. We closed on it yesterday and very excited for her to have such a wonderful home. She has started moving in her things and the house has never looked so good. She has already made it a home.

Its coming together!

My wonderful husband tried his hand at installing hardwood floors and he did a great job. This was the first time he had ever done flooring and it wasn't as easy as we thought. This floor is a floating "quick click" style flooring. Sounds easy... Getting started was very frustrating but finally it came together and got a little easier. It took several days to finish but he did it! The tile floor was also installed but we had help. I actually did a little tile work myself.

One thing that I was disappointed about was that I was not able to use the light fixture in the dining room that I wanted. We ordered the fixture and when it came in it was way too large for the space. Fortunately, I was able to find another light that is just perfect for the room.

The inside is coming together and looking great and soon we will start on the outside. The out side will need painting and replacing a few pieces of wood. Once that is all done then I can say "FOR SALE!"

Beautiful Entrance

Over the last couple of weeks we have had columns built, the front steps installed, first coat of interior paint, started plumbing, and some other things. The columns and steps have dramatically transformed the house. Our contractor, Francisco Maqueda ,and brick layer, Bruce Hicks, have done a wonderful job. Our friend, Rod Lawson, has had to do a lot of mudding on new sheetrock and he is also our painter. Thankfully he is an awesome painter because I am not very good. My sweet friend, Hope Newsome, came over the other day and to help me paint, and unfortunatly I didn't get any pictures of her painting in some fine PJ's from the Dollar General. Even our little man, Isaac, has put in some hard work. He helped us paint today and he loved it! I am so thankful for all the great help that we have had on this house. It is really turning out better than I ever imagined.

Interior Lighting

I believe that the finishing touches to a house really add to the whole feel and specialness to a home. So light fixtures are very important and create the mood for the house.

These are the lights that I have picked out right now. They have been ordered from Sunbelt Fans and Lighting and will be in next week. So we shall see how they look.

Please let me know what you think.

Light for the Dining Room

Kitchen Light

Living Room Fan and Light Kit

New Orleans Inspired

The house is coming along quite well. Thanks to some wonderful friends the house has took on a New Orleans Cottage style. Ben and Erin Napier gave us a pair of French doors that came off of one of the old Downtown buildings. These doors have totally changed the feel and the house and has inspired me to go in the direction of the New Orleans style throughout the house. I love these doors! We are so close to the kitchen being done and also the living room. After some sheet rock work we can paint and then put floors down. The master suite and bathrooms is what needs the most work. My goal is to be done in three to four weeks, but you know how that goes. Here are some before and after pictures of what has been done so far.

Progress has been Made!

Sorry it has been a while since I have updated my blog on the house. Beto has been out of the country twice since I last posted and so things have been moving slowly. We are now back on track and hopefully things will be moving more quickly. There is now electricity hooked up and Beto has been rewiring the entire house. Today we did some demolishing in the kitchen and discovered bead board on the ceiling and on the walls. I was very excited about the bead board because we won't have to put sheet rock in the kitchen. It should add some character. Next week our friend Francisco will be helping us. We will be widening the entrance between the dining room and kitchen to give it a more open feel. A door will be moved to give more cabinet space and some other things as well. Another big job next week will be installing the central heat and air.
This flip has been a family affair. We just pack up the kids with all their toys and they are right there by our side. They have their own room with a window unit and it stays pretty cool for them. Isaac likes to pretend he is helping and he even has his own small tools. Today he was helping me scrape paper off the walls and I asked him what he was doing. He said "I am crapping the walls with you." He was so proud of himself that he even yelled out to his daddy that he was helping me by crapping the walls. I did finally explain to him that it was scrapping not crapping.

Now that things are moving along I will hopefully do a better job of keeping up this blog.

Now the Fun Begins!

Here are some pictures of the tile that I am considering using in the kitchen and bathrooms. I would love to know your opinions on which one you like. My camera does not take the greatest pictures. So, it is hard to tell how nice they look by the photos. We still have several things to do before we actually get to tile and all the fun stuff. First we have to hook up the electrical, put in central heat and air, move around some plumbing and other things. I just can't wait until all of this comes together so that you can see the end result.

Ok, so number 1, 2, or 3?