kitchen

Saint Mary House | Flipping Houses vs. Rental Properties

Saint Mary House | Flipping Houses vs. Rental Properties

Thank you to everyone who sent us congratulatory messages on our newest project. This 1949 house is 2 beds/1 bath and all of 924 square feet on half an acre lot. The selling features for me were the hardwoods, gas fireplace, arched doorways, and circular driveway. We're equally excited and nervous about this property since it is a completely new endeavor for us. Historically, Brian and I have purchased houses with the intent to flip as quickly as possible. However, for this little house, we have chosen to hold onto it as a long-term rental investment. In light of this, I thought it may be helpful for people out there who are interested in a buying an investment property to share the reasons why we are choosing to go this route. Full disclosure, we are NOT real estate gurus or financial planners or much of an expert in any of these realms. Through trial and error, we've just realized a few things along the way that I think others may be interested in hearing.

DIY Kitchen Island X Trim - Cheap Cabinet Makeover

DIY Kitchen Island X Trim - Cheap Cabinet Makeover

I'm really excited to share this DIY today. It is one of those projects that gives you a lot of bang for your buck and a trick we have used in three projects now (with great feedback!). Since so many of you found my post on how to add trim to create a shaker style cabinet useful, I figured you may feel the same about this little project. This DIY X trim cabinet makeover is perfect for islands, but it also works well on vanities and even flat-panel doors.

Hardware to go with Brass Hinges & Other Affordable Options

Hardware to go with Brass Hinges & Other Affordable Options

I mentioned a while back that my parents had begun renovating their 1990s builder grade home (which is basically in original condition). It'll be an on-going project, but they have started renovating the 90's kitchen and it already looks like a completely different space! The old oak cabinets got a fresh coat of white paint and we painted the small island a contrasting gray to mix things up (Sherwin Williams Functional Gray). My parents chose to hire a professional painter to tackle the cabinet makeover, which I believe was a wise choice. Painting kitchen cabinets is not a quick weekend project and the paint will peel if the cabinets are not prepped correctly (been there, done that). If you choose to DIY, make sure you take the time to clean, sand, and prime the cabinets and allocate mutliple days for the whole process (it took their professional painter about two weeks with drying/curing time).

Denmead House: Budget Kitchen Renovation Before and Afters

Happy spring, friends! We haven't been graced with spring-like temps quite yet here in Raleigh, but honestly the cold weather has been beneficial for getting some indoor projects knocked out, like our kitchen!We knew when we bought our new house that the first thing we wanted to tackle was the kitchen renovation. Originally, we planned on painting the existing cabinets and potentially keeping the laminate, but after living with it for a while, we shifted our plans. I HIGHLY recommend living in a new space for a while before making big changes, if possible. By living in our kitchen, I realized a number of things I wouldn't have if we had just started renovating on day one, such as: