We’re in our new house, and now that the internet service is finally turned on, The Lettered Cottage is back in business!
Which reminds me- a few folks have asked if we’re changing the name of our blog. We’ll still be ‘writing about life in our cottage’, so the name will stay same.
Our new house is a 2 bedroom/2.5 bath, two story, cottage-meets-farmhouse style home. It sits in a quaint, rural community (in Pike Road, AL) that Kevin and I have wanted to move to since we first discovered it, in 2005. The house was built six years ago, and was originally listed in the 300K’s. It never sold, and eventually went into foreclosure. We were able to finance it in the 100K’s, and feel so grateful to be able to call it home!
I don’t think there’s a single fixture, finish, paint color, or design element we would’ve chosen if we had been involved in the picking process- and we’re assuming it didn’t ever sell because of an awkward layout upstairs. All those things made it the perfect place for us though, and we look forward to personalizing it (and adding some square footage, landscaping, and a carport) over the next several years. (Note: We’ll be blogging about this inside of the house soon!)
The whole move ordeal was super spontaneous. Long story short, we didn’t think we’d be able to move for at least two more years, but things just seemed to (miraculously) fall into place over the past three months. We were hanging out with a friend on the 4th of July, who introduced us to a real estate agent, who introduced us to a loan officer, etc. etc. etc. It felt sort of “meant to be”, so we just went with it, and kept telling ourselves it wouldn’t be a big deal if it didn’t work out since we really hadn’t planned to move right now anyway.
But like I said, everything just seemed to fall into place.
Until this past week.
Apparently when they say you’ve been “pre-approved” (and that you’ll need to sell your current house in order to buy another one) it doesn’t mean that you’re officially approved. Boy did we sit on pins and needles as we waited for our final approval last Thursday night. Our closing was scheduled for the next day!
I couldn’t get out of that closing office with the keys fast enough! I kept saying to Kevin, “they can’t take it back once they hand us the keys, can they?” Ha!
By the way, that friend that we were hanging out with on the 4th of July was Kevin’s Shoot Fly Shoot business partner/BFF, Josh. Our house is across the street from his house, and the guys are pretty pumped about it.
I think there may be a set of walkie-talkie’s in their future.
Your neighborhood and house look so cozy! Beautiful!
Thank you, Emily! 😀
We’re closer to y’all now, too! Yay!
OH, you’re going to love 2 story! We close on our house in about an hour! We’ll be simultaneously doing fix-ups!!
Blessings to you!
Yayyyyyy!!!!!!! So excited!!!
I am so excited for you! Congrats on the new home! The outside looks beautiful. I can’t wait to see the inside and all the things you have in store for it!
it looks adorable! Can’t wait to see how you and Kevin personalize it. Congratulations!
Aww yeah!!! So happy for you two!!! And yes, walkie talkies or tin can telephones are in their future 😉 CONGRATS!! (And welcome home)
CONGRATULATIONS! LET THE FUN BEGIN!!
Congrats guys!! Can’t wait to read about your new journey and life in this super cute and quaint home 🙂
How stinkin’ cute is your new house? So happy for you two and all the good stuff headed your way.
sounds amazing! can’t wait to see what you do with your new space. love how god’s always in the details!!
Lovely! Can’t wait to see the inside. Best wishes!
I love the style of the house! I’m so excited for you guys!!!! It’s beautiful!!! I can’t wait to see the inside:) what a great start to a new adventure:)
I am so happy for you! You make me happy every time I read your postings, and I am so excited for you to start new projects! Anxious to see what you’ll be doing!
Congratulations!! It’s beautiful!!
I paint out there a lot and run into Josh sometimes. If you see me painting, please stop and say hello! I’d love to meet you! Hope the moving process goes smoothly!
It looks a lot like Seaside, FL in the pics! Is it or am I way off? I love the new cottage – it’s so charming and what a good deal!
Oops, just read your other post saying it’s in Alabama still. 🙂
Leslie would know a beautiful house when she sees it. She’s my smart daughter.
Sweet! 😀
Mmooommmm! LOL
Love it! Can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll do!
I know what you mean about being not really being approved when you are “pre-approved”. I didn’t know that I officially had my loan until 2:30pm the day of my 4:30pm closing! I had to go through so much paperwork and letter writing to get the loan. It didn’t help having an unconventional job with unconventional pay. Your house looks lovely and I can’t wait to see more. Love the blog!
Congrats to you!! Can’t wait to see the inside 😉
Congratulations and best wishes!! Just from the outside it looks picture perfect and has a warm, homey feel!! God always has some kind of plan and this was meant to be!! I can’t wait to see the inside and see what magic you guys do!! God bless!!
All the best!!!
xoxo
Jeri
How incredibly exciting! Congratulations!!! Funny how life works and some things just fall into place, I can’t wait to read about the new “cottage”! 🙂
love love love!! 🙂
Can’t wait to see before and after pics.
It is so cute. I love it and CAN NOT wait to see what you do with all of it…inside and out! Many blessings to you two here in this place and space…
To quote Annie “Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!” It looks so pretty and peaceful. I can not wait to see the inside and hear all the before and after stories over then next several years! Congrats again guys!
Congratulations, Layla and Kevin! I’m so excited for you! Your new home looks just beautiful. I love it when certain things in life just fall together. It’s fun to have those little reminders that “it’s meant to be”. What a blessing! 🙂
That is wonderful Layla. I wish u lots of love and happiness in your new house.
Oh, your new home has such great old-world charm! I would never have guessed that it was a “NEW” house!! Love it and can’t wait to take the virtual tour, and see where your new inspiration leads!! Congrats! 🙂
I am soooo excited for you guys! The house and neighborhood look dreamy. It will be so fun to watch how you transform this home too. This couldn’t have happened to a nicer couple!
Congratulations!! BIG blessings!
So excited your back up and running the blog!! Looking forward to following along your new journey 🙂
It is beautiful!! Can’t wait to see more pictures!!
That is soooo exciting!! I can’t wait to see what the two of you come up with for this house. Congratulations!!
Congratulations! That house is so cute! And it totally does not look like it was built 6 years ago! Wow! What a find! I cannot wait to see more posts about it. 🙂 Have fun!
So happy for you and your family. Can’t wait to see all the great things you share with us:)
Love it! Definitely appears to have great bones to work with. Can’t wait to see the inside and the future transformations! Totally awesome that you are close to friends AND family too! That will make it feel like home from day 1. 🙂 Congrats!
Hooray for you both!
I’m looking forward to pictures of Kevin & Josh having business meetings using tin cans strung together with yarn.
This is really exciting…..so happy for you two….I love the style of this house….I can’t wait to see the inside and then when you’ve put your personal stamp on it! I know it’s even more exciting to be closer to family and friends!
Oh and BTW, I live in Northern California and that house would have sold for half a mil easy – maybe more!
I gasped when I saw your house. Gasped in JOY! You have the best of both Worlds, old cottage style house, brand new. So happy for you two!
Congratulations! The house and neighborhood look beautiful. Is that a lake I see in the background across the street? I can’t wait to see how you personalize the inside. You both always have the best ideas and I love your style. Can’t wait to see pictures of the inside!!!
Congratulations! It’s a beautiful home and I can’t wait to see all the befores and afters!!! Enjoy! 🙂
Congratulations, may this be the first of new great changes…can’t wait to see your home and the changes you will be making. You motivate me.Hope all your days are happy ones…..:)
Congratulations on your new house! I love the front porch, can’t wait to see the inside. Looking forward to seeing how you and Kevin put your homey touches to it.
Congratulations! It looks amazing! I have been waiting on pins and needles to see where you were moving :-). Love.
Congratulations! Love the house. Looking forward to peeking inside and seeing the awkward layout of the upstairs. Great having neighbors who are friends.
Totally get the being pre-approved meaning your not officially approved deal. We settled on our house about two weeks ago, and the about three days before closing, I was scrambling trying to satisfy the bank needing additional forms of credit in case my mortgage insurance didn’t come through. It was crazy stressful. And even the afternoon before, the underwriter needed a last minute amendment. For a few hours there, I honestly didn’t think we were going to be able to close the next day. Talk about pins and needles. Ufda. My fiance and I swore then we were never ever moving again. Come hell or high water, our house is our forever home.
That’s exactly how we felt, Amber- and we said the same thing after they handed us the keys! SO stressful! :-O
Congrats on your new home. I hope you’re feeling settled in already! 😀
What a friendly and adorable home! Can’t wait for the inside tour and seeing what you guys do with it!
OMG, it looks so cuuuuuuuuute!!!!! Can’t wait to see the inside!!
And walkie-talkies…shoot, you could just shout across the street!!
CONGRATS!
LOL! True dat! Except I’m not sure how our others neighbors would like all the shouting- ha! 😀
Look at all of those cute metal roofs and that lake view! I’m just going to squeal for you! 😀 And to have friends right there… I can’t CAN”T wait to watch y’all settle in and fix up this cottage. Hurry up and get started, then go slow with LOTS of details. K??? LOL
Thanks, Samantha! The metal roofs and lake are my favorite things about the view out the window on my side of the bed. 🙂
I think that Kevin would say that the view is right next to him beautiful Lady! Congratulations to the both of you.I can see you both old and gray ,rocking on that porch someday.What an amazing home to grow old together in(and I see a child in your near future;you know what they say,”New house, New baby!) There are so many children that need amazing parents to love them, and you two seem like you have plenty of love to give!
A very sweet felicitation to you!
Oh – How Exciting! Can’t wait to see the inside….. The community so far reminds me of Celebration, Fl – A planned community!