Dallas | It's Great To Be Home

Getting You Up to Speed On Our Flip

September 30, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 18 Comments

Whew, where to begin?!?

Even though it probably seems like yesterday’s announcement came out of the blue, the truth is that we’ve been busy little bees behind the scenes for weeks now trying to make sure we were ready to hit the ground running once we got the keys. That means meetings with contractors, plumbers, electricians, foundation companies, and tree trimmers intermingled with visits to tile stores, etc. and lots of web browsing for deals. There’s so much to tell you guys about!

But first things first – here’s a quick little tour of our new victim renovation project:

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the hideous photos – I lost one camera and misplaced the charger for another camera so these are all iPhone pictures taken on the fly).

Front of the house:

(This house has 2,570 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths and was built in 1970.)

Entryway opening into formal living room:

Tray ceiling with funky curves in entryway:

Formal living room and formal dining room:

From entryway into family room:

Family room towards entryway:

Family room looking into covered patio:

Family room looking into kitchen and breakfast room:

Kitchen looking into family room on the left and formal dining room straight ahead:

Kitchen looking into formal dining room:

Kitchen looking into breakfast nook:

Breakfast nook looking into covered patio (that has been enclosed with French doors):

Covered patio looking into breakfast room:

Looking from master bedroom across covered patio into breakfast room:

Looking from breakfast room across covered patio to master bedroom:

Master bedroom:

Master closet:

From master closet to master bathroom:

Separate room in master bath with toilet and shower/tub:

The shower/tub side of the room:

Hallway connecting master bedroom, 2 other bedrooms, and a bathroom:

Second bedroom:

Jack ‘n Jill bath connecting 2 bedrooms and serving as the guest bathroom for the house:

Shower and toilet area of jack ‘n jill bath:

Third bedroom:

Laundry room area between the garage and kitchen:

Fourth bedroom off of the laundry room:

Bathroom connecting the 4th bedroom and laundry room:

Another view of the bathroom:

The shower:

The backyard:

Over the next few weeks you’ll read plenty on my thoughts about what needs to be changed about the house, but for now – what do you think? What’s your favorite thing about the house, and what did you see that you absolutely could not live with?

Want to see how our last flip turned out? Read all about it here.

Before & After: Excellent Exterior

August 20, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 8 Comments

Back when we were looking for another house to flip, we ran across this little number:

Not too cute, is it? {And trust me, it was even less cute in person.}

We didn’t wind up snatching it up but another investor did. It’s back on the market now and I am in love with the exterior transformation!! Check it out:

Here are some of the changes that jump out at me:

Adding shutters made the windows appear larger, more important and more in scale with the size of the house.
A neutral gray/brown paint color & coordinating new roof reduces contrast and makes the house appear larger. The white trim is so fresh and really pops {and those new windows certainly don’t hurt}.
The addition of a railing around the porch makes it feel friendly and invites you to sit down and stay awhile.
New carriage style garage doors are a vast improvement over the old doors that were literally falling off their tracks.
Tidy landscaping in contrasting colors shows off the house, and the topiaries framing the house on the left add some much-needed symmetry to the home.

What do you guys think of the transformation? Would you have done something differently?

P.S. I’m not sure why my bulletpoints have transformed into stars. Hmm…

Swanky Living

July 7, 2010 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 5 Comments

No offense to my brother, but I’m pretty sure that living with him isn’t very high on my list of “things I’d like to do as an adult.” But then again, if the 12,000 square foot penthouse at the “W” in Dallas is available . . . whoops, never mind, that space has already been scooped up by the Schlegel siblings. Darn!

In a piece in D Magazine written by Candy Evans {also of the Dallas Dirt blog}, we get a sneak peek of this amazing space that has been designed to the hilt by Jan Showers, the famed Dallas interior designer.

Even though these swanky siblings are technically living in the same residence, I’m willing to bet that they each get more than enough alone time as the interior was brilliantly designed so that each sibling has half of the condo as separate living quarters with a large common area in the middle of the residence as shared entertaining space. I think I could deal with that!

Of course, each sibling’s side of the apartment was designed with his or her personality in mind:

While Kirby’s space is certainly nothing to sneeze at, I’m truly in love with the design Showers created for Kari. The living room is a mix of vintage and pieces from Showers’ own collection, and the feminine, Hollywood Regency-vibe is really stunning. For me, this room is the showpiece of the condo!

The Hollywood Regency style continues in the rest of the living space with the sassy white and yellow chairs . . . and is that a lucite table I spy in the dining room?

Kari’s master suite is a testament to luxury, from the oversized wingback-style headboard to the stunning chandelier.

The pampering continues in the master bathroom that overlooks downtown Dallas. The stainless steel tub makes such a statement.

And finally, that closet! I would gladly trade my closet in for this beauty any day of the week.

One slight snag in all this fabulousness? It’s listed by Kari herself and destined to remain on the market {at a cool $11.75 million} until it sells, however long that takes. You can check out the listing here.

What do you think – want to all pitch in and buy this beauty? :)

Images courtesy of D Magazine.