This is a series of posts about our latest endeavor as newbie house flippers! We give updates every few weeks on our house flipping adventures that include timelines, budgets, problems, and before + afters. If you want to start flipping houses, I hope you'll follow along with this series!
Week 1
Weeks 2 + 3
Weeks 4 + 5
Weeks 6 + 7
Weeks 8 + 9
Update
Bathroom Before + Afters
Kitchen Before + Afters
The mudroom/laundry room at the Avenue House was disproportionately large for the size of the house so I knew we needed to put some effort into making the space functional. Another thing we had to consider is that this will be the main entrance to the house 99% of the time since the driveway ends at the back of the house. In other words, we needed to a wow factor to impress buyers right off the bat! Here is a summary of the projects we did:
- Upgraded the plumbing to PEX*
- Upgraded the dryer outlet*
- Repaired beadboard ceiling
- Installed new sheet vinyl
- Installed new ceiling light
- Primed and painted the trim and windows
- Painted the walls
- Painted the ceiling
- Installed a mudroom bench
- Added mudroom hooks
- Added reclaimed mudroom shelf
- Trimmed out attic access door
(* items are tasks we hired out)
Below photos by Maggie Mills Photography
BEFORE + AFTERS
Interestingly, this was the only room in the house that had beadboard walls. Perhaps it was a porch at some point? I think the textured walls add a little bit of interest to this otherwise nondescript room. We were lucky that the washer and dryer were in perfect condition, so we were able to leave those for the next homeowner (a costly expense they won't have to worry about). The laundry/mud room didn't require a ton of work or money to bring it back to life.
I think even the washer and dryer look more up to date now! I tried to add pops of black with hardware and artwork to help tie in the dated dryer, lol. (At the bottom of the post I linked to the freebie laundry printable I used.) The whole room just seems so much bigger and brighter.
Taking this awkward corner and turning it into a mudroom bench was some of the best money we spent, in my opinion, especially considering how little money it cost! We used two wall cabinets that are meant to go over a fridge and then cut a leftover piece of melamine from the fridge cabinet to create a bench top. I still can't get over how perfectly those cabinets fit into that corner! This is a great spot to stow away shoes, laundry supplies, dog leashes, etc. You can never have too much storage, amirght?! We used a piece of reclaimed wood from an old barn we tore down to create a shelf (and some contrast to all of the light colors) and carried in the hooks from the bathroom for coats and bags.
We continued the same sheet vinyl from the bathroom (and in one piece which was fun to install ;) and I think it creates the light and bright (and clean!) feeling we were hoping to get for this laundry room. How fun is the hardware on the cabinet doors? They are the same style as the one found on the original medicine cabinet in the bathroom and only cost 1.25!
There was a storm years back that got through the attic window and warped the beadboard ceiling. Coincidentally, a few weeks before we bought this house we had a similar issue when our roof leaked and twisted our beadboard ceilings. Brian knew exactly how to fix it so that was a pretty smooth job. The previous owners had said they had multiple over to fix it and they all said it couldn't be done. Hah! We painted the walls Sherwin Williams Silver Strand (same as bathroom) and the ceiling to white from ivory.
Since we re-worked the kitchen layout and added more cabinets, we were able to steal some of the original baseboard to use in the laundry room. This was the only room without that gorgeous tall baseboard and I think that small detail makes the room seem more finished. It's the little things like this that are a pain in the butt but worth it when you see everything come together. Another small detail you can see in the above photo is that we swapped out all of the old, dingy electrical plates for shiny white ones. Makes everything feel much more updated!
So this was one of the fun rooms that we got to paint the trim - twice! Someone had used incompatible paints at one point in time so our paint didn't adhere. After three coats of paint, we had to go back and scrape it allllll off, then do three MORE coats. That was a bad day, lol. Lesson learned though - we're hiring paint out from now on. Period. But in the end, the paint stuck and it looked really pretty. :)
COST BREAKDOWN
Sheet vinyl - $110
Lighting - $60
Hardware - $0 (generously supplied by DLawless Hardware)
Bench - $170
Paint - $30
Brackets - $10
Washer + Dryer Hoses/Vents - $40
TOTAL - $420*
*does not include plumbing, electrical or HVAC costs
SOURCES
PAINT
Walls - Sherwin Williams Silver Strand
LIGHTING
Ceiling Light
DECOR/FINISHES
Vinyl Flooring
Hooks
Shelf Brackets
Melamine Sheet
Wall Cabinets
Latch Hardware
Free Laundry Printable