Sunday was my FIRST day off since the renovation began.

It was sooooo needed and SOOOO fun!

I picked up the live crawfish (the ones that freaked Chris out!)

We ate at Golden Coral.

Went to the parade (my first in TEN years)

Then came home and had the family over for an old-fashioned Crawfish Boil! (Chris brought the cold down with him, so we moved it indoors.)

I also had a wonderful night with my high school friend, Meggo!

Chris flies in from New York!!

Nanny and Uncle Rick throw in a helping hand and Paw Paw saves the day.

16 Itens Crossed off the list today!

Blake stopped by!

Have you ever tried to teach yourself how to cut a hole for a sink?! You only get one shot to get it right!

And the closet is starting to look like a closet!

Hola!

How long has it been? I’m not sure…

We had a GREAT weekend at the house. Unfortunately we are still working out the multiple leak situation! We fix one and find another, it seems.

Notice how dad always has a helper on his projects....

PawPaw and I worked on the toilet most of yesterday and when finally figured out the problem, we moved on to the  hot water heater. It worked! But theres a sound coming from the inside that sounds strangely like a drop of water hitting a hot surface and sizzling… BLARG!

And, of course Another day, Another oat of paint on a cabinet door! I finally counted it up last week and to finish one cabinet door takes TEN DAYS!

Cabinet Bases around Day 8!

Day 1: Scrub and Clean

Day 2: Sand and Clean

Day 3: First Coat Primer on Back

Day 4: Second Coat Primer on Back

Day 5: First Coat Primer on Front

Day 6: Second Coat Primer on Front

Day 7: First Coat Paint on Back

Day 8: Second Coat Paint on Back

Day 9: First Coat Paint on Front

Day 10: Second Coat Paint on Front

That’s ridiculous!! Now, I can do about 10 doors a day plus a coat on the cabinet bases a day. But that ADDS UP!

EEEK!

We pulled the countertops off and the sink out (in that order). Which was scary! I’m picking up the new ones today but they won’t go in until the dishwasher I bought ON EBAY arrives.

And, I found a piece of granite for $150 (the same price as hauling my ass to IKEA in Houston to pick up the $50 butcher block I’d originally planned). It will be used for the bar top. And a very nice granite cutter will be cutting it down to size for me today for a very minimal sum. Fingers crossed on that. Then I just have to figure out how the hell to install it!

Hey Kids!

BUSY weekend. Had lots of help for the rents and grandrents. Tons of visitors too! THanks for stopping by Cindy, Danny, Aunt Rozie and Uncle Marshall! I recorded this vid that morning.

The weekend really set things in motion for me to work on a lot of things myself all week. So I’m excited to get to work.

I bought my new 18″ stainless steal dishwasher on ebay and saved $100+ from in-store prices!

More pictures are coming and I won’t be so lazy with my posts!

Sorry I haven’t blogged in a few days. I’ve been so tired!

Plenty has been accomplished thanks to mom and Paw Paw. Mom was even at the house hours after her surgery! She’s a trooper.

The ceiling is now done as far as the drywaller is concerned now time for primer and paint.

Spent the day burnishing hinges and painting them while he put the orange peel finish on the ceiling. Saves a few bucks on hardware.

Tomorrow it will be another full house: me mom dad pawpaw and aunt audrey! Hopefully tons will get accomplished. Want the door installed for the closet and the drywall up for that. Ceiling painted. Kitchen cabinets primed and maybe paint some walls????

The video has nothing to do with the post, but hey- I’m tired!

50% of flipping is budget: developing it, maintaining it, and keeping to it!

This means that 50% of my time is spent researching, price checking and visiting stores DAILY to see whats on sale, clearance, or damaged. (I sometimes have to urge to damage the things I want and comeback the next day and get them on the cheap!)

For paint, its a daily exercise to call or visit the stores to find mis-tints. Gallons of paints are never picked up or deemed ‘not the right shade.’ So they go on a rack and I get a $33 gallon of paint for $5. The trick here is finding neutrals.

Also, visit the ‘as-is’ area. I found an amazing cabinet for $106. It had a small defect on the back side so they were selling for $75 and I haggled down to $60! Best part? The cabinet is 24″ deep and I only need 18″ so guess what defect is being chopped of anyway! SCORE

Buying in bulk helps too – but we all know that. And my new favorite place- Surplus Warehouse. I got my countertops there. A 12′ span at Lowe’s was $162 I got mine for $120. And an 8′ span $108 at Lowe’s, just $80.

So the $28 from the paint, $46 for the cabinet and $70 for countertops = $144 in savings on just THREE ITEMS! That starts to add up when my itemized list is 3 pages long…

When we were determining the location of the dining table light, I decided that there just wasn’t enough room where I’d initially planned.

Original Plan

New Plan

The new plan involves moving the cabinets from below the bar to the far corner. This keeps the additional storage I wanted for the kitchen. Then, I’ll mount a table top to the wall with 2 legs on the table end. This allows for up to 5 seats at the table and 2 more guests at the bar!Plus the traffic flow is much more conducive for getting out to the back of the home, to the laundry and all around the room in general!I love it!

Building up walls

Hey guys!

Today was another of those did a lot but see a little. Paw Paw and I ran all the new wiring for the kitchen so it was all ‘behind the scenes work.’

But one thing you CAN see is the wall I built – All By Myself!

I’m pretty proud of myself, I won’t lie. My dad had suggested I wait for help but I felt confident enough that I could do it myself.

When he saw it, he wanted to know how I did it, lol.

I think he was kinda proud, too.

Paw Paw hard at work.