Hello, and welcome to the Village, our haven in the country! The Village is a twenty-acre property that my husband, Kenny, and I purchased in September 2015 along with my parents, who we call Oma and Opa. The dream of the Village was inspired by hopes of finding sanctuary from hectic work lives, escape from the trappings of Suburbia, and the sense of everyday calmness that only country life truly affords.
Oma and Opa had been looking for land on and off for several years, as the small town that I grew up in and where they still lived was not so small any more. More precisely, it was considered one of the fasting growing communities in north Texas! The suburbs were closing in on Oma and Opa’s four-acre property which only used to be “out in the country.” They simply wanted their space back, along with the peace and quiet that they used to enjoy.
Meanwhile, Kenny and I were growing restless in our “little box” of a house, suburban tract home. Our average two-car garage and miniscule yard did not exactly warrant Kenny’s passion for working on cars and driving go-karts. And I had been wanting to move somewhere smaller for a quite a while; it seemed like the older I got, the more I appreciated and missed the country setting where I had spent my childhood. My job was stressful at times, and I wanted to come home to a relaxing place that felt like an everyday get-away. We were tired of the neighborhood traffic, the HOA telling us when and how we needed to mow the lawn, and the neighbors living practically right on top of us.
We all needed refuge from the chaos! But at the time, Kenny and I weren’t really serious about moving, as we were on track to pay off our mortgage relatively soon and live house-payment-free for a while. And Oma and Opa had put the land search on hold for a bit since they hadn’t been able to find exactly what they were looking for and had decided that they should wait three years or so until Oma could retire from her teaching job. The idea of us all buying property together started with some day dreaming out loud and my husband joking about how we should all buy a big piece of land and start a family “Village.”
It was fun to look at properties online and surmise what could be, but it still seemed like a very distant dream. Then, one Saturday Kenny and I were spending the day at Oma and Opa’s house and on a whim, Oma took that bold first step, calling the listing agent of one of those properties and scheduling a visit for later that day. So we all loaded up in Opa’s truck and made the hour and a half journey out into the country. Still in the mindset of “we’re doing this just for fun,” we drove down a winding country road up to the gated property. Oh but how one’s mindset can quickly change! As we took our first glimpse past the fields of grass and wildflowers at the quaint, red-roofed farm house that sat down the hill below amongst a background of green as far as the eye could see, we knew that this was “the Village.” From that point on, it all became very real, very fast! Within a few weeks, we put in an offer and it was accepted, and then about a month and a half later we closed on the property. The “village life” had officially commenced!
It is now two years later, and Kenny and I have been living in and fixing up the “red-roofed farm house,” which we call “Hong House.” The house had a great layout, but needed a good bit of cosmetic re-finishing to fit our taste. We have been doing all the work ourselves (we meaning Kenny and I doing what we can and assisting Opa with the hard stuff) on nights and weekends, so it has been a slow process. We all work full-time jobs, and I commute an hour+ each way to and from work, so unfortunately time isn’t a bountiful commodity for us. We still have a long list of projects to do and improvements to make, but Hong House has come a long way, and home is our favorite place to be.
Kenny and I had quickly listed and sold our old house in the suburbs once we closed on the new property, as we had all decided that the house existing at the Village would be ours and that Oma and Opa would build a new home next door once Oma retired and they were ready to move. So, for now, they are still living at their old place, but they come out to the Village almost every weekend to help us work on projects. We have recently started tearing down the old horse barn that will become the future site of their new home. Opa has plans of doing most of the work on the new house ourselves as well, so that will be a story of its own!
You can see the current state of the Village here: Tour the Village, or read more about us “Villagers” here: the Villagers.