Flippin' Crazy

My guest room in my condo has a black, white and grey theme. It really doesn't match a single other room in the house but I've always wanted a black and white room so the rest of the rooms in my condo will just have to deal with the outcast. It's a work in progress but on my to do list to find were a black and white duvet cover and a black and white chair for the corner. I nixed the idea of a black and white duvet after I found the Fieldcrest Luxury Hotel duvet in white with tailored seams. I love it! I need to buy the matching shams but I haven't seen them for sale on eBay recently. The other day I went to my most favorite thrift store in Northern Virginia called Sisters' Thrift. They have the most amazing furniture selection and I've had my eye on a vintage chair/side table combo for the past two months. This past weekend I went there to check out the new selection of furniture and lo and behold, the chair/side table was still there and I snagged it for ...

In December of 2010 I bought my first investment property...in the middle of no where. Middle of no where = 2.5 hours away. Normally middle of no where is ok....unless you work a full time 40 hour a week job and then "middle of no where" quickly turns into "pain in the ass." But, in order to make money you need to spend money (and time). Along with everyone elses time since my parents put a LOT of time into helping me out. (Shout out goes to my mother for repainting the back porch steps 5 times because once wasn't enough and for spending countless hours removing all that wallpaper and to my father for spending multiple weekends trying to get the water to work.) 7 months later the house has been finished and is on the market. Hopefully it sells soon as I have my eye on two other investment properties. And I need to pay off my credit cards before Mr. Emily kills me. Here are some before and afters along with what I did and where I bought it from. Ki...

In February of 2010 I purchased my first house - well it's a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom condo in Centreville, VA, - and I was able to get it for a big bargain! I love that B word. However...it was a disaster zone . And when I say disaster zone I mean my lovely boyfriend, who I will call Mr. Emily, wouldn't even step foot in it. The carpets smelled like cat pee, the kitchen was straight out of 1970, the walls were dirty, there was crap everywhere; it was just a nightmare. But I saw sweat equity! This blog post will show you my attempt at a kitchen transformation for under $5,000. Here are the "before pictures." As you can see, the cabinets were outdated, there was a faux brick wall, a washer in the kitchen (my personal nightmare), 3 appliances that didn't actually work that well (dishwasher not at all) and horrible blue tile which was also in the foyer and bathroom. Lucky me!!! So...ready for the after!? Remember - still a work in progress as I need granite counter t...

Hiya! Welcome to my wonderful blog. This is a first for me so let's hope I don't mess it up! I never understood people who had blogs and wanted to document their lives but here I am. Only I'm not going to bore you with details about my already pretty dull existence and all of the pretty dull things I do every day at work or whatnot. Instead I'm going to bore you with one of my major passions in this world - renovating houses and designing on a budget! Growing up my father was a do it yourselfer; if something was broken or my mother needed something built - he was your man. Once HGTV came around that's all they watched - well that and the Food Network. In turn I learned at a young age how to do things such as reupholster (nothing fancy - seat cushions, simple chairs, etc.), sew pretty much anything, make my own custom lampshades and so on and so forth. Over the years I'm managed to turn all my tricks of the trade into an extremely fun and non expensive hobby!...