This Way Home Flips!

Luca House Flipping, Renovation

I have been dying to share some incredibly exciting news – and it’s finally time. I just flipped my first house! I call this project the Brackett House, and I documented the entire renovation from start to finish. Today’s post introduces the house, but there will be much more to come, so please check back soon! Let me rewind for a moment. I started house hunting in the spring of 2016, and my parameters were fairly specific: an older home in need of restoration located in a desirable community. Inventory is really tight in the Boston area, and it’s not unusual for an open house to attract over a hundred people. So to my strategy: I targeted houses that were so run down realtors didn’t dare hold an open house, and I avoided properties with high tear-down potential, i.e. small houses on oversized lots. I didn’t want to get into a bidding war with a developer. I actually had two …

Genevieve Gorder’s Manhattan Apartment

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Genevieve Gorder has long been one of my favorite HGTV designers. She always incorporates unique vintage pieces and Moroccan-inspired decor. HGTV recently aired Genevieve’s Renovation, a 6-part series documenting the transformation of her Manhattan apartment. Genevieve combined two separate apartments to create a roomy 2,400-square-foot space. It’s very satisfying to watch the process from start to finish and reminds me of some of Sarah Richardson’s excellent renovation specials, like Sarah’s House and Sarah’s Cottage. One of my favorite aspects of Genevieve’s renovation is her herringbone wood floors. The difference between herringbone and chevron is subtle, but significant. I prefer the look of herringbone anyway, but Genevieve makes a good point that the herringbone design is cheaper to install because it requires fewer cuts and thus less labor. Genevieve’s herringbone floors after installation. Genevieve painted her living room a rich black and allowed a select few pieces to anchor the space. Her guest bathroom features hand-painted tiles and brass fixtures. And I love the antique Moroccan door that she fitted to her bedroom …

Dwell on Design

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Yesterday I visited Dwell on Design, a three-day exhibition of products, furniture, and innovative technologies at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The show floor is nearly 300,000 square feet and brimming with goodies, but I wanted to share some of the items that caught my eye. Sitskie produces a line of benches and chairs made from a flexible network of wood blocks. As they explain on their website, “It appears to be a hard wooden [surface] but when you sit, your entire body sinks in, the blocks softly mold to you.” Above is the Block Bench from the Sitskie booth. Stikwood makes peel-and-stick wood panels in many different styles and finishes. This seems like a great product for creating wood paneled walls or for decorating cabinet fronts. Fringe Studio provides architecture and interior design, but they also fabricate readymade and custom furniture. This piece, The Watermark Cabinet, has a colorful underwater pattern. Ikea hacks are incredibly popular, and Semihandmade makes them so much easier. They sell cabinet fronts, panels, and trim specifically for Ikea wares. …