Rick’s Condo
Virginia Beach, Virginia
It was a Thursday. For Team Wayne, Thursday’s can be very special days. On Thursdays, Sean and I give each other one full hour to be alone, pray, and plan in the silence and peaceful environment that only a church can possess. This particular Thursday holy hour was filled with anxiety and partitions of clarity for Sean as he wrangled over wether or not to move forward with what we thought might be our next flip house project. The details were a little rough. The house was far, the spread (how much money after investing we’d make) was thin, and it just plan didn’t feel right. We’d been between projects for about two weeks now and we both were starting to feel real antsy about when the next project would come. This tough project was at least something to work on.
Blessing #1
Sean was pulling into the driveway, contract in hand, ready to sign his name, when our neighbor, Rick, approached Sean as he was getting out of the car. Rick was our sweet, elderly neighbor who had been nothing but kind to our family every since we moved next door to him. Rick was moving to an assisted living facility and had a condo property about 7 minutes away that he was looking to get rid of. He warned Sean that it was in rough shape but wondered if Sean would be interested in buying it. My husband told our neighbor he’d take a look at the property and that he would most likely love to give him an offer for his real estate.
Practically flying, Sean swung the door open to tell me the good news and remind me of the day of the week and it’s providence. The next day, Sean viewed the property and instantly knew it needed a total overhaul. But, after crunching numbers, checking the ARV (after repair value), and pulling up comps in the area, he knew we had to have it. Sean offered a fair price for the property and Rick gladly accepted.
Blessing #2
A few weeks later, Sean and I were hanging out with some great friends of who were interested in out business. As most real estate conversations go with us, they were especially interested in the hard money aspect of our loan process for our flips. “You mean, someone gives you cash for your houses, you pay for rehab costs, and then you pay them back no more than 6 months later with interest?” Yup, that’s pretty much it. It took but a few days before we got a call from our friends asking if they could invest in us and be our hard money lenders for our next project. Although our current hard money lenders have been great to us, it felt nice being able to help out our friends and know that our interest money to them was going right toward their kids and family life. I’d say that’s a great investment. We are so thankful for all our friends and family who have supported us and invested IN us on our journey so far.
Demo started immediately after closing. Sean couldn’t wait to haul the 3,500 POUNDS of trash out of the Virginia Beach condo. You heard me… three thousand, five hundred pounds. I guess if it were easy, everyone would do it… We began with a clean slate all around starting with the kitchen.
The Kitchen
The kitchen started out dark and gloomy. In fact, the whole condo was dark and gloomy. Unfortunately, the unit was on the bottom floor with minimal light coming in from all four sides of the house… really just one side provided the light. It didn’t help that the kitchen was on the far side.
So, immediately I knew white, white, white. Light woods throughout and minimal dark pops here or there. Brand new white cabinets from our Virginia Beach Cabinet people The Paneling Factory were installed and gray Quartz were laid on top. We’ve been buying from Trindco Countertops and have loved it since the beginning.
The gray gave the kitchen dimension right along side the black AmazonBasics knobs and pulls. We also purchased our brushed nickel kitchen faucet from Amazon and were very happy with it. It was not an overwhelming size nor did it look too restaurant-y.
It had to be on the smaller size to make room for our hand made open shelf above the sink. I went with an open shelf to create even more of an open feel throughout the kitchen. No more dark den. The brackets we bought to attach the wooden shelf were from SilicateStudio on Etsy. It was a little tricky to install but after we hired some help from a contractor friend, it went up just fine.
Inspired by a book that my sister gave me titled Coastal Easy Home Style, I also wanted light and airy elements everywhere in the home which is why I chose a white hexagon backsplash. I wanted subtle yet modern texture and it really added such fun character. I want to wow home buyers when they tour our houses and hopefully catch their attention with details you don’t see everyday. This hexagon backsplash did just that.
The Master Bathroom
On to what I believe is the prettiest bathroom Sean and I have created to date. If you read my article titled Budget Tile Under $3, you saw that this bathroom was inspired by one of Chip and Joanna Gaines’ bathrooms on their show Fixer Upper.
What first caught my attention was the striped tile! Where do you even find that look? I was determined to try my hand at it. Next challenge, pairing it with a similar hexagon floor tile.
All the tile in this bath was bought from Floor and Decor for under $5 a square foot. That’s a massive victory and also the goal, am I right, house flippers?? Pretty and affordable.
The vanity was in stock as Lowes and chrome fixtures throughout added a classic and elegant luster to the finish off the space.
We could not be more proud especially since Sean took the entire shower project on himself!
The Living Room
Sometimes you get thrown a bone and this time we did with these floors throughout, not only the living room, but also the entire condo. When we bought the place, the floors were solid concrete… no subfloors or old flooring…nothing. This made for a nice and easy tiling job right on top of the existing concrete. Done and done. In lieu of the coastal and airy theme I had decided upon, I went with a light wood look tile from Floor and Decor throughout the home. This flooring is clean, easy to install, very affordable and surprisingly durable. Sure tile can crack, but it is much easier to replace tile then a hard wood plank. Also the already exposed concrete made the newly installed floor an easy, breezy process.
This fireplace sported real wood planks that I adored instantly. I knew with some white paint, I chose Behr’s Painters White, that this fireplace would transform from pinky grossness to coastal goodness.
I wanted to zoom into some of the staging items right quick to give you an insight into our staging choices (see photo above)! As mentioned before, the book from my sister, Mary, had to have a debut on the mantel which was only fitting because of the inspiration it brought me for the project. Scott Trench and Brandon Turner made appearances as well. You can read about Sean’s love for these guys and their literature here. Last but not least, my sister, Mary, recently traveled to Denver, Colorado and brought back this amazing piece of wood that she found adventuring. She turned it into this beautiful statement piece and even carved our entire family’s names onto it! I’m not crying, you’re crying. I adore this piece of handmade love and couldn’t NOT include it. Besides, it totally works with the beachy theme going on around here.
The Hallway Bathroom
Can you say transformation?? This bathroom before and after is insane. I stumbled across this cement tile from Lowes one day and had to have it in the condo. I love the way it pairs perfectly with the gray subway tile from Floor and Decor. The Turquoise Vanity was such a huge win from Home Depot. It is unfortunately discontinued but that’s why we got such a great price! We got the very last one on sale and got a great deal due to some leg scratches. Pro Tip: all we did was walk the vanity over to the Painting section and had them color match the vanity so that we had a sample of touch up paint. Good as new.
The amazing light wood mirror was from T.J.Maxx as well as most of the staging goods seen in the photos of the condo.
We also purchased the vanity faucets and lights from Amazon. Their prices are the best almost out of every other option I’ve looked into and there truly are so many choices to pick through.
Blessing #3
I want to make sure to document such an iconic event in our business journey that happened during this condo renovation was well. Sean hired his very first FULL TIME employee! Yup, we are real time employers now. We couldn’t be happier with the newest member of S + A INVEST | DESIGN (psst Ryan, if you reading this, you’re killing it.) Cheers to our employee of the month for the foreseeable future.
For clarification, we have lots of other sub contractors and friends that are miracle workers that help us out multiple times a week! We are so grateful for you (looking at you, Andrew) but hiring a fulltime employee was on our check list of goals and dreams.
In conclusion, cheers to Rick whose name may live on in the title of this condo renovation forever. Cheers to good friends taking leaps of faith and betting on us. Humbly, we thank you. And cheers to great guys who have stepped it up to help Team Wayne on the front lines by cutting, sawing, installing, painting, cleaning, and laughing along the way. We see you.
Ann | DESIGN