THE HISTORY OF OUR LITTLE COTTAGE

I get a lot of questions about our little cottage so I thought it would be fun to write about and reminisce a bit :)

This is what our little cottage looked like when we bought it, 9 years ago...before the term "fixer upper" was so popular!  We really didn't have a rhyme or reason when we bought this house, in fact, we had two other houses just two blocks away for sale!!  I had always loved this little home and thought it would make the sweetest little flower shop or bakery or something charming.  Well, to turn a long story short, we turned out other two homes in Carlton into vacation rentals and moved into this charmer until we could save our pennies and fix her up.

Fast forward two years and our little fixer upper made it on the cover of This Old House magazine!  The interior was still a dump, but we got the outside looking pretty.  After This Old House featured our home on the cover, they ran a couple of other stories in future issues about the upstairs renovation we completed.  

When we moved to interior renovations, we converted un-used attic space into a master suite and home office.  Our friends and family were so gracious to come over....I think back on dinners, parties and events I hosted and I laugh!!!  The downstairs was SO GROSS!  Funny too because the upstairs was featured in This Old House and an episode on HGTV while the downstairs was so yucky! 

So fast forward another 2 years or so and all we had left to remodel was the kitchen and laundry area.  I was pregnant with Addilyn when we started that phase of the remodel!  First baby!!!  Oh I couldn't wait to make the house cozy and have a sweet little baby as part of our family.  My sweet little Addilyn Mae was even born at this house!  Half way through my pregnancy I decided to have a home birth, obviously that's an entire story in its self!  But to be able to cozy in by our fireplace with the snow falling outside and hold my newborn baby (just hours old) was just magical.

After almost one year of living in the cottage as a family of three, we decided to move into our other home in Carlton.  It was better suited for a family so we turned this little home into a vacation rental.  Over the past five years it has also served as my paint + creative studio as well as hostess to serval creative events!

Now she is back to full time vacation rental status ;-)  My mom cleans for me and my mother-in-law graciously offers her Wednesday afternoons to help in the garden.  I still manage and my favorite part is definitely getting it ready for guests.....home baked treats, fresh flowers and lamps on so it feels cozy for the guests!

Thanks for letting me tell the condensed version of this story!  It's so fun to look back on past projects and seasons of life!  This little cottage holds a special place in my heart!