And...they're back

I'm referring to the laborers. Yes, folks, they took a little hiatus, which is why I had nothing to post. Sure, I could've written about how frustrating that was and how many not-so-nice conversations the Husband and I had, but where is the glamor in that? I still want you all to believe that flipping a house is fun and exciting. I mean, it is fun and exciting, but we're still pretty green so working with contractors isn't exactly a skill either of us possess.

According to our GC, his guys were at another job busting ass to get it done so they could have "all hands on deck" at our house. After a pretty heated conversation with the Husband, albeit one-sided, our GC got a text reminding him that not only are we on a budget, but we're on a tight timeline. Would you believe the very next day they were at the house putting up every last bit of sheetrock until 7pm? I'm still grinning as I type this.

We think it looks awesome, but I guess that depends on your perspective. We brought a friend and her husband over (he helped with demo) and she looked frightened...like straight up American Horror Story house frightened. Well, at least he thought it looked great compared to where we started.

Kitchen with added can lights

Dining room with sheetrock

Upstairs bathroom (minus the soffets and giant cabinet)

Downstairs Master (walk-in closet on left, bathroom door ahead)

Master bath - double shower

Downstairs bedroom with new, larger closet (he kept following me)

Laundry/Half Bath

The Husband planted 2, 500lb trees to fill in that space and one day block that house

A little landscaping

Oh, and all the kitchen cabinets

My house flipping advice:
1) Stay on top of your GC. You are paying them to manage all the subs. They work for you! Remind them of your timeline.
2) Don't have a heated conversation at Starbucks about your income property. The bitch behind you WILL be listening.

Calling in the troops

I've been on a bit of a blog-hiatus, sorry about that. I've been busy and there isn't a lot of useful information I can give you at this point about flipping a house other than patience patience patience.

Most of the framing is done, as is most of the electrical work, but we have to wait for an electrical inspection before insulation or sheet-rock. So now we wait. Wait. Waiting. Waiter.

SO...my dad, the amazing handyman, said he'd come help out with tiling the bathroom. He is the "troops" I'm referring to if you didn't pick up on that. This is awesome because the quote we got for flooring, which only included labor (not materials) was $12,000. Yes, $12,000. WTF! Our first call was to Empire, our second call was to my dad. With both of those calls we saved around $6,000 AND that includes materials. What what?

In order for my dad to tile the bathroom we had to remove the awful ceramic tile that was in there. Luckily, this little island has a pretty bad ass tool rental place and we rented an electric tile remover. While we had the rental tool, we decided to take up the kitchen tile and basement bathroom tile, too. I forgot to take a picture of the Husband removing the tile so you'll have to settle with this stock photo. This beast of a tool was heavy...and the tile was a pain in the ass, but we got it done.

The bathroom is really coming along. The new tub is installed (we removed the nasty jetted tub - do people know how gross and dirty jetted tubs are? eww! Remove your jetted tub immediately), the floor tile is done as well as the grout. Below are the stages. We decided to go white on white on white. White floor tiles, white shower tiles, white tub/sink/toilet. We're going to paint the walls navy blue to add a nice, sophisticated contrast.

Gutted and tile removed

My dad with my favorite floor tile (we used this in W. Seattle, too)

Tiled

Grouted (white grout - always)

What we've learned about tile/bathrooms:
1) Get an epoxy grout - you won't have to seal it and it won't stain. It's pricey, but worth it.

2) If you can, buy all of your tile at the same time. We needed 7 boxes of the white subway tile sheets for the shower, but they only had 4 boxes and a couple misc. sheets. We noticed at the register that the misc. sheets were a slightly, barely noticeable different shade of pure white. I about lost my OCD mind. We put the misc. sheets back and we're crossing our fingers that when we go back the new shipment will be the same pure white.

My advice about tile/bathrooms:
1) Throw your personal preference out the window if you're flipping. Don't get accent tile in Seafoam Green because you love that it reminds you of the seaglass you used to collect as a kid. Someone out there HATES Seafoam Green and that someone might be the person who is looking to buy. Oh, if you're going to say "...but Brooke, you're painting the walls Navy Blue, what if someone hates that color?" I would respond by telling you "it's paint...way easier to change than TILE".

2) Spend a little extra money to get sound absorbing insulation on the bathroom. I mean, if your walls are already open, why not? This particular bathroom shares a wall with the dining room...even with a fan on there could be some sounds that you don't want your dinner guests to hear while they're eating. :)

Any advice for me?