For someone who loves bigger and better and always growing… I’ve been surprised how content I am living in this little cabin on our ranch for the past seven years.

Our path here was a winding one and it took living in a bigger home to realize more space and nicer things were not what brought the most happiness for our family.

When Brian and I were married we fixed up a our first home (that was just a little bigger than this cabin on the ranch!) in Menlo Park where we both worked and lived. It was only about 6 blocks from the home I grew up in where my parents still live.

And I’ll have to dig up the photos from when Brian bought it a couple years before I met him… it was NOT this cute! It actually had been overrun by feral animals and the realtor sat on a lawn chair outside for the open house, unwilling to go in!

We worked hard and saved to buy a bigger house for our growing family, and eventually bought the house we thought would be our “forever home” that was grand and beautiful and I felt so lucky to live there everyday. It was a historic craftsman built in 1911 right in the downtown district.

Here’s a link to a feature from the DesignMom blog “Living with Kids” and a Land of Nod feature on the kids spaces in our old house… most of the same furniture is now split between our little house, the bunkhouse, my farm store and our restaurant! Do you recognize any of it!?

It was less than two years after we moved into our “forever home” (or so we thought!) that we made the big decision to move to this ranch and change our livelihood from a Silicon Valley suburban family working in the service industry as entrepreneurs…

…to full-time cattle ranchers in a rural California mountain town of 680 people. It was a huge change.

We thought this little cabin was a temporary weekend retreat and then when we moved full time, maybe it was a year or two temporary home until we built a house or fixed up the “big house” next to it (a big undertaking!)

This little house is 760 sq feet with two small bedrooms with a tiny bathroom/laundry in between… plus a newly popped-up attic I fixed up for the girls to share a room after they grew out of sharing a bed or the triple bunks in the closet downstairs.

This house used to be a chicken coop, then a dairy storage barn – and has no amenities like heat, AC.or a dishwasher. We rely on wood to keep us warm.

But this little house is so much more than that. It’s the right size to say goodnight to each other from our own cozy beds.

It’s the right layout to watch the girls doing their homework together at the table while Brian takes off his boots and kicks back with a beer on the couch to recap our days, while I stand at the sink washing the dishes that fed us the food we raised in the warm soapy water.

It’s the right “nothing fancy” kind of house for bottle babies next to the wood stove and not having to take your boots off those late nights coming in from the cold working to save an animal or handle the weather.

It’s memories and seasons and the only place we want to be when we hang our hats at the end of the day.

Someday maybe we’ll build a house to welcome grown children and their children home – but right now and for as long as we can, this little house is just the right home for us. 🖤♥️🏠♥️🖤