Juniper Hill Cottage

a coat of paint does wonders

7/30/2019

This is the second chapter in our Bungalow journey - continuing on from "We Accidentally Bought a Bungalow."

After acquiring this amazing historic bungalow in 2010, the first challenge was coming up with a manageable game plan.

Sometimes it's just so hard to wait for your long-term vision to begin to take form. And we knew we were going to be here on weekends and taking our time with the first chapter of our life in this historic cottage.

So, we decided that in order to enjoy our time here for the next 8 or 9 years (until we could be here full-time and properly renovate), we would only tackle a list of must-do projects.

This is what we do. Michael offloading supplies for the new deck.

Must-Do List

Now, you would think that that list would be an abbreviated short-ish list. That was the idea for sure.

But now that we look back it's truly amazing what we've accomplished.

Bit by bit, on a budget while still living and working in Phoenix. Virtually 90% of it turned out to be DIY, and not just because we knew we could control the costs more that way.

Creativity

We had a vision of what it would take to make it livable for the short-term, but we also felt strongly that this was going to be an expression of our creativity and personalities.

And that's kinda hard to accomplish with contractors executing for you.

This is what we do. Crafting a home.

Flexibility

The process requires tweaks and consideration as you go along - allowing for better flavors of your original idea, or the unforeseen snafu.

It takes a while to get acquainted with a new house and property. This can make it tricky to come up with the perfect layout and updates on day one. Where does the shade fall in late summer? What's the best flow for traffic through your home - given how you live and your style? Where's the best soil and conditions for your kitchen garden?

While it's tempting to just get to the end-point as quickly as possible, there's an advantage to taking it in measured steps - if you can stand it.

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we accidentally bought a bungalow

7/26/2019

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We were living in the big city, working two really stressful corporate jobs with two kids already off on their own and the two youngest (twins) in elementary.

We had a modern, large tract house conveniently located to our jobs and the kids' school. It was very nice, had plenty of room, a gorgeous pool and cozy garden where we entertained tons of friends and family over the years.

The Ahwatukee abode in Phoenix

I had completely updated it when I bought it in 2005. No major complaints. But also, no major connection.

It looked identical to everyone else's homes, not only in our neighborhood, but in the majority of the Phoenix metropolitan area. This house was not inspiring other than that it provided a comfortable albeit expensive solution while raising the twins and doing what we did -- work. A lot.

I knew that this was not going to be where I wanted to dig deep roots for the long haul. I figured that one day when the kids were off on their own in college I would look for a home that really spoke to me. Didn't really know where, but I knew it wouldn't be in metro Phoenix.

Then, on a day trip up to the high country in northern Arizona, Michael and I began to explore Prescott.

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greetings from the porch

7/10/2019

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I am excited to launch The Whiskey Porch brand and website in the next few days!

One thing we are going to be doing is documenting and sharing our own process of downsizing and renovating our historic bungalow here in Prescott at Juniper Hill Cottage.

We just broke ground on the reno(vation) project this week (although it's been over 2 years in the planning ~ more about that in another post) which is truly coincidental with the launch of this brand. But really they go hand-in-hand because it's through our own journey that we've come to learn that we really can reduce the size and complexity of our lifestyle. And love everything about it!

How ironic and fitting is it that the launch of both projects should coincide like this?

It's a pretty cool journey, and we are so fortunate to have found this tiny cottage and made it our home.

Please follow along with this blog if you are curious to get the back-story and updates as we go along.

One option is to setup the RSS feed (link in the right margin) so you'll know every time a new post is published.

Juniper Hill Cottage

We plan to produce videos and blog posts every couple of weeks on the transformation of this 1924 beauty - bringing it into the 21st century in a big way, and bringing it back to it's former glory at the same time.

Cheers,
~Miriam

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