Welcome to my second blog post... my second house flip!
I will also break down my approach to selling a property to Rafael Enko, the "true man" of House Flipper... At least that's what he calls himself.
In my previous House Flipper blog post, I focused mainly on the architectural aspects of the design and left the interior to the very last. Therefore, for today's challenge...
Let's experiment with various interior design skills... and tips!
This blog post is organised as follows:
Main Bedroom, Bathroom & Sauna
Design Tip: Empty Walls
Man Cave & Guest Bedroom
Design Tip: Colours
External & Garden Design
Garden Competition & Selling the House
Conclusion
Below are Rafael's real estate requirements:
Bathroom - 2+
Sauna - 1
Bedroom - 1-2
Man Cave - mandatory
Living room - 1
Kitchen - no preference
Children's room - Nope. Nada. Zilch. Don't even think about it
"Wait... no kitchen?!"
I realised the Smoth family (another default buyer) will always skip the queue whenever I put in a kitchen. So for the ease of selling to Rafael, I decided not to include a kitchen in this house.
Not logical, obviously, but we'll tackle this when I'm more experienced in future projects.
Main Bedroom, Sauna and Bathroom
The bathroom and sauna are exclusive only to Rafael, indicating they can only be accessed from his bedroom (the main bedroom). The typical bathroom fixtures include the basin, toilet, and shower/bathtub.
My pet peeve in bathroom design? To see the basin or bathtub when you first entered the room. Imagine opening the door and you're greeted by an unflushed throne...
"Ew?!"
Rafael loved the modern style, aka absolutely no timber. The easiest contemporary interior design is the black and white theme.
"Some modern stuff would come in handy, one needs to show off - right?" -Rafael Erko, House Flipper
I loved the idea of showering with a view, which is why I placed a large window by the shower.
"Uh... What about some privacy?"
Read till the end of the blog post and you'll know!
Rafael can access the sauna from the bathroom. Regarding material, I stick to the usual sauna palette of light timber. Do you have other ideas for a sauna? Let's chat!
The main bedroom is quite typical: a bed and a wardrobe. I also added the same large window and glass door leading towards the backyard.
The walls, however, are a bit... Sad. Rafael doesn't strike me as a plant guy, definitely not a traditional/sentimental person who would fill a wall full of photos.
My design tip for an empty wall?
A wall decoration, duh.
My favourite wall decoration of House Flipper is the World Map. I chose the metallic dots as it kinda fits a "real man" vibe. Make sure the decoration is in the correct proportion!
Accent walls.
The purpose of an accent wall is to direct one's focal point to a distinguished element. They could have different textures or colours... or both!
Designing the Man Cave & Guest Bedroom
Man cave, Rafael's favourite room. I imagined this space as his happy place, cut out from the world, compact but cosy:
This is my first time designing a man cave, and it definitely shows LOL. The screenshot above looks like I've only done the bare minimum!
"Haha! Could have at least bought a few more accessories, ya know?"
Well... I already have my eye on another property for Rafael Erko, so stay tuned for future blog posts! ;)
It never hurt to have an extra bedroom... or a guest bedroom! Having guests sleeping in a proper bedroom is better than on your couch.
"Also a personal workplace when there aren't any guests. Multi-functional at its best!"
Notice how I used the same design detail as the main bedroom? Yup, it's the same large window by the desk overlooking the backyard!
The Living Room & Powder Room
A powder room is a bathroom for your visiting guests, ie only a basin and toilet. Halfway building this powder room, I just remembered we have a guest bedroom.
"Okay, I see the problem. If Rafael has an overnight guest, this guest will need to walk past the master bedroom to use the sauna and main bathroom!"
Exactly. That's cross circulation... a poor design!
Solution? Enlarged the "powder room" to include a shower. In hindsight, I should have thought about this during the planning process, ugh!
Next up, the hearth of the house: the living room. The living room is (usually) the very first space when one walks into a house, which simply means it's practical to spend more money here!
"The first impression is important, so it's good that there is a living room." -Rafael Erko, House Flipper
If you got an eye for detail, you'll notice another... familiar element...
"Yup. The reading corner. The armchair, the bookshelves, the colour... Very "creative". "
Oh, shush! It worked well with the scheme, that's all that mattered!
Let me share my interior design colour tips...
Red is a strong colour, which is why they're usually used as warning or danger signs. Excessive use of red is easily overwhelming/overstimulating, so use this with care.
The easiest way is to use a softer and/or complementary colour. According to the colour wheel, green is red's complementary colour!
Even though I colour-coded the living room "red" and the reading corner "green", it's not a good design practice to completely separate them when they're literally neighbours! A clever trick is to subtly let one space "spill" into another.
"Hmm... what should one do if there are too many things happening? Such as this open space either too much red or too much green?"
Remember, the key is to balance the colours...
And neutral colours are the way to go! For this scheme, I break the vibrant red using black armchairs. I also interrupted the monotonous white walls using grey-painted walls.
Simple! :D Just look at the screenshot above and you'll notice how subtly those design changes make a difference!
Now that we're done with the internal aspects... to the outdoors we go!
Some Tips about Materials and Continuity...
The external walls are clad using black metal vertical cladding.
An elegant detail is to have different materials to start and end at designated points. In terms of construction, it's much neater to finish different materials at junctions:
"Isn't that the same stone material as the interior's accent walls? How clever! Now there's a sense of design continuity throughout the house!"
Indeed! This way, someone traversing inside and outside of the property will not feel like they have completely stepped into different realms.
Garden Design
Again, Rafael is a fan of modern style. It only makes sense to participate in the game's Modern Garden Competition again! The contemporary style is all about geometric shapes and the dualism of hardscape and softscape.
Geometric garden beds are created by using paving slabs. These garden beds are then populated using hardscape (hard surfaces like gravel) and softscape (soft surfaces like plants).
I lined up these garden beds along the large windows, such as the guest bedroom. Short plants are chosen so as not to obstruct views towards the garden.
"What about the large window by the shower? If shorter plants only give you partial privacy..."
Yes, you get the idea! I tried out my idea of using tall vegetation as a privacy screen, rather than the conventional partition walls.
It's Garden Competition Time! And Auction!
I scored 90 in the garden competition, which increased the house price by 20%. That's quite an achievement, yay!
Now let's sell it!
No surprise, Rafael topped the list. In fact, he auctioned almost $5000 more than the second-highest bidder.
Best part? I negotiated and almost earned $34,000 in profit!
If you do the math, 43% of my profit comes from garden competition.
So... the conclusion is obvious. Are you flipping a small property? And/or aiming to earn as much money as possible? Participate in the garden competition!
What's next?
I think I've done pretty well, considering this is just my second flip. Further experimentation on interior design and tips are definitely needed in future House Flipper projects, such as:
Paying attention to buyers' specific likes and dislikes. Can't believe I missed Rafael's obvious toys: his televisions, speakers and more televisions!
If you've read my first blog post, then you would have noticed many similarities, particularly in the use of materials. Don't you worry, I'm already pumping myself up to be more daring in materials selection!
Watch my building process and final walkthrough video on YouTube!
Feel like staying around? Why not read my blog post about transforming a haunted apartment into a boutique design studio!
Thank you for reading and see you again!
Disclaimer:
All published media are in-game screenshots and therefore belonged to mypassion.mythoughts. Kindly seek permission should you wish to use them.