Journey Into Freedom

Our family now has a new home!  We have purchased 4.5 acres in Northeast Alabama, and we can’t wait to shower it with love and make it our own.  Bret, The Princess, & I have all taken many pictures so we can always look back to remember our starting point, and today we will offer you a glimpse of the beginning.

It’s already easy to tell from the first photo that we have a lot of cleaning in store for us, and the yard is just part of it. Behind the lattice on our front deck, there are piles of discards that have just been sitting, as well as part of a broken brick staircase up to the front door. When we are ready to tackle that project, we will share more about it. For now, the lattice hides that mess until it makes its way to the top of the to-do list.

Once at the top of the main driveway, it splits into the driveway to the house and the path to the back pastures. At the split, this view will eventually show our rocks. I’m dreaming of a water feature and pond by the rocks one day. Even as overgrown and in need of cleaning up everything is – inside and outside, all I can see when I look is what it will be. We have the work to do, and somehow even that is soul-building.

This kitchen makes my heart happy. It is not decorated to suit my preferences yet, but these cabinets are one of my favorite features of the house. They were built for the kitchen, all the lower cabinets have pull-out drawers, and the island has SO MUCH STORAGE. In our other houses, kitchens were always on the do-later list, so having this to work with at the beginning is exciting to me. Whoever had the cabinets installed knew what would make the kitchen as functional as possible. The homesteading life brings an abundance of kitchen work, so I guess that is part of why it made me so happy to have such a practical set-up.

The kitchen, dining, and living rooms are all open to each other, so this picture was taken standing by the kitchen island. I dream of patio doors where those windows are, complete with a covered patio where we can drink coffee and listen to the waterfall on our rock formations.

I only include this photo because I want to look back and see how different this looks soon. Until we finish the basement, this is our only bathroom, and it is in great need of a little love. In our valley house, the bathrooms were huge – large enough to be a small bedroom. This new house doesn’t waste any extra square footage on the bathroom, so we will have quite an adjustment there. Still, when a family downsizes from an almost-2300 sq.ft. house to 1100 sq.ft., there will be some compromises. I feel like the layout will work well for us, but we plan to get a more compact vanity to help it feel a little more spacious.

Today’s short tour will end back in the living room. We took these photos at night, but I will follow up soon with a photo of the view from that window. It was absolutely what sold us. What is new to me is how quickly this felt like home. We have nothing there yet except some cleaning supplies and old yard chairs. We are still clearing out the remaining belongings of those who came before, yet it already feels like home. Our process may go slow, because every hour or so, we find ourselves taking breaks to just look. Out the Buddy’s windows, he will see our rocks or our woods. The Princess will see the woods or the mountains. From the 3rd bedroom and living room windows, the mountains are easily seen. The kitchen and dining room windows herald sights of rock formations and a glimpse of the back pastures. Sometimes, we just pick a window to sit and stare for a minute, or take a quick walk around the house to look at which plants to save and which to purge. I look out the window dreaming of raised beds, market rows, chickens, and rabbits. I picture my goats and sheep in the field that, for now, holds our neighbors’ goats, alongside what will be our mini orchard and berry patch. I see the drop-off by the road with a rustic wooden fence and hundreds of wildflowers. For now, it’s all in my imagination. Today’s work may be scraping the popcorn finish off ceilings, but I am so happy to do it because of where it leads.

I saved many pictures for when we have a before and after to share, but we will post more updates soon!