Mom Time on a Dime

Dude, guys, yesterday, things got real...

As in real walls and ceilings!

Chris went by around 8am to let the workers in and man, are these guys fast!
After running to the office for a couple hours (yes, Chris still has a FULL TIME job that he does in addition to all the work on the condo) he was shocked when he stopped by after lunch that they're were nearly done!

I'll give you a quick walk through with the pictures Chris took... Here's from the living room looking toward the dining.

(front door is on your right and kitchen is to the back left)

Here's looking into the kitchen.
Kitchen entry way looking toward the fireplace.

Front door looking into the corner of the living room.

Quickie shot of the bathroom.

And the master!

Well now we are cooking with gas!  Walls, man, you get me every time.  They still have to go through, tape and bed everything and then texture, but it's looking awesome!

I still have to double check with Chris on what exactly comes next... floors? but then we have to cover up everything to paint.  I know that's why we are waiting on putting the kitchen in, so we don't have any paint splatter on our brand new cabinets... hmm... maybe after tape and bed we paint the walls? But wouldn't we wait to paint until crown and baseboards have gone in too?

Ugh, not sure... but hey! Walls!!!

So lights are in, plumbing is fixed, and all the last minute prep is happening before walls actually go up.

Well, things are moving and grooving!

As you can see, the can lights are installed!

...and Chris wanted to give you all a big hug

If you remember from my first little update, I had the epiphany while writing the post about taking the pantry out and I'm SO glad we decided to do it since it just feels SOOO much better! I really do think will help make a difference in the feel of such a small kitchen.  Countertop space is key!  If the walkthrough from the dining into the kitchen wouldn't have been load-baring, we would have taken the whole thing out and expanded, but hey, work with whatcha got!

We also started the next, expensive process of putting in insulation.
Chris actually forgot about this in the budget and its crazy how quickly a couple hundred dollars can be spent on something that's behind the walls and never seen.  But I guess thats what you get in a condo that's already down to the studs!

So up it went!  In the kitchen...
and all the ceilings first.  This is also helping keep the AC in since its 100+ here in Dallas and that cold air is just leaking out faster than we can cool it down.
Before we insulated the interior walls, we had our plumber come in and make sure all was done with easy accessibility.

See... ohhhh... ahhhhh.... plumbing stuff* (...*official term...)
We also moved a water line through the ceiling and over to the other side of the kitchen... so the fridge can have water and an ice maker.
The bathroom is really coming along too! Look!  We even have a tub!
And see how tall the shower head is?  Boom.
Yay kitchen pipes, water, and a shower above armpit level!

Full disclosure, I don't even know what Im supposed to be looking for in this picture.  Photo by my loving husband.

We also completely updated the water line in the laundry room since it had an awful continuous drip which needed to be fixed ASAP.
See! Much better!

My awesome father-in-law is also working on the bricks above our fireplace.
The actual fire place itself is in fine shape but the brick above it (which was hidden by drywall) needed some help.

The brick is that groody 1970's/80's ugly bricks and not a pretty red brick worth saving, so Im pretty sure we are going to paint the fireplace.  Im still working on my color scheme so stay tuned for that.  Thinking maybe a dark grey with the walls a few shades lighter?  And some crisp white base boards and trim?

I'm also working on our kitchen layout and best options for cabinet color, countertops, and backsplash.  I think that will probably be my next post.   Until then!... Thanks y'all! Hope you're staying cool in this super hot summer!

Something that has always bugged me about "flippers" are when they redo a space by doing the least amount possible as cheaply as they can.  Yes, this is a good way to make money, but the quality of what you CAN turn something into is always lacking.  My theory?  If you're going to do something make it amazing!

That doesn't alway mean you have to spend the big bucks though... you just have to know where to look!  Like our local Habitat for Humanity resale store!

First thing I always check out is are the lights... like this guy who caught my eye right away.
A sputnik chandiler... Pretty funky! and very cool but at an asking price of $174.95 and I would still have to buy the lights, I decided to pass for now.

I also saw this guy, which read very "restoration hardware" to me.
  Pretty... but also $149.95... eh, maybe if they have a sale later.

The whole reason I went in the first place was to look for a new front door for the condo.
These ones I think came from an old school and were the brown color we needed... but were interior only.

This one would have been nice for the back door

But at $149, I can get a brand new one with the built in blind between the glass for $129... soooooo yea, gunna pass.

Then, found these AWESOME metal letters...

Not something I really "need" but at two bucks a pop I was thinking of decking out the boys' room.  However, I had to stop myself and repeat the mantra, "We are poor condo flippers who have yet to close on the sale of our first flip... we are poor, we is poor, we be poor."  The close date to condo #1 could not some soon enough!

I also found this little gem:
and told Chris to stop the search.  If it can't be our exterior door, you bet your little Siegfried and Roy hiney that we're going to have white tigers leading into the bedroom.

Sadly, he did not agree.... ugh, he lacks such vision!!

Next, I went to Home Depot to grab our shower/tub fixtures and sink faucets for the bathroom (plumber is coming tomorrow (Tuesday) and we at least needed the shower fixtures).  But when I walked through the lighting area I was super surprised to see this little guy.
Not a perfect spot on match for the one at the resale store but $30 cheaper and brand new.
Not sure if thats really what Im feeling for this flip, but we'll see.

I was there to plan out our bathroom and started with lighting.

Since the ceilings are dropped in the bathroom, we learned that we can't do over sink lighting without making the mirror tiny-human height (thanks for that lesson condo #1) so we are going to have two sconces on either side.  I liked this one...

And on clearance, I liked it even better.

Heading over to bathroom fixture land, I got lucky with the clearance fairy again!
In all honesty, I actually really liked the large rain head shower to the right, but it didn't have a tub spout AND cost more, so clearance one it is.  Plus, I really do like it! Brushed nickel with just a little bit of shine.

And for the vanity faucet? Matchy-Matchy.
Makes my job a LOT easier when I see those little yellow signs.  Even more so when its really cute stuff! So that was easy.

I showed Chris the chandeliers when I go home and he LOVED the funky sputnik one.  After doing some research to find one that looked like it (to make sure we would be getting a good deal), the closest one I could find to the one I saw was this guy.

via GIPHY