Inside a Quaint Cottage Renovation in Ozark

For the last three years Paul and Julie Higgins have been renovating their 100-year-old cottage just down the road from The Ozark Mill. The home was once owned by Johnny and Jeanie Morris and sits on 3 acres of rolling hills. “This is our third home we’ve lived in,” Julie says. “It’s by far the smallest.” When you enter the home, you can see all the way to the back of the property where an old barn sits.

An addition to the back of the cottage created a new gathering room with reclaimed beams, a gorgeous stone fireplace and a massive window that frames the beautiful view of their land and barn. “It’s a 9-foot by 5-foot window I found on Marketplace for $20,” Julie says. “It took four men to install it.” The addition also includes a primary suite with a dreamy bathroom full of character. The arched window in the primary bath was salvaged from one of the home’s former bedrooms, and the quartz on the bathroom vanity has a unique profile, adding to the elegant details of the space. “If you keep your house small, you can really make it pop,” Julie says. 

For Paul and Julie, it’s all about the details. Although they had a lot of professional help, they acted as the general contractors for the home, doing a lot of things on their own. “We were like Chip and Joanna Gaines long before they were around,” Julie says. Years prior, the couple had renovated their first home, a Carthage stone cottage in Phelps Grove, so they are not strangers to getting their hands dirty. But for Julie it’s about being creative and adding features to enhance the home.

For this home, the couple remodeled in phases and brought new life to the cottage Julie had always loved. “I actually left a note in 2007 for the homeowners, telling them to call me if they ever wanted to sell, and that I loved their house.”

Years later the home went up for sale, and even though they weren’t the highest bidders, the homeowners, who had kept the note from Julie, decided to sell the Higginses the house. 

Keeping to the home’s historic features, Julie and Paul worked tirelessly to rebuild the home in a way that gave it new life while making it function best for their family. Old doors they had salvaged and stored away years ago were used in the home, along with other furniture pieces they had found and collected. A side porch was converted into a walk-in pantry, and shiplap was repurposed for the fireplace in the front of the home. The goal was to stick with the warmth of wood to create a cottage, comfy feel. Julie chose the color Swiss Coffee by Benjamin Moore for the walls and the trim to create the perfect warm and clean canvas for her antiques. “Your trim is the icing on the cake,” she says.

Layers upon layers of old wallpaper were removed as they stripped the home back to its original glory, uncovering history on the way. “In the first bedroom we found the names Brenda and Janet signed into the shiplap,” Julie says. “It was dated 1960.”

The outdoor spaces also got a facelift, so the couple can enjoy the property in every season. A patio was added on the north side of the home along with a large water feature. The couple planted boxwoods, hydrangeas and lots of roses, adding to the property’s cottage charm. A garden grid was created around the water feature, and they planted pink honeysuckle to climb it. Julie also planted a garden full of sunflowers, cucumbers and tomatoes to enjoy in the summer months. In the winter months you can find the couple making sourdough in their newly remodeled cottage kitchen and sipping coffee in their new gathering room. “We really wanted to make this home a retreat for people to enjoy,” Julie says.