Monday, November 13, 2017

Butler Fixer Upper

I’m not sure that I’ve even posted this on the blog anywhere, but we sold our “dream home” about a year ago. We absolutely LOVED our house, but really want some land for all these Butler boys to be able to stretch out on. We want some animals, a garden, and a flat driveway that won’t land us in the ER. (Ha! If you came to my old house, you know that driveway wasn’t cut out for 3 growing, active boys!) Jonathan and I talked through it and prayed through it and ended up putting our house on the market. Got a full price cash offer within 48 hours and sold it (which probably means we were listed too cheap, right? Ha!) No really, it was just a God thing. Other than the fact that she insisted on my mirror, my all-time faaaave piece of furniture (yes, obviously I’m having a difficult time getting over it), the new homeowner is great and we are so grateful she got our house.

Our first house. The place we brought Jase & Kade home to. The place we made our home. Thankfully we were too busy trying to pack (I knew it would go quick, but didn’t think it’d be quite that fast) for me to get too super emotional. Even at 6-7 months pregnant (or however far along I was)!

So, for the past year we’ve been living in a fully furnished rental in hopes (& expectation) to find our new place really quickly. That obviously hasn’t happened (yet, we know God has a reason)…as we are coming up on a year now. We’ve gone back and forth on what we want a few different times, but so far we know the Lord hasn’t led us to make a move. We haven’t found our new home or land, so we are staying put till we hear clearly from Him. No, the waiting is not ideal, but we are blessed and we totally trust HIS perfect timing.

We DID know when moving that we wanted to dabble in real estate a little. We wanted to flip a house and this created the perfect opportunity. Our good friends & real estate agents helped us find what we called our “Wessell house” in the city of Gainesville. It is such a cool little area! And as soon as we saw it we knew it was perfect for our first flip. We put in an offer and Jonathan and his dad began working on it a few weeks later.

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The house had great bones & is one of the best lots in the entire city in my opinion. The backyard is HUGE & it’s right across from the cutest little park. But it was going to be a TON of work to get it to Jonathan’s standards of excellence. He won’t do work that is less than perfect if it’s going to have his name/reputation tied to it. (Which sometimes drives me crazy.) The house was a 3 BR, 3 bath brick ranch on a basement and had to be completely gutted. I cannot even TELL you the work they put into that house! The tv shows make it look super glamorous, but you cannot even imagine the WORK that goes into every detail. SO MUCH WORK. (To do it the way they did anyway.) And it takes more than construction skill & design. It takes some serious planning & construction knowledge knowing the order & planning appropriately for the timing of everything (especially when organizing different contractors, etc.). Lots of the scheduling has to be done weeks in advance. WAY more than just throwing a coat of paint & adding some shiplap for a full overhaul.

I think Jonathan and his dad loved (almost) every minute of it. Jonathan loves transforming things & is so amazingly talented. He loves a good challenge too, so this was right up his alley. I was seriously in awe watching what he did with the house. I helped with the design portion- mostly choosing the finishes, but Jonathan actually has a great vision and eye for laying things out. Him and his dad did all the hard work though. They subbed out some of it but they did the majority of the work themselves. They completely replumbed it (and his buddy did the work for us) and rewired it too (and my nephew did that work). I know it was a super fun project and cool memories for Jonathan to have with his dad. Me and the boys would go visit them a couple times a week and eat lunch on the deck or play in the park. The boys loved “helping.”

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If I can be totally transparent, I started getting a little antsy towards the end of the reno. I was really hoping for it to be done before I had Beau. Looking back, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. He took off a few weeks at Christmas, took some time to do a couple of other jobs in between there (he helps friends out when they ask him to do something), and again when I had the baby. Hopefully my nagging at the end doesn’t deter him from doing another! 9 months pregnant (& 11 days overdue) and adjusting to life as a mom of 3, so those hormones were probably playing a role…but still not cool of me. (Don’t worry, I’ve apologized.) We probably won’t do another until we’ve found our next home, but I’m excited for another in the future.

The details were INCREDIBLE. (We contemplated moving in it ourselves. If there was one more bedroom & a garage,we totally would have!) They thought of every single little thing, even down to dimmers on the under counter lights and soft close drawer slides. He custom built the kitchen cabinets, the mud room, & added a huge island with a built in microwave and trashcan. He even added a fireplace! He built a deck, finished the basement, rebuilt the stairs, adding crown molding, some bead board & shiplap in different places, new doors, and added a set of french doors. They also added a laundry room upstairs instead of it being in the basement. We also kept the original hardwoods and just re-sanded them. Everything looked GORGEOUS!!

BEFORE:

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PROGRESS:

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We ate a couple of romantic family dinners here throughout the process.

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(Our fireplace vs. the Pinterest pic I picked out. #nailedit)

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AFTER:

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Painted brick! LOOOOVE.

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New mud room/laundry area upstairs.

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My fave! LOVE the open floor, the lighting, the colors, the granite. Custom kitchen is my hubby’s specialty.

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There was no fireplace originally, but I thought it would be a great touch. I showed Jonathan a picture from Pinterest and he figured the whole thing out. Built the mantle, the shiplap, laid the brick, and added the custom woodwork.

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I love the industrial look of the basement! The floor, the dark ceiling with recess lighting, & even kept the original paneling but brightened it up by painting it white…SO cool!

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The master bath was my favorite. it was so classic & elegant…just stunning!

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Added some wainscoting in the guest bath.

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The lot was AMAZING!! Such a huge yard, especially for a city home. The boys and I loved playing out there. Was really hoping a family with kids would move in and get to enjoy it, but at least they have a dog?

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We learned so much during our first flip. Lots we would/will do differently, but overall we are happy with the transformation. We prayed over every inch of the home and yard.

It sold pretty quickly & I am so happy those homeowners get to enjoy some of my talented hubby’s BEAUTIFUL work!

4 comments:

Brandy said...

Wow!! This is stunning!! If you hubby wants to come do the finishing work on our new home when we start building in April, I'm fine with that ;) He did great. And the stuff you picked out looks amazing!! Love it!

Unknown said...

Wow! Wow! Wow! Beautiful!

Anonymous said...

That is truly an awesome job! I love the way you cheer your husband on and support him!

Anonymous said...

My goodness! It came out so wonderful. Your husband truly has a gift for doing this.