Flip House #1 Is Completed and Sold!!!

I am just tickled to write this!  Flip House #1 is finished and sold!!!

 Now let me give you the whole story.  We actually completed this lovely ranch redo back in February!  I know I have been holding out on y’all.  Sorry! I started blogging about the house after we were well underway. Since it was our first one, I didn’t want anyone to try to change my mind about what I wanted to do with it and what I wanted it to look like.  I had the designs in my head and was ready for them to come to life in the house without any interference.  And boy did the designs come out great!  I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  When you are flipping a house, it is so hard to come up with a sell price on the front end because you have no idea what will happen along the way.  You don’t know where costs will soar and what extras you may have to do for code (our county code officials aren’t the easiest people to deal with so you have to account for some additional costs).  You make design decisions based on cost along the way too.   There are lots of things I wanted to do but couldn’t because it would cost too much to do them.  It really is no different than building your own house or doing your own remodel.  Things get cut because of the budget.  It’s just a fact.  I sometimes don’t understand when people comment on posts and say they would have done this or that differently.  No one should utter those words unless they have been through that particular project.  Every house is different and has its own challenges.  There are always going to be those people that will say things anyway so I guess I need to just learn to look the other way.  I have satisfaction knowing that the house had tons of showings (I mean tons)!  We had an offer really soon after listing and we got really close to asking price so I guess I did know what I was doing afterall.

So we listed the house in February and had a contract on it by March.  The family that ending up buying the house lived several states away and wouldn’t be moving till the summer so they wanted a further out closing date.  I can now say the house is officially closed and sold!  They loved my designs and loved that the house was fixed in a quality way.  They can rest assure that we gave them a great house they can be proud of!  

Are you ready to see the exterior???  Before we see the AFTER, we need to remember where we started.  You can see the very first post on the flip here.

Street view of the flip house before

Wowzers it’s hard to believe this used to be it!!!

And NOW!!!  Isn’t she beautiful and a breath of fresh air???

We completely overhauled the front of the house to give it lots of curb appeal.  We removed several trees, did new landscaping and made a nice big Southern front porch!  And we LIMEWASHED the house!  I know everyone was curious about the brick and what we would do with it.  With the additions of the front porch, breakfast area and the closing in of the carport, we had to change the color of the brick to match.  I researched limewashing and found a product over in nearby Atlanta made by a company called Roma .  I traveled over and picked up the limewash product and got a few pointers on application.  If you know my background, you know that I paint furniture.  I knew this is something I wanted to tackle myself.  I wanted to save as much money as I could and this was definitely a big way to save.  So I learned about the application and tested it out on the side of the house.  My partner and I got comfortable with the process and completed the house.  We fought with the weather but in the end it turned out awesome!

A new gable roof over the porch with cedar shakes breaks up the roofline and gives the house another great curb appeal detail.  I would have loved to have done a more major roofline change but that wasn’t anywhere close to the budget.  

I wanted to do a little something different to the front porch railings so I designed an X in the middle to give it a little extra pizazz.  The front door got a nice dark stain and new lantern lighting to complete the porch.  

New landscaping sure can make a huge difference.  We added a beautiful stone paver path to the new front door.  New bushes around the front and new sod are a great addition.

It’s really hard to believe that the far right window is where the old front door used to be.

The new wide stairs are inviting!  The porch is screaming for some rocking chairs and sweet tea!

I had Board and Batten shutters made and stained them the same color as the front porch railing with an exterior paint/stain.  And when I say that I stained them, I stained them!  We were like those crazy house flip shows getting ready for the Open House.  I was literally painting these a few hours before the Open House.  I was a sight for sure but thanks to a good scrubbing I cleaned up and made it to the Open House!

Not a carport anymore!

The long skinny backyard is quite different from its old self!

I hope the new owners spend lots of time on this great patio!

She is all done and is now a beauty on the street instead of an eyesore!  

I want to personally thank all the trades and people that helped make this house happen!  

General Contractor–Lee Grahl-  Grahl Construction, LLC  

Interior Design– Sabrina Collins- Plantation Relics (Me)

Roofing– Bone Dry Roofing Company

Electrician– Blue Moon Electric

HVAC– Superior Air Management

Plumbing– Carson Plumbing  

Plumbing Fixtures– Devore and Johnson

Cabinets– Grainger Cabinets

 Limewash– Roma

Countertops– D&A Granite Countertops

Painter– Jason Hunter 

Lighting– Various Trade companies

Realtor– Mary Catherine Smith with Chastain, Jenkins and Leathers