What if we moved home?
More specifically, what if we moved to one of the prettiest PNW properties I've ever seen? An introduction to Bird Haven.
I hope you had a wonderful holiday season - whatever holidays you celebrate and whatever wonderful means to you.
For me, it meant hosting a big (35 people!!) holiday party at our home - a custom-built log cabin with 14’ ceilings and a wood-burning stove - and then heading over the mountain on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my family. My husband drove home Christmas day to work and ski, while I spent the next 6 days at my parents’ house with my little sister, who was home from Madison, Wisconsin. Our brother and sister already live nearby, so extra time with all our siblings, their partners (who truly are also my siblings at this point), and our adorable nephew felt special and overdue.
Whenever I’m back in the valley, I dream of what it might be like to live there again. My siblings pop over to my parents’ house unannounced, they have family dinners as a group a couple times a week, my grandpa and his wife live around the corner from my parents, and my mom watches my nephew every Friday.
It sounds idyllic because it is. My family is unusually close. I’m often fielding hundreds of daily texts from family alone - this is not an exaggeration. My husband jokes that he married me to get in on the group chat, but he’s not really joking. While my family is in near constant communication, I’m jealous of the in-person time my siblings get with my parents and each other. When my nephew was born, his other grandpa (not my dad) put his arm around me and said, “We’re going to watch him play so many games together.” It may seem silly to see a newborn and immediately think “sports,” but I totally got it. That’s what we do. We all play a lot of sports and those who aren’t playing in that moment show up and support one another. Even though my family has been known to drive the 3 hours to my house for a weekend Smushball tournament or my games-themed birthday party, by living on the other side of a mountain, I miss out on a lot of that.
Naturally, my mind wondered “what if” and my Zillow habit took over during my time there. Before too long, I had found a place where I could picture our life!
Enter - Bird Haven Ln - a custom-built 3 bedroom, 2 bath wood-clad home on nearly 5 acres. It’s 25 minutes from my parents’ house, 18 from my sister’s, and 20 from my brother’s. I know that might seem far to some, but by country-living standards, that’s nothing! The grounds are stunning. The house is weird but well-built. It has many elements we love about our house - a sunroom full of character, wood beams, a clawfoot tub, a wood-burning stove, space for guests and entertaining. It’s perfect. Even the address is magical!
From the listing: “The house was constructed in 1997 by a local craftsman as his personal home with inspiration from his childhood farmhouse.”
I love how warm and charming the space is. Unlike our house, it has SHEETROCK WALLS!!! To me, that means an opportunity to express my creativity in ways I currently can’t (without ruining the integrity of our house). I’ve only included photos of the downstairs and the primary bathroom, as the upstairs bedrooms are nothing to look at - but I love that because it means I could do whatever I wanted with those spaces! (Tune in later in the week to see what I came up with)
The property is a dream with nearly 5 acres of usable space. I grew up on 8 acres in the country and know how magical and freeing it is to safely explore on your own - even at a young age. I spent hours digging in dirt, walking the trails to my grandparent’s house (blackberry buckets in tow), and playing in the treehouse. Often, my mom would pack me a picnic lunch and I wouldn’t see her from early morning until late afternoon. It’s a dream way to raise creative, independent, curious children.
And then there are the outbuildings. Three of them! Imagining writing this newsletter (or a debut novel) beneath that picture window while my child (or husband) naps in the loft fills me with a joy I can’t begin to describe. The craft room I could create in that light yellow house! The bunk house for cousin sleepovers and holidays in the larger adobe space! The possibilities for a creative, collaborative life seem endless.
I hope by now you can understand my attachment to the idea of this place - the family dinners I would host, the holiday and birthday parties, the garden I could have!
Later this week I’ll walk you through my design process of both floors in two separate posts. Until then, I encourage you to take a virtual walkthrough of the space, think about what you might do to make it your own, and compare how similar (or distant) our designs are at the end! Let’s have some fun with this!
Tell me - Would you ever move home? Is living near family something that appeals to you? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments!
Here’s a sneak peak of inspiration for my design:
See you Wednesday!
I see the appeal for you for sure! And that house… 💕