Our Cottage

In the middle of my senior year of college I had no clear plan for my future. I was 20-years-old, single, about to graduate with no job offers and absolutely no idea where I was going to live after graduation. So I did what any normal person would do. I bought a house.

Not just any house. A beautiful, sprawling estate with gardens, water features, elevators and a chef's kitchen.

I kid, I kid.

I bought a foreclosure that had sat empty for several years, was in general disrepair and had evidence of a possible homeless person living in the master bedroom and animals procreating in the master shower. I kid you not.

This is a photo of the interior of the house when I bought it. Minty blue, inside and out.

The real-kicker? I bought this beauty of a home without even seeing it. Why yes, I am insane.

My parents basically told me there was in fact a house and it was standing and there were four walls and a roof. Score! She's allllll mine! :insert evil laughter here:

Now, while I did not see the house before I bought it, I had been inside of the house many, many times but not for at least a decade. The house was located in my childhood neighborhood where my parent's still lived and was once the home of a very good childhood friend (who is still a great friend of mine!).

So, the little mint colored house on a hill was mine.

After Australian Cutie (Marcus) and I decided to move back to South West Florida for an adventure in 2014, we started looking at properties to buy. I scoured Zillow and Trulia every single day for the perfect fixer-upper for us to call home. Our plan was to keep 'little minty' as an income property and buy another home for us to live in. After selling our house in Australia and moving in to my parent's house in SW Florida, we really started looking seriously.

After several months of witnessing first hand the insanity of the SW Florida housing market, we were feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. So we decided to take 'little minty' to the next level and call her home! And then the ideas started pouring in.

Every time I see that sign on Pinterest, "And Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce", I think of 'little minty'. She may be small, but she has a lot of potential. We are basically re-building the entire house from the outside in. To date we have re-structured the property with improved site work and drainage, installed all-new hurricane proof impact windows and doors (a Craigslist STEAL!) and re-framed the exterior of the house. We have big plans so stay tuned!