80s house revamp

Our first home flip was a tiny little 800 square foot condo that was less expensive than most people's cars!  From there we went onto a real house (my first love - the one that got away), my adorable little 1916 craftsman bungalow. 

After we sold that one, we transported ourselves ahead 70 years and landed in the 80s.

I did a terrible job of documenting the first two flips, but for this next home I started a blog.  This was way before I knew that there were other crazy people just like me out there who love DIY. 

For the next however long it takes, I'm going to repost from my other (personal) blog the process from beginning to end of that 80s home flip.  Keep in mind that this was VERY VERY low budget.  No budget for accessories - I had to work with what I had and try to stretch my limited budget super far.  Also, this was before I was introduced to the wonderful world of design blogging, and I can say that I have grown so much in my ability to design a space.  I am on the verge of being embarassed about the final product on some of these... rooms, but we all started somewhere, right?

Here is the first post, dated December 26, 2007:

Third Time Around

This one has been a long time coming! We took the profit from the last house that we did and decided that I should quit my job. We have been working hard to build our apartment locating business. We have been in the apartment for nine months now... and it's been SO hard to rent again. It gave us a great opportunity to make sure that we could produce an income with apartment locating... but Jarrod and I were both really really itching to do another project.


After looking for MONTHS we found our current flip. We've owned it for 6 days now. We had the sellers fix the foundation for us, as well as provide us with closing costs. We are planning install hardwood (bamboo floors) in the living and dining, new tile in the wet areas, granite in the kitchen and baths, crown in the living, new fence in the back yard, all new fixtures, and all the little things that pop up as you're going.

We are hoping to have this home on the market by February 1st.

Here is the plan:

Here we'll straighten out the conrete walkway, replace all the trim on the outside of the house, paint the trim and the shutters an offwhite color.

We are replacing floors, countertops, appliances, light fixtures. We're taking down wall paper, retexturing and painting the paneling and walls.

There is some termite damage on the window sill, so we'll replace that

We are putting in bamboo floors in here, as well as putting in a new mantle. We are painting the paneling, putting in new light fixtures, and putting up some crown moulding.

We are replacing the floors, counters, sinks, and faucets in here. We'll replace the mirror and light fixtures, and pretty it up!

Master bedroom just needs a fresh coat of paint, new window treatments.... and decorate it :-)