A New Home: Little Cottage By the Canyon

Hello Friends!

My husband Preston and I have just moved into our very first house together--we've lived both the apartment lifestyle and with our parents for quite some time, but we are so happy to have found the perfect little place to settle into.

We wanted so much to find a little cottage where we could cultivate a simple way of living--a sweet little space to dream, cook, sing, and play together. I wanted it to have a wonderful yard where we could plant lots of wild and beautiful things and for it to have the perfect spot for our raised bed vegetable and herb gardens in the spring. I wanted it to have lots of natural light streaming in through the windows, and for it to be in a wonderful neighborhood with easy access to nature.

I did a lot of visioning and dreaming for this home over the last year, and finally, there it was.

Our house is a little brown cottage with shingle siding (my favorite) and rusty orange trim. It has hardwood floors throughout the living areas and in the bedroom, and tile in the kitchen and bathroom. It has little nooks and built-in shelves perfect and ready for decorating. It has a cozy fireplace and lots of cabinet space in the kitchen. Off the bedroom it has a walk-in cedar-lined closet. Older style windows wrap pretty much around the entire house, and there is a perfect little nook in the front of the house where I am putting together my art studio space. And my favorite parts? The yard and the location.

Our yard is surrounded in tall privacy fences most of the way around making it feel cozy and secluded. The front yard is grass as far as I can tell (there has been lots of snow cover) and along the fence there are built-up stone flower beds. (Or at least that is what I will make them into!) As you walk toward the back you can hear the chickens next door clucking! I love chickens and we were both very excited when we realized we had feathered neighbors! Some features I love about the back yard: lots of little nooks and crannies to plant and grow things up, two super tall pine trees right in the center of the yard, and the very most magical thing is in the very back of the yard if you open the picket fence gate, it leads you down a little staircase. About half way down to the right there is a deck! Scrub oaks surround and shelter it and it looks over the creek that runs down from the mountain across the street below. At the bottom of the stairs is a door to our quirky little garage. We are only about 5 miles from a couple of great Natural Foods Grocery stores and other conveniences and only 2 doors down from a little local coffee shop--the perfect place to go to take a break from all the unpacking!

Cheyenne Canyon is a beautiful area, tucked up right at the base of the mountains and if you drive about a quarter mile from our house, you enter North Cheyenne Canyon Park. I'm excited to go running and biking in the canyon regularly!

And so I am excited to share with you as we begin to put together our special little space. Right now we are still cleaning and unpacking quite a bit, and its not quite ready for a housewarming, but day by day we are beginning to see that it is just the most precious little place and we are just loving caring for it together!

So I thank you for reading my blog, and I welcome you into my world of creating, and living as we begin this new journey in our lives.

Love to you,
Abbey