beginnings

Journey is exactly the word to describe our phase of life. Maybe a better word would be Adventure or better yet, Chaos. In July of 2009, we made a decision to move to the small town of Cleveland, TN. You see, I (Sarah) grew up in Cleveland. I married a man (Scott) who was from the big city of Atlanta, GA. I myself haven’t lived in Cleveland for almost a decade and honestly didn’t imagine moving back. That was until our first daughter (Sinclair) was born in May 2008. (Culture shock would be inevitable.)

Longing to be near family and have yard space and home space, we began toying around with the idea of moving as we drove down historic streets in Cleveland. Growing up here, I longed to live in one of these old charming homes. In August 2009, we pulled the trigger and bought a house in the historic district on North Ocoee St.

With the market in the dump, we knew it might be awhile before we could actually get to Cleveland—to our nearly 100 year old home. With the home almost directly across the street from the local university, we decided to rent it out to some college students in the meantime.

We listed our home on the market the week of Thanksgiving. By Christmas, we found out we were expecting baby number two. Excitement hit and then the realization that we needed to get to TN before the baby arrived in August.  Did I forget to mention that this old house would need a full renovation?? Stress level reached record highs because for three months, not-ONE-person looked at our house in Alpharetta, GA. Depressed doesn’t even describe how I was feeling. The fourth month was a charm for us. We sold our home in April, packed our belongings and headed north to Tennessee.

The transition hasn’t been smooth. We arrived in TN to find that our temporary rental is quite smaller than promised. Keep in mind that both my husband and I work out of the home and have an extremely busy two year old… oh and that other baby on the way. To say that we are ready to be in our home is an understatement. Our contractor, Mark, said it would take 4-6 months. I am a ticking time bomb since baby is due August 22. (I continue to remind him of that.)

We wanted to create a space to capture the journey, adventure and even chaos of renovating our home on North Ocoee St. Join us. Follow us as we reclaim the charm and glory of this 1920’s home.