Flipping In Southlake

Mockingbird Make-over

Over the next few installments, I thought it would be fun to walk you through the process I went through to complete the Mockingbird Lane project! It was early January of this year, the Edgerton Drive house in Dallas had just gone on the the market and I was working hard with Paul, my Cracker Jack realtor in Southlake, to find the “right” house to flip. I am not afraid of a challenge, but condition and price were as important as…location, location, location! It’s SO true, you can be the best house at a great price, but if no one likes the location – selling is a bear…been there, done that!!!

So after some looking I decided that the tired, little house on Mockingbird Lane ticked off pretty much all of my boxes; it would be the one to work my magic on. I’ve had bigger challenges and am pretty much fearless when it comes to renovation, but in any renovation unexpected things come up, so I was excited about getting to work on the design phase. After rocky negotiations, I bought the sad, neglected house sitting on an acre of park- like grounds in an older, quiet Southlake neighborhood. It had been vacant for quite some time, either no one seemed to see the potential in this 3 bedroom/2 bath, 2500+ s/ft house or they were afraid of the scope of the renovations. Not me!!! It certainly was dated but structurally sound and no major “issues” other than the need of a BIG make-over.

I knew what I was getting into - easy peasy – right up my alley, I was chomping at the bit to get started. Everything was ready to go, the over-all design was complete, I had gone over the plans, budgets and timelines with my cadre of subs and had all the materials list ready for ordering. The day after closing, my daily schedule in hand, I met my contractors and work began. For the next 11 weeks, my sad little house gradually came back to life to the sounds of drills, saws, hammers and lots of music - Latin, Oldies or Country – depending on the contractors “du jour” - and sometimes all 3 were blaring from different rooms - yeehaw!!!

The work was in full-swing, the house was “alive” with contractors and work sometimes stretched into late nights and even a couple of weekends (this is Texas - contractors are willing to work – well, except for Sunday morning church that is!). Oh and the steady delivery of donuts, coffee, tacos, pizza & home-made cookies ~ you get the picture, bribery can be a good thing.

Demo took 3-4 days, the “army” ripped out nasty carpet (even in the bathrooms, yuck), gutted the kitchen (I donated the cabinets), tore out sheet vinyl and chiseled out tile, removed the furr downs in the kitchen and baths, and yanked out 1983 era fans and light fixtures (think white with gaudy gold), scraped off the popcorn texture on ALL the ceilings, and took off lots of tacky applied picture molding in the living room. The bathrooms didn’t escape the contractors swinging some tools either! As we peeled back layers the house seemed to breath a sigh saying “ Thank-you” !

Stay tuned - I'll be showing you the rest of the project from start to finish!