We’ve Moved!After 10 years of East Coast livin’ it was time to come back home… well, 60 miles north of home to be exact. We found, closed and moved into our new home in 41 days and we’re settling into our new city nicely. Our house is walking distance to Zilker Park and we’ve got some pretty great neighbors. We’re very much looking forward to enjoying all that Austin has to offer once the Covid vaccines are more widely distributed and it’s safe to do so.
If you’re looking to buy or sell in the Austin area, do yourself a favor and call Rebekah & Paul: https://www.cummingsteam.com/
In the middle of a global pandemic, we sold our house after being on the market for 1.5 years.
I understand that’s usually not super noteworthy. But in our case, we had been living in a construction zone for the previous 4 years. For the first 24 months we had a few pieces of plywood and an old sink that we called our kitchen. In the end, we doubled the livable square footage, switched from oil to natural gas and beautified the 1.5 acre property as best we could. We took Will’s childhood home past the studs, all the way down to the foundation and redid every inch of electrical and plumbing. We started out working with the worst contractor in the world and then we found the absolute best one who helped us jump through what felt like a million hoops to satisfy the Town of Greenwich’s silly rules. It was rough, but it was worth it.
Thankfully, we had the most amazing Realtor ever, Lisa Migliardi. She helped us get the house staged to perfection and brought in an amazing photographer, and ultimately… an all-cash buyer. We’ll always think fondly of the hard work we put in and the memories made but we’re so thrilled to be moving on.
I had been looking for furniture for the guest bedroom since we moved in (over 12 months ago, LOL) but i just couldn’t bring myself to spend the kind of money it was going to take to achieve the look i was going for. So the 2nd bedroom was operating primarily as Pogo’s favorite napping place, and secondarily as a big closet with all the stuff we didn’t care to organize immediately (read: ever). Fast-forward to 1 month before my birthday… my sister & brother-in-law were coming to visit and i was desperate to create an acceptable guest suite!
So i caved in & purchased an old dresser i’d seen on Craigslist for months… it was solid oak and a steal of a deal (only $200!) but it needed to be brought into this decade. I decided this would be my first “shabby-chic-furniture-re-painting-project” that all the kids on Pinterest were doing. So we hit up Home Depot and called up some friends (Thanks Brett & Julia!) and got to work…
The results were exactly what i was hoping for. Now, i can’t wait to try different pieces of furniture! Before doing this project, i would have never considered myself a “handy woman”… crafty, but not HANDY. Here are a few helpful tips for anyone who is interested!
1) Cleaning, Sanding & Priming the furniture is KEY! I’ve seen some articles & blog posts on the web that lead people to believe that you can skip some or all of these steps and to that i say… “You will regret it!”
2) Here are some of the supplies i used:
Supplies: Wood Glue to repair a few loose drawers, Paper & Plastic drop cloths, Sanding Sponges of varying grit, Paint Brushes of varying widths
The eco-friendly drop cloth was a nice idea, and i was trying to be “green” but it’s not practical to use when the item you are painting is close to 100 lbs. It ripped instantaneously. The paint color i used was called “Parchment Paper” and i got it at Home Depot (I don’t recall the brand, though… sorry!)
3) Give it Time! I waited 24-48 hours in between each coat. (2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint, 1 coat of finish)
Primed.
4) Remember the details! I spent extra time cleaning the old hardware (try “Brasso” but wear gloves, that stuff is HARSH!), and lining the drawers ($4/roll at Home Goods) and was very pleased with the final product.
After 10 years of East Coast livin’ it was time to come back home… well, 60 miles north of home to be exact. We found, closed and moved into our new home in 41 days and we’re settling into our new city nicely. Our house is walking distance to Zilker Park and we’ve got some pretty great neighbors. We’re very much looking forward to enjoying all that Austin has to offer once the Covid vaccines are more widely distributed and it’s safe to do so.
