The WTF House: Staging Pics
As a reminder, here are some BEFORE pictures of The WTF House.
And here are some STAGING pictures:
Front of House
Living Room to Kitchen and Eat-In Breakfast Area
Living Room
Open Floor Plan
Kitchen
More Kitchen
Eat-In Breakfast Bar / Breakfast Area
Dining Room
Pass-Through from Dining Room to Living Room
Master Bedroom
Guest Bedroom
Master Bathroom
Office / Third / Fourth Bedroom
Guest Bath (1 of 2)
Basement Living Room
Backyard
This definitely should be short lived on market ( DOM )
Very nice work
House looks great. Have you gotten any feedback about going with the hardwood in the kitchen? I have an upcoming rehab with an even more open kitchen, just the half wall between both dining and living areas. I think using one flooring looks so much better. But lots of people have ideas about the need for easy to clean flooring in kitchens.
Hey Kristine,
I don’t think I’ve ever considered that some people might prefer no hardwoods in the kitchen. We have them in our house, and I have never given them a second thought. That said, maybe it’s something Carol has considered…
I think the idea of a single flooring throughout the open layout is good…there’s no good place to transition, and other than tile, I’m not sure what other flooring type would even make sense in the kitchen if the rest of the floor is wood.
But again, I know nothing about design or what looks good…so you can pretty much disregard my opinions on things like this… 🙂
Hi J and thanks for your reply. I was looking at the budget for this one and wondering how many sq. ft of hardwood for $3200. Do you know the name of the product?
Also, are your tub refinishers a franchise? You’re getting way better pricing than I am and would like to find someone better and cheaper here.
Tile in the kitchen is not easy to clean. I can clean the wood floor better verses scrubbing until my hands bleed with tile.
Hey Kristine –
The hardwood works out to $4.70 per square foot (pretty typical for down here). This is for 3/4″ solid oak boards (#2 wood), installed, sanded, stained on-site and then two coats of polyurethane. #2 wood has more knots than the higher-quality wood, so it’s better for darker stains…for lighter stain, you’d want #1 wood and would likely pay about $.30 per square foot more.
J: Thanks for the additional info. Do you always use solid wood? Have you used any engineered woods yet?
Kristine –
We use the real wood whenever we’re doing a higher-priced house and want something that will stand out. When we want to put wood in a lower-price-point house — usually just the entryway as a first impression — we’ll often use pre-finished laminate wood. Carol would be happy to use the pre-finished laminate even in the higher-end houses, though I like the idea of being able to sand and refinish if my contractors mess up the floors during the final days after the floor is installed.
Here are two examples of where we’ve used laminate recently:
The Ticket House: http://123flip.com/wp-content/uploads/Ticket_House/Staging/4.jpg
The Rookie House: http://123flip.com/wp-content/uploads/Rookie_House/After/2.jpg
I remember both of those rehabs and that’s why I asked about engineered flooring. You’re calling those laminates, but “laminate flooring” has no real wood in them. If there is a thin, real hardwood layer on of (laminated to) plywood or mdf, it’s engineered hard wood. If that is fake wood laminate flooring in the Ticket and Rookie houses, they look amazing.
I’m curious if the cost difference between real hard woods and engineered hardwoods is warranted, even in a $200K house in your market. A lot of people….in every price point….. like the engineered products because of the durability of the new finishes and the 25 year warranty. I prefer real wood, even the cheapest, knottiest oak and a poly finish. So I know where you’re coming from. Something comforting about knowing that the floor can take another sanding.
Kristine,
Yes, thank you for correcting me…you’re absolutely right that those are engineered flooring, not laminate. The engineered wood looks really good…we just need to make sure it’s the very last thing that goes into the house, as otherwise, it’s too likely the floor will get scratched (and can’t be refinished) and then I’ll be annoyed until the day the house is sold (I’m a bit OCD :))…
Nice job J. Couldnt see this sitting on the market for too long.
Looking forward to some more updates on the WI House!
I’m continually amazed at your staging! I just posted some photos of our flip on my blog – but looking at yours I’m a bit embarrassed! 😉 Thanks J for what you do!
Thanks Brandon, I appreciate that!
And your blog is amazing, btw. I’m going to be revamping my “Resources” section (which I haven’t touched in years), and yours will be one of the few RE blogs that I want to share.
ok mr. scott, my wife and i just completed our project shopping list but the problem we are now having is trying to distinguish on what type of finishings to actually purchase. for example,my wife says we should finish all bathroom faucets with a brush nickle finish verses chrome, i think otherwise because the chrome is less exspensive and we also look at toilets and there are so many variations of both. can you please give us a little insite on this. sorry about the separate comments, just purchased a little yorkie and she is a handful.
Hey Kareem,
There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to finishes. A lot of it comes down to personal preference and tastes…
The price level of the house will often indicate the level of finish you want to use, and the preference of your typical buyer should dictate the kind of finishes. That said, even though we tend to focus on lower-end houses, we use brushed nickel for all our finishes. It’s a little more expensive than chrome, but in our opinion, the slight extra cost tends to add tremendous value to the look of the house. We use brushed nickel faucets, shower hardware, door-knobs, lighting fixtures, shower door trim, etc. That’s just what we like and what our buyers tend to like.
The extra cost of all brushed nickel finishes over chrome finishes for an entire house should be less than $500-1000. In my opinion, it’s WELL WORTH IT to spend that little extra money for the upgrade. But, you need to decide if your budget supports it and whether it will make a difference in your being able to sell the properties quickly and easily. If you can sell properties with chrome finishes just as easily as with brushed nickel, you should save the money. If not, spend a little more.
Scott, How much did it cost you for this rehab? rough idea.
Prem –
Here’s a detailed budget breakdown for the project:
http://www.123flip.com/house-37-budget-recap/