A little over 6 months ago, we bought a beach cottage :)
I've been quiet about posting it here because I don't want people to get the wrong idea about us - it is absolutely nothing fancy, but Jason is down there hunting, and I am missing that place so much that I can't get my mind off of it. I wish I could be down there. I think January is one of the best times of the year to go to the beach. But sadly, one of the not-so-fun things about being pregnant with twins is that I'm on travel restriction - and even if I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to feel my legs at the end of a 4 hour car ride. Boo.
Jason and I have dreamed of having a place in Rockport since before we were married and for years would go down to the beach and hunt for houses. We would drive around for hours. Looking at vacant lots, looking at so many beautiful homes, we even meet with a few realtors over the years. Unfortunately, we were never able to find anything we could actually see ourselves owning, at least that we could afford! So for the longest time, it remained just that, a dream. We never wanted anything big - a place for us to be able to watch our kids grow up on the weekends, decorate with beachy stuff
(though our opinions of what is appropriate in a beach house are completely different!) but mostly, we just wanted to have a place to call our
own.
So, last
January, we made a trip down with some friends and visited their cabin in Lamar (just north of the Copano Bay Bridge, near
Big Tree and Goose Island State park.) It was completely lucky when, one block away, I caught a glimpse of a "Cottages for Sale by Owner" sign. They were all in a row, on a terribly paved road but just off the water, and some were in pretty rough shape. Frantically, I made my sister-in-law Kristi, memorize the first few digits of the phone number on the sign, while I memorized the last and I called as soon as we could get cell phone reception.
I even made Jason drive by later that weekend to get his input... and as you can imagine, he didn't show all that much excitement, but I knew deep down he liked the area better than downtown Rockport.
Weeks went by and I didn't hear anything. I called again, and nothing. And again. Nothing. Maybe it was a sign.
Let me tell you, these dreams, they were lofty dreams - Travis was barely a year old, and really, who are we to buy a beach house? We are most definitely not fancy people. But, it was just too perfect - the timing, the location, to be so close to our friends and have the sound of the water outside your open door and the smell of the salty ocean breeze drifting in as you nap in the middle of the day. Oh, I love it.
After much pestering, I finally got a hold of the owner, and a few months later, we went back and stayed in one of the cottages - the owner was selling 3! Kristi, Jason's brother Les and their two girls rented one of the other open cottages that same weekend.
I was so cool because we got to see how different they all were and decide which one we liked the most.
There are 10 cottages/cabins/shacks lined up in a row off the water. They were built in the 1950's and I believe they were originally all part of a fishing club, but slowly were sold off one by one. So, they're all very similar, but each have their own little differences; some have exterior walls still up as interior walls, some have the refrigerator in different places, some have been updated, but most are just weekend get-aways that aren't all that fussy.
They are a mere 480 square feet and the house is split up into 4 tiny sections. They were originally somewhere around 300 square feet until the front porches were built-in. The roofs are slanty, none of the exterior colors match, but our place is less than 150 steps from the water and there is a boat ramp at the end of the road. A fisherman's delight.
There is so much to this fun story, but I won't share it all here, now. It's getting late and I'm exhausted after a day of chasing my little man. We've done a lot of updating to our cottage, mostly cosmetic, and we aren't done - but at least I can go to sleep dreaming of the smell of the ocean and the sound of the water tonight.
Before
(sorry, this first shot is completely overexposed)
I'll take you on a tour of the cottage clockwise.
The first space off the left of the front door is the "guest room"
Next to it, is the "master" bedroom
You can see the entrance to the bathroom, next to the "master" on the right side of the picture below.
I'll spare you those pictures for another time.
Across from the "master" bedroom, is the kitchen and dining area.
Get a load of that amazing fridge.
There is a side door to exit to the back yard.
Across from the kitchen is the "living room" - they're using it here as a 3rd "bedroom"
And then, voila! you're back at the front door!
It's not big... that's for sure!
But look at the view.
That is Saint Charles Bay.
And our neighbors white picket fence :)
Want to see what we've done with it since?
Well, you'll have to wait :)
I've got to upload and organize those pictures, but I'll share them soon.
It's cute, I promise.
Love you all - have a good night, don't let the bed bugs bite.
xoxo, CB
