House Update: Bathroom Vanity with Marble Contact Paper

We are completing small projects over here until we do our big overhaul this summer.  A couple of weekends ago, I decided that the biggest impact In our master bedroom (besides the floor, walls, and ceiling) would be to update our very dated vanity.

Don't get me wrong, I do love its funkiness.  The light fixtures are my favorite, and I hope that we can salvage them when we do a complete bathroom overhaul, but the green had to go.  And the white paint and hardware had seen better days.  Here is the before.

Look how green it is!  We opted to use contact paper like Jess did In her kitchen.  We figured that since the vanity is not exposed to water and since it is temporary,  contact paper seemed like the perfect solution.

First, I removed the caulk, so that I could get the contact paper to fold around the edges.  Then I realized that it was an impossible task to fit in the crack with the sticky side exposed, so I just did my best.  I will cover it with caulk later.

I unrolled and tried to keep everything straight while Taylor used a credit card to express any of the bubbles.

We went as slow as possible, but we still struggled to remove all bubbles.  I didn't take any photos of the second piece we needed to cover the side closest to the mirror because it was quite a disaster to do, but it worked anyway.  Not perfect but much better.

It's pretty amazing how much this looks like real marble.  I removed the hardware, filled the holes with wood filler, sanded, and painted the cabinets. Woohoo!  So much better!

Here is our before and after.  Next up: carpet, walls, and ceiling. NBD.

Goodbye, House!

Oh, hi!

Please excuse the break from blogging.  I was doing a bunch of other jobs: working for my sister, taking on an additional role at my school, and taking a pretty intensive class at The Austin Stone. 

Now that I am back, I have big news!  We sold our last home, and bought a new house! Before I show you pictures of our new home, I am going to share the last pictures I had of our first little home.  Our Parrish home was a great starter place; it boasted natural light and window seats. We didn't have to do much work (except paint all trim/doors/walls/ceilings) to make it our own.

Our move in the Austin market was a gift from Jesus.  We were able to buy and sell a home in one fairly simple (but mind boggling) way.  Anyone who has had to make a contingency offer on a house knows that you get rejected a lot.   I can't wait to show you the new place.

Photos (except for the last one) by Katie Webb.

Our Home Buying Story + Home Tour

When Taylor and I decided to move to Austin, Texas, we thought we would need to rent.  Through the Lord's grace and an opportunity at my current school, we were able to save up for a down payment- something I did not think was possible.  We spent tons of time online looking at homes  since we were in San Francisco. Before you move forward, this post is long and heavy with text.  If real estate is not your thing, I would just look at the pictures.

One Sunday morning,  we came upon this older home on the East side of Austin.  It was a perfect size for a starter home, and the garage had been converted to a beauty salon which I loved. I flew out to see the property, but when I arrived at the property, our realtor, Robin, informed me that the sellers had accepted an offer that morning.  I had flown out for nothing. It was a hard pill to swallow, but I toured the home anyway.  After walking through the home, I felt relief.  I didn't love the home despite the great location and outdoor space, and the fact that it was no longer available made it easy to let go.

Before I left Austin that day, I looked at a handful of homes, one of which we put an offer on.  Our offer was not accepted (another THANK GOODNESS moment).  I think at that point, I would have put an offer in on a gas station.  I returned to California; Taylor and I kept looking and came across the third home we put an offer on.  We actually put two offers in on this one. Long story short, we didn't get it.  I think there was another home we put an offer in on, but frankly, I have lost track.

We were getting desperate (even though we had only been trying for about 3 weeks), so we made a list of the houses in our price range within the ideal-ish location and ranked them.  We emailed our relator and told her that we wanted to offer our max on the first one, then if that didn't work, the second one, and so on.  We didn't want to waste any more time!

Side note: I know that this was all very fast, but we were moving back to Texas in June.  So we had to pull the trigger ASAP.

I was teaching 6th period when Taylor peaked his head through the door and smiled real big.  "They accepted our offer." Or maybe he didn't say anything.  I don't remember.  I just remember doing a little jump. WHOOP!  We almost had a home.

Taylor flew out the next day to actually see the home in person.  While he was there, he got the home inspected and did all the other soon-to-be-homeowner things that I was not so much a part of.  The closing was a little bit dramatic, but I still am not sure I understand why.  Taylor moved to Austin a couple of weeks before me.  When I finally pulled up (after 30 hours in the car), it was the first time I saw the home.  OUR HOME!

These pictures are what was provided on the MLS website.  None of these images were shot by me. You will be able to see updated pictures here as we make this house our home!

SHOUT OUT: If you are looking to buy a house in the crazy market of Austin, TX, you should definitely get in touch with Robin Gulledge. She was a joy to work with, and for a couple of first time homebuyers, she made sure we understood the whirlwind of paperwork and next-steps all along the way.