After working on the house for 31 days, we
have come to the end. Let me fill you in on the last days.
March 29
After the kitchen was painted, tiled, and
grouted, it was finally time to put the appliances back in. The house is
beginning to take shape. Yet again, I spent most of the day painting. I primed
the bathroom vanity doors and sanded and primed the kitchen drawers. I took a
break part way through the day to run errands, HOA, Sherwin Williams, drop
donations off at the thrift store, and grab lunch. When I returned I painted the
other side of the cabinets before loading up the trailer to take to the dump,
and then I continued painting the moldings.
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| Taking a load to the dump. This load is on the small side. Total loads to the dump=13 (or 14, we lost count) |
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| Where we would unload all the brush and pine needles. |
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| Appliances are back in. |
March 30
Whereas I tend to stay up a little later at
night working on projects, my dad wakes up earlier and gets a head start on things.
He began by putting up some of the light fixtures. Shortly after 9am, we made
our way down to the city boat ramp where we met Brian, the tree cutting guy,
who had offered to take us out on his boat. The sun was shining as we slowly
made our way up the Rainbow River. We then back tracked to where the Rainbow
River meets up with the Withlacoochee River and opened up the engine. We sped
along the channel of the Withlacoochee about 10 miles until we reached the dam
at Lake Rousseau. We made occasional stops along the way, one of which included
seeing an alligator. It was 1pm by the time we made it back to the landing
where we ate lunch outside at a restaurant on the river. It was a great way to
spend a Saturday morning.
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| The Rainbow River |
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| The Withlacoochee River |
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| After eating lunch on the river. |
When we got back to the house, I returned a
call about the old washer and dryer that I had listed on craiglist and arranged
for them to pick it up. Get this; I was able to sell the old washer and dryer
which are at least 20 years old, for the same amount I was able to buy the new
used ones for. I was thrilled. We spent a few hours at my parents house
cleaning the gutters, putting up a shower curtain rod, fixing the sprinkler,
and fixing the fence. Okay, let me correct myself. I cleaned the gutters and
then laid in the hammock while dad finished the other projects. Upon returning
to my house, I went to work painting the cabinet doors, drawers, and moldings.
Dad worked on putting up the fan in the fire place room. I must say, it is
quite the fan. Take a look for yourself.
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| I sold these old washers... |
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| ...for the same price as I got these new used ones. |
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| I couldn't bring myself to paint over their height chart on the door frame. |
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| Painting the drawers |
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| The fancy fan |
March 31
Church didn’t begin until 11am so we worked
a bit in the morning putting up the mirror and light in the hall bathroom,
putting on outlet covers, and vacuuming. After church, lunch, and a Sunday
afternoon nap, the work continued. Painting was yet again on my list of things
to do. I painted door moldings, the shoe moldings that were going to be
installed to following day, and cabinet doors. Dad worked on tiling the master
bathroom. I pulled a late night painting the porch.
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| After removing the vinyl from the master bathroom, it is ready to be tiled. |
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| The master bath so far. |
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| Painting the shoe moldings |
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| Hanging the curtains to dry |
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| The porch before and after it has been painted |
April 1
Both Dad and I had things that we needed to
get done before Steve came to lay the shoe moldings. Dad grouted while I
painted the master bathroom, two closets, and molding. While Steve laid the
shoe molding, we worked on various projects such as stacking wood, wiping down
the kitchen shelves, and fixing the shed door. Our goal was to leave the next
morning but part way through the day, it was clear that we weren’t going to
reach that goal. Although there were only little things left to do, the little
things add up quickly. I was most then happy to show off all our work when
Glen, the realtor stopped by to have a look at the house as well as Mike, the
light guy. Both were impressed with what we had accomplished. That evening, we
went to Home Depot to return what tile, thin set, and grout remained and pick
up hardware for the cabinets and a few other things we needed to finish up.
When we got back to the house, I was excited to try out the hardware on the
cabinets. I opened up a hinge and placed it on a cabinet door to find out that
the holes don’t match up. We drilled new holes before attaching the door to the
cabinet frame. We were discouraged by what we saw. There was quite a gap
between the door and the frame. This left me quite frustrated. Here we had gone
to Home Depot for the last time and now the hinges don’t line up the way they
should. Erg! I was not about to do anything else so I called it a night.
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| Hard at work grouting |
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| After paint and tile |
April 2
What would a day be without painting? I
spent the morning painting the nail holes of the shoe molding that had been
laid the previous day. During this time, we got a visit from our neighbor Bill
as well as Nancy. Nancy gracious allowed me to pick out an original painting
that she had done for me to take home. I ran into town to get a few things and
by the time I got back to the house it was 3 before we ate lunch. I then
continued painting; touching up the master bedroom, finish painting the porch,
and went outside to paint the mailbox and shed door. During this time, my dad
put up the master bathroom lights, the mirror, medicine cabinet, dining room
light and hooked up the washer and dryer. When I was outside painting, we met
yet another neighbor. Want to know what his name was? Benjamin Franklin. Not
even joking. Whether Franklin is his middle or last name I am unsure. He goes
by BF. After evening had fallen, I worked inside putting on outlet coverings,
painting the porch thresholds, and putting liner in the cabinets and drawers.
And then, yet again, after 3 days, I finally decided it was time to shower.
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| Making progress on the master bathroom |
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| After painting the shed doors |
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| This is engraved on the shed floor. How I felt knowing that we were coming to an end on the house. |
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| Of all the lights, this has to be my favorite. |
April 3
Tuesday rolled into Wednesday and there
were still things that needed to be done. After I ate breakfast, I sat in my
sweatpants on the floor of the fire place room and continued putting liner in
the drawers. Bill came over for a visit. One of the projects that I was most
excited about completing was the kitchen cabinets. I knew that putting up the
kitchen cabinets would give the house a more finished look. But alas, the day
was spent doing other various projects around the house that needed to be done
such as cleaning closet shelving, putting on doors, taking a load to the dump,
running to ace hardware, hanging mini blinds and curtains, vacuuming, sweeping
out the shed, hanging the shower curtain rod, washing windows, and packing. Having
bought a new refrigerator, when Nancy mentioned that she would be interested in
having a second fridge for in her garage, I told her she was welcome to have
it. A few minutes later, there we were, rolling the fridge down the middle of
the street to her house. Should someone have driven by, it would have been
quite the sight. The day came to a close and we still had things to do.
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| Putting liner in the drawers. Something I highly recommend if you rent a house. |
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| Goodbye orange verticals. You will not be missed. |
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| Rolling the fridge down the middle of the road. |
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| Curtains are up |
April 4, 2013
Having gotten the gotten toilet supply
lines rather than sink supply lines, I into town in the morning to return them
and get the right ones. With only a few projects left to do, we had hopes of
leaving before 2pm. We hung the curtains in the fire place room and master
bedroom before we began on the kitchen cabinets. My Dad worked on screwing on
the hinges and drilling holes for the pulls and then as a team, I would hold
the door as he would attach it to the frame. Once the doors were up, I whipped
out the paint and went to work touching up the cabinets. I cleaned the showers
as well as the porch before both Bill and Nancy came over for a visit. My
neighbors are great. Three o’clock rolled around. With little left to do, we knew
we could still make it out of the house that day but rather than leaving and
having to spend an extra night in a hotel room, we decided we would just leave
the next morning so we would have the whole day to drive. Having not eaten lunch,
we were very hungry by the time we ate dinner. The rest of the evening was
spent washing the floors, vacuuming, and getting everything together. By the time
we went to bed, the car was loaded.
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| Putting up the kitchen cabinet doors. |
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| I had labeled all doors and drawers so we knew where they went. Rather than throwing away the labels or putting them in my pocket, I would stick them on my pants to throw away later. |
April 5
So much for leaving Tuesday. Or Wednesday.
Or Thursday. Finally, on Friday morning we were out the door, but not without a
few pictures first. I am amazed at how much we got done in 31 days. 31 DAYS!!! A special thanks goes out to my dad who took a
month of his time right before planting season to come help me flip a house in
Florida. I couldn’t have done it without his help. Now I know y’all are excited
to see before and after pictures. Hold your horses; you’re just going to have
to wait. I will put them up in a separate post. The next two days were spent
driving home. After all the hard work, it was nice to just sit and not feel
like I should be doing something. So there you have it; my house flipping
adventure has come to an end.
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| Just in case you forget which side to pass on. |
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| Georgia |
