The best journey takes you home

When ya know, ya just know.

I don't remember exactly when I came across the Southern Living Sugarberry Cottage plans, but I knew the moment I saw them that they were exactly what I had always pictured raising my little family in. I've been "playing house" for as long as I can remember and loved HGTV's Trading Spaces probably more than most kids love their favorite cartoons. So when the timing was just right, Matt and I decided to embark on this crazy journey of building our forever home. The kind of place you hope your great-grand-kids wanna own some day. 

I come from a CRAZY tight-knit group of folks. We love each other, so very much, and there aren't many days of the week that we aren't spending time together. So naturally, the only good place to build this home had to be on our family farm. Situated just about 35 miles outside of Lexington and Louisville is the little community of Graefenburg. 

I spent every year of my first 19 in that little part of the world and I wouldn't have rather lived anywhere else on this planet. It's the kind of place where everyone waves when you pass them on the road, where your neighbor calls when they see a suspicious car sitting in your driveway for any length of time, you go to church every Sunday and Wednesday (whether that be of the Baptist, Methodist or Christian variety) and if you need something it's usually just a phone call away. I got to know many members of this great community every year on Halloween, when I would Trick or Treat down Old US 60. There weren't many young kids in this area so I was probably the only kid these folks bought candy for. Nevertheless, this wasn't the kind of place where you took your candy and ran. No, these folks invited you in to their dinner tables, took a photo of you to add to their collection of your halloween costumes from years past that your mom had whipped up for you, and then proceeded to offer you any toy, candy or food they had in the house. I know at that age I didn't understand how much visiting those folks had meant to them and it wasn't until several years later that I met back up with an old friend, "Mr. Haybon", as I liked to call him, that I truly understood. I was a lot taller, my hair wasn't quite as blonde, and I was not nearly as shy as the last time he'd seen me when I entered his room in our local nursing home, but he didn't skip a beat. He knew exactly who I was and told a few stories of our friendship. He wasn't the only one who invited me in every October 31st, there was Mr. Smith, Mr. Gilbert and Miss Deborah. A little over a year ago, "Miss Deborah" invited me back into her home, this time for a little different reason. 

Deborah owned the original Cogswell Farmhouse built sometime around 1840. I've loved that house ever since I was a little girl and always referred to it as the dollhouse. I would ride my bike up and down Old US 60 every summer always stopping a moment to take in its beauty. I had no idea it had actually belonged to my family up until a couple of years ago, which made it all the more special. So on a night in January I made the drive across town to meet up with Miss Deborah. She showed me picture after picture of the renovations she had done on the home and shared with me everything she knew about its history. I actually mustered up the courage to write the current owners a very long letter one day about how much I longed to own the home. Unfortunately, they are in no hurry to sell. I will admit I was pretty crushed about that, but I knew that, regardless, I was ready to return home to little ol' Graefenburg, and it was then we decided to embark on this crazy amazing journey of building our own home.

This journey isn't going to be easy. There will for sure be a lot tears along the way, mistakes and hard decisions but boy will it sure be worth it! I hope you'll follow us along on our journey HOME.