Welcome to Portsmouth

Last week we made a dream come true. We bought a home in our favorite city. Growing up in New Hampshire, some of my fondest memories are the adventures I had in Portsmouth. I lived about a 30 minute drive away, and visited there for school field trips and family excursions. In my high school and college years I frequented the city with my friends for coffee shops, late night pancakes, and shows at the Elvis Room. In 2010, we bought a tiny cottage in another seacoast town, about a 10-minute drive from Portsmouth. We love it and the access to the beach is fantastic, but as our family has grown, it's no longer comfortable for all 4 of us to stay there for any length of time. (Believe it or not, a 13-year old girl and 9-year old boy do not enjoy sharing a room!) So we went seeking out a bigger home where we could get away and enjoy the NH seacoast area. The more we looked, the more we kept coming back to our beloved Portsmouth. When this gem of a home came on the market in the West End, we knew it was the right decision. It needs some TLC. It needs some decor. It needs E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. We are starting from scratch! Our first weekend there, I mixed pancake batter in a cooking pot because I remembered to bring everything from the other house for a wonderful breakfast, except mixing bowls (and the second option was going to be mixing it in a champagne bucket!)

This blog is going to chronicle our process of breathing life into this blank slate of a home. And once we get it up and running, we are excited to share it with others as a short-term vacation rental. We'll also share about our favorite places in and around the entire seacoast area.

We hope you'll follow along, and maybe you'll even book a stay so you can you can enjoy our magical city of Portsmouth as well.