I have many ideas for future blog posts that I'm working on, but for now I thought the most fitting post would be to introduce ourselves and what I envision for this blog.
The Streets - Austin & Meredith
My husband, Austin, and I are mostly sweat equity in the flipping adventure! Austin is a soil conservationist and I am an educator. We love our day jobs, but have spent the last 3 years using our free time to fix up our personal home. From remodeling our painted brick fireplace to renovating our unfinished basement, we've managed to make a lot of progress to turn our traditional brick home into something that resembles our personal style while doing most of the work ourselves one space at a time. Austin is an avid outdoorsman, aspiring woodworker, baseball card collector, and more! He loves to learn by doing and he loves a good challenge. I've yet to see him attempt something new that he doesn't learn how to do well. He is definitely a DIY master. I basically show Austin what I want and he figures out how to make it happen (on a budget).
On the other hand, I am ANTI-DIY. I would much rather prefer to hire out someone to do every home project, hire a professional interior designer, etc. However, being young and married (and a teacher) my only choice is to embrace DIY and learning how to do things on our own so that it looks professionally done. I always say that if I had an unlimited budget, I know exactly what I would do with every space in and outside of our home. I have always had an interest in real estate and home design. As a child, I had a book of house plans that I made and routinely surfed the internet looking at houses for sale. How I ended up in education given my interests as a kid that continued into adulthood is so crazy to me!
My Parents
I hope they don't mind being featured, but they are an equal part! My dad has long dreamed of flipping homes as a side business. For years, the timing was just never right between personal life, real estate market, etc. My dad has had a long career in corporate finance and my mom is a retired school administrator who now works in local government (so much for retirement!). Most people know her for the accolades she received as an educator, however she is extremely talented at sewing, wallpaper, painting, and more. She used to wallpaper and sew window treatments for people when she was a teacher as her side business!
Why flip?
Once Austin's home renovating talent emerged, it peaked my parents' interest in this venture again. They realized that Austin could do a lot of the labor that they would need to hire out to someone, which would impact the profitability of flipping a house. Austin is not a trained plumber or electrician - so he definitely won't be taking the place of a professional. We'll leave the electrical, plumbing, and things like that to contractors. Choosing the right house is truly important for us, which is why we took our time waiting for the right opportunity.
We obviously want to make a profit, but it isn't just about that for us. It's about an opportunity to make our hometown better. The last few years have seen a lot of growth and revitalization for our hometown. The housing market here is limited. It is mostly homes that need a TON of work upfront or the other extreme of unaffordable. We want these positive trends in our area to continue and we hope we can bring some of the homes in need of TLC to a price range affordable for most people to help fill the void. But more than anything, it is an opportunity for us to do something together that combines our interests as a family.
I hope you'll stick around to see if we sink, swim, or kill each other first. Who knows?
What You Can Expect from Styling the Streets
Austin and I have talked a long time about creating a blog. It seemed silly to me and definitely out of my comfort zone. Why would anyone want to read a blog post about our house or weekend projects? Our friends and family started encouraging us and it started to make sense. Posting about our projects here and there has led to tons of questions to share more details. Doing various projects to our home has required tons of research and finding resources to help us learn, as well as troubleshoot odd quirks about our home. It isn't always a quick and simple process, especially in our home (if you know, you know). I'm sure as we begin to flip homes beyond our own, we are going to run into a lot of odd problems as well.
I'm excited to share the past, current, and future projects from the Street home as well as document the experience of flipping our first home - the Bee House as I plan to call it. The previous owner was a beekeeper, which I think is so neat! Expect to see many before and afters, linked products, and tutorials. My goal for 2021 is to learn how to wallpaper, paint, and sew/reupholster from my mom. I'm planning to share all of her tips and tricks here. These trades are all possible to do yourself for your own redo and cost a lot to hire out. We have saved tons of money 'hiring' my mom over the last few years.
Additionally, I hope to share ideas for spaces that you find in normal homes. I've learned to look locally and online for home decor, fabrics, wallpaper, etc. that looks like the more expensive versions of what I want. I always see Pinterest worthy pics of makeovers that aren't realistic for us. Our older, outdated home and tighter budget has led to major frustration as I've looked for inspiration for various home projects. I surely can't be the only person who wants their traditional home with 8 foot ceilings to look like the lovely Pinterest and influencer pictures of more modern design in new builds. I've also learned how to work with the good parts of our home and it's design, even if it isn't my dream layout or choice. I definitely don't claim to have great style, however I am true to what I love. Calm, cool colors and neutrals speak to my heart. I prefer things to be visually appealing, but overall mainly functional and purposeful. I don't know how much I'll inspire the style trends of the given moment and that really isn't my goal. I do feel like we have a lot of ideas and how to's that can help other people make their homes more their own just as we have at a price point that is more affordable by saving yourself some money where you can.
- Meredith
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