I am sharing a little something different about our fixer upper flip house today.
Our fixer upper is close to our home. In the fifteen years we have lived here, we have driven past the flip house every day, I run past it many mornings a week and the entire family has walked past it a gazillion times heading to the nearby park. As I explained in THIS POST, it wasn’t until this last few months, that we started getting serious about our goal for a flip house. When I saw that this house was vacant, I contacted the owner and here we are.
When we first looked at the house, we knew that is had been rented for many years. The last occupants were three guys. There were no MAJOR issues with the house, but it wasn’t taken care of like someone who owned it would have cared for it. There were a couple of areas in the house that we weren’t sure about at first, but then we were given an unexpected surprise that answered all of our questions.
The second weekend that we had the house, all four of us were it working and there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and the man standing there said, “Hey, I need to look inside the house.” I gave him the weirdest look because I had no idea who he was and there was no way I was just going to let him in.
He soon realized my concern and said, “I grew up in this house. My parents bought it when it was built. I am in town from Florida driving around my old neighborhood and saw the dumpster in the driveway. Can I take a peek inside my childhood home?” He should have said that from the beginning. I welcomed him in with open arms.
He walked around the entire house with us and told us all about where everything was, what his parents did to the house and what it was like growing up there. It was the best half hour for us in the Fixer Upper Flip House because he gave us insight about some things we had questions about.
He was so happy to see us taking over and making it a home for someone again. While we were in the basement with him, he said that his parents put the “mural” on the wall because they went on vacation there. That weekend, we had painted the paneling and we were covering up the mural. He agreed it needed to go so I didn’t feel so horrible. Phew.
The Story Of Our First Flip House
What are the odds that guy who grew up in our first fixer upper to flip would show up at the door from Florida to see the house and give us insight about some questions we had? I have said it before, but I will say it again… I used to think these were consequences, but I know they are well laid-out plans now.
Not only was his feedback positive and informative, but the neighbors have come to us and thanked us for making the house a home again. They have offered us help, tools, extra hands and neighborhood insight that has been a great part of the process.
Besides the people who have come into our lives because of this Fixer Upper Flip House, the treasures we have uncovered have brought many smiles and laughter between us.
We have coined the house the “Lucky Penny” house. The kids have found so much loose change around the house that it has become a game to see how many we can find before this flip is done.
I love uncovering original features. One of the most recent finds was the wallpaper in the kitchen.
I uncovered it about a week after the original owner showed up. I wish I could have asked him if this was what was in the kitchen when he lived there.
Matt and I have rescued so many different pieces from all over the place. Our lottery win is going to be when we discover something worth a ton of money during our hunts. HAHA! Wouldn’t that be fun?!
Anyway, while I was in the linen closet at the flip house painting, my brush hit something. I did not see this when I removed the shelves because it was tucked behind the trim by the hinges of the linen closet door.
This is what my brush hit.
I know nothing about jewelry at all. I am sure it is just costume jewelry, but it made for a great conversation.
The kids were so excited. “Mom, you found an actual buried treasure!!” Matt and I laughed and he said, “Well, all we needed to do was buy a fixer upper to flip to find the winning lottery ticket.” 🙂 The kids are hounding me to take it somewhere to learn more about it. We will definitely do that.
This Fixer Upper Flip House has proved to be so much more than a project. Every time I meet someone new or learn something about the house, it makes it all feel so right. We were supposed to own this house and go through this process. I know deep down that all of this was meant to be. We still have so much ahead of us. This journey has been so rewarding and we are so grateful for it.
If you aren’t following along with our Fixer Upper Flip House journey on Instagram {HERE} and Facebook {HERE}, I would love to connect with you there.
That wallpaper 🙂
🙂