Woman who traded hairpin for house through series of swaps shares 'the final product'
The woman who traded a hairpin for a house through a series of swaps has shared footage of 'the final product'.
Demi Skipper, from San Francisco, went viral back in May 2020 following the events of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown after successfully swapping her up from a measly bobby pin to a entire abode.
The industrious barterer, just 30-years-old at the time, clearly made the most of her free time while the rest of us were learning how to bake banana bread and giving each other dodgy Covid haircuts.
Advert
It all started when Demi stumbled upon a TED Talk by Kyle MacDonald, in which he detailed how he managed to swap a paperclip for a house over the period of a year, and she resolved to accomplish the same feat a whole 15 years on.
Demi started her mission with a humble hairclip, and after just four swaps, she had managed to upgrade it to a snowboard.
It would still be pretty impressive even if she left it at that.
But Demi had her sights far higher than just a snowboard after spending countless hours outside of her day job at Cash App scouring the web for potential trades.
She also sent out thousands of messages to prospective swappers on Facebook and even got banned from the platform at one point due to her suspicious activity.
At long last, and a gruelling 28 swaps later, Demi finally got the keys to her very own home in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Speaking to LADbible, Demi said: "It wasn't until I saw the house in front of me that I was like, 'Holy crap, these keys go to this house and I own this house.'
"And that's when I like cried in the front yard. I'm sure the neighbour was like, 'What the hell, our new neighbour is insane.
"It was really, really surreal."
Since then, Demi has shared with her 267k followers on Instagram the 'final product' home.
She posted a video showing the before and after comparison between what the house looked like when she first got the keys and what it looks like now after some pretty sizeable renovations.
Demi revealed: "Officially finished the renovations on the Trade Me Project house and wanted to show you guys the final product.
"Here's what the house looked like when we first got it."
She then panned to some haphazard flooring 'that needed to be completely ripped out', a 'super dated kitchen' and a 'really rough-looking bathroom'.
"And here's what it looks like now," Demi continued.
"We fixed the foundation, put in new hardwood floors, completely redid the kitchen with all new appliances, added a washer dryer in the hallway, new beds [...] and a brand new bathroom."
Oh, Demi also included a bed for the new homeowner Shay's dog.
Demi concluded the house tour exclaiming: "I can't believe it all came from a single bobby pin."
What a transformation, indeed.
Viewers have since rushed to share their reactions to the reveal, with one Instagram user congratulating: "So beautiful! What an awesome and amazing job!"
"I love it," gushed a second, "looks beautiful, great job!"
A third praised: "You are amazing. You did such an amazing thing."
A fourth commented: "YES!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! Time and patience worked out. So glad you accomplished and achieved your goal."
"Damn I want that house," wrote a fifth while another echoed: "You did it! Yessss but I’m really jealous I need this house lol."
A final Instagram user added: "CONGRATULATIONS!!! I was so interested when you started this journey and I’m so proud for you now!
"You’re doing great, generous, meaningful things in an unassuming, happy way and it’s what makes life enjoyable!! Bravo!!"
Bravo indeed.
Rhiannon Ingle