If you haven’t heard the news already, we moved! The end of 2021 was a whirlwind of events and we finally found our next chapter after seriously searching for 4+ years.
Our Second Home – A (Before) Tour
When searching for our first home in Austin 10+ years ago, we had one criteria for our realtor – a fixer upper that would appreciate in value over time and when we went to sell, would make us a little profit. We were open to all areas of Austin (Andrews job moves around and I could easily transfer to a different school as a teacher) and since it was just the two of us at the time, we didn’t need a whole lot of space. Let’s just say our realtor hit it out of the park with our first house, so much so, that our list of criteria for our second house was quite lengthy.
A decade and three kids later, we yearned for more yard space but the new house was going to have to be pretty great because the neighbors and neighborhood we had grown to love was pretty darn fantastic. And I don’t mean great in that it was move-in ready with beautiful finishes and upgraded amenities. I mean great in that it had potential, just like our 1st house. We lived through one full house renovation as newly-weds and here we were, ready to do it all over again with three kids in tow.
The house we chose, I’m calling it our ‘Modern Ranch’ needs TONS of updating (not all new plumbing and electrical like our first house, but still), but this allowed us to get more house (and yard!) for our money, than buying a move-in ready house would have. We know what we are getting ourselves into and we’re ready to make it our own!
Living Room + Entry
This house was built in the late 70s and many of the original features still remain. The previous owners bought this house 2 years after it was built and lived here for 42 years! In typical 70s/80s fashion, the living room is surrounded in wood paneling, and the fire place is, well, a statement. Our previous home did not have a fireplace and although you don’t really need one living in Austin, Texas, I do desire a place to hang Christmas stockings so I was excited when I saw this feature of the house.
The living room is located in the center of the house and has great views of the backyard (our previous house’s living room looked out into the street). We’re planning to open it up to the kitchen more and are just generally excited about having a decently size living room for lounging. Oh and I may finally get a full sized Christmas tree this year! It’s the little thing ya’ll.
Kitchen + Dining Room
Oh lovely yellow oak and fluorescent lighting, how you shine.
The kitchen feels a little claustrophobic at the moment because of the lowered ceiling height, but it actually has decent cabinet storage and all the appliances *work* – the dishwasher makes a very disturbing screeching sound when you open and close the door.
Obviously, we have big plans for the kitchen, bye-bye living room wall, but realistically we will be living with the space you see here til the beginning of 2023. However, we did already remove the popcorn ceilings in the entire house and somehow unfinished drywall seems to be an upgrade from the 70s/80s flair that was acoustic ceilings.
The dining room sits at the front of the house and is open to the entryway and kitchen. The bifold doors will certainly not be staying but this room excites me a lot, probably because I’ve never had a dining ROOM. The thought of having more than 4 people seated around a table makes me recall all of the fun memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at my parents house.
Primary Bedroom + Bath
They always say, do what you love and this red carpet has to be an example of that. Other than the color choice in here, this space gets great light and is very generously sized. It’s really a blank canvas.
And yes, we will be placing a proper door on the bathroom in order to eliminate the excessive use of walls in this crowded space. The tub and toilet are in their own ‘room’ and there is also a door to the closet, making this space very choppy. We are actually planning to steal some space from a nearby closet to expand the bathroom (more on that when we get to this portion of the renovation) so it can become one large space and not feel so cramped.
Just the other day Andrew was searching for extra toilet paper and after looking in all the cabinets says “There’s so much storage in this house!” Which is all relative, right? But I agree. This bathroom has a decent sized vanity AND a linen closet. AND its not even the only bathroom in the house!
You don’t have to have a huge house to be able to appreciate functional storage. You just need to appreciate what you have and use it to your advantage.
And lucky for us, the closet also boasts more red carpet. The primary closet is gigantic compared to any closet we have had in the past and currently holds all the clothes for the 5 members of our family. Again, size is relative (all my NY friends are shaking their head in agreement that this closet is massive). We gained about 1,000 square feet in our move so everything in this house seems very spacious.
Bedrooms 2 & 3
The secondary bedrooms are pretty basic. One good sized window in each and both have big closets relative to our old house.
We’ve already made some big changes in this bedroom. The closet you see above has been removed, along with a built-in in the living room. In its place will be a built-in bunk bed with cabinet wardrobes flanking each side. This is the smallest bedroom in the house, so by harvesting a little area from closets and bookshelves, we will be able to create a nook for the bed and still preserve a lot of the floor space in here for our young kids.
Hall Bath
So, you are going to have to take my word that there is a second bathroom in this house. After closing, we came right over to the house and I must have had a setting wrong on my camera because all of the hall bathroom photos came out blurry. Shortly after, we began renovations and this bathroom was the first to get gutted. I do have a few videos of the space posted on my instagram (@elleandjaydesign) if you want to check out the bathroom there.
Bonus Room
The previous owners converted the original garage to living space in the 90s and this is what we are calling the ‘Bonus Room’. We are thrilled our kids will have a space separate from the main living area to play. We are hoping to pack a ton of functionality into this room – making it a truly multi-purpose room. This room will eventually have space for overnight guests, crafting, a kids area, and function as a second living room with seating and a TV.
Currently, the plethora of shelving in here has been amazing for storing all of our kid’s toys, books, crafts, and all the overflow from the rest of the house. This one room has been a game-changer for us. With three kids and the small living room we had before, there was no space for our family to spread out. The bonus room has filled a void that was driving us nuts at our old house.
Utility Room
Again, nothing special about this utility room but it has potential to be great. Or maybe a third bathroom in the future. Only time will tell.
Backyard
And this, folks, is what sold us on this house. We have over three-fourths of an acre AND a swimming pool! The yard and exterior of the house needs just as much work as the inside but we’re thankful for a body of water to jump into at the end of a long DIY day.
We also have a large detached garage, shed, and fire pit on the property which we’ve already utilized and will update over time as well.
We’ve already started renovating the two secondary bedrooms and the hall bathroom as mentioned above so stay tuned for updates on those spaces. And you can always check out our projects in real time by following along on instagram @elleandjaydesign. I can’t wait to show you what we do with these spaces!
