The Story About the First Little Cottage That We Didn't Buy

I think the name of this blog sort of speaks for itself. I kinda like, okay I kinda love, the whole cottage thing. 

Growing up, I was lucky enough to spend every summer at my family's cottage. {Well, except those summers when I was a moody teenager but let's try to forget about those, m'kay?}

The cottage my Grandfather built in 1965.

Our family's cottage was built by my grandfather and was pretty darn awesome. I have very fond memories of swimming, boating, hiking, sleepovers, suntanning, saunas, card games, birthdays, and campfires with my grandparents, parents, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

Since we've been all grown up and stuff, Alex and I occasionally went down to visit for a day or maybe even a night. But things were starting to get a little bit crowded (and crazy) when we brought the whole gang and all of our gear. Yo, why do babies require so much stuff!?!?!?! Yo, why are our doggies so badly behaved!?!?!?!

One day we came up with a pretty outrageous idea - what if we tried to purchase our own cottage on the same lake? Sure it would have been much easier to purchase a cottage anywhere (there are dozens and dozens of lakes within driving distance from our home). However, we didn't want to be too far away from the whole crazy, big, fun, family thing that we had going on.

We thought our idea was pretty far-fetched because the lake we wanted to be on is located in one of Ontario's Provincial Parks. There are very few properties to begin with - and when they do go up for sale they are either sold privately to friends and family or they are snatched up by people from the big city (Toronto) who are willing to pay a lot of moolah.

So. We waited, waited, waited, and waited some more. We took boat rides up and down the lake staring longingly at different properties wondering if and when any of them would go up for sale. Finally we heard about an old hunting cabin that used to be owned by twelve men. When we went to go and see the cottage we were happy to see that it was a fixer upper. Being a fixer upper meant that we *might* be able to afford it, and there might not be as much interest from people who were looking for something move-in ready. The hunting cabin was also only ten lots down the lake from my family's place which meant a 3 minute drive, a 5 minute boat ride, or a really long swim. :)

After playing around with our finances for a nerve-wracking few days (remember that this happened not long after we bought our 2nd house - The Fixer Upper) we made our best offer. The seller accepted it verbally over the phone and we went to the lawyer to write up a formal offer the very next day.

We were so excited! We called all of our family and cheered and celebrated and of course I started pinning a million cottage inspiration pictures on Pinterest.

Since the seller was an older gentleman we thought we would give him a week to travel to his lawyer to sign our offer. Unfortunately during this time another couple came along and offered him considerably more money in cash. We were so, so, so disappointed.

Here are some pictures I dug up from Alex's phone. Remember..... it was a fixer upper owned by twelve dudes. There was absolutely no Cozy.Cottage.Cute going on at all.

The hunting camp that we didn't get.

The hunting camp that we didn't get.

The hunting camp that we didn't get.

The sauna at the hunting camp that we didn't get.

Cooper checking out the hunting camp.

Despite it's ugliness, the hunting cottage had an open concept kitchen / dining / living room and three small bedrooms. The property itself was beautiful and the view down at the water was amazing. We could definitely see the potential. Unfortunately it was not to be. Friends and family told us that things happen for a reason and even though I *might* have rolled my eyes at the time, maybe they were right.

:)

A month and a half ago we closed on the purchase of a different cottage RIGHT NEXT DOOR to my family's. The excitement has absolutely not worn off yet.

I'll share pictures next post, promise.