We Bought A House! Tour Our 1970’s Spanish Ranch House

Let me preface this by saying that we love a good challenge. When it comes to houses, finished and newly-remodeled homes just don’t do it for us. So when we decided to convert our first home into an Airbnb and venture back into the world of house-hunting, we knew we were looking for a “fixer upper.” Believe it or not, in the Austin market (and in our price range) that’s actually pretty rare. We moved into a month-to-month rental in June of this past year and despite how hard we looked, we didn’t find anything we liked enough to put an offer on until October–but it’s been a whirlwind ever since! We submitted an offer without Taylor ever having seen the house and wrote a truly heartfelt letter that sealed the deal. We are still pinching ourselves that we get to call this South Austin 1970’s Spanish ranch house our home. It needs a lot of work, but that’s just how we like it. Without further ado, here’s the official “before” tour of our new home.

I fell in love with this property before I even stepped inside the house. We’re nestled at the end of a cul de sac with a creek on one side, and 3.5 acres of open land behind us. This is seriously the biggest score in Austin. It feels like you’re in the countryside, but we are still in the city and just a short drive to downtown!  

While I fell in love with the land around the house, it got even better when I stepped inside. There weren’t many listing pictures so I didn’t know what to expect. The majority of the house is adorned with beautiful terracotta Mexican tiles and so much natural light.

The entire house was designed to draw you towards nature. With large windows scaling the entire back of the house, it just feels like an inviting getaway and the light is INCREDIBLE. 

The primary bedroom is right off the living room and is the only room without the tile floors. We plan to install engineered hardwood floors that we will run into the vanity area of the bathroom as well. 

The biggest surprise was the beautiful hand painted Spanish tile in the primary shower. I’m crossing my fingers and toes that we can keep it! It definitely needs some repairs but I’m hopeful we can find a solution when the time comes. 

On the other side of the house, there are two additional small bedrooms and another full bathroom. This bathroom looks like it was probably renovated in the 80’s or 90’s…it’s not the vibe. We’ll be changing everything. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out our new house! I cannot wait to share all of the exciting plans we have for this special home of ours.