Sounds stupid, doesn’t it? Why would I even think about naming our little ranch house. It’s not some great estate home. We don’t live in England. It’s not a vacation rental. So, why name it?
A long time ago, houses were named for identification. Street names were rare and numbers were even rarer, especially in rural areas, so a named house was one that was generally able to be found. Numbers and street names took the place of house titles and were essential in helping the postman or emergency services find the right house.
House names were typically chosen with the location, a landmark, animals or plants, history or heritage in mind. Some examples are: Rose Cottage, Orchard House, Robin Hill, Sunnyside Acres. Sometimes the history of the property itself played a factor in the naming such as The Old Rectory or Mill House.
Our little humble abode has no large significance in history. It’s a small brick ranch that was built around 1950 on property that grew corn in its farmland days. The family who bought this 5 acre tract when the farmland was divided first built a one room shack with intention to build our “grand” home, but it took them years to start on our little brick home. In the meantime, they kept adding one room on top of another on their shack. Our neighbor now lives in said shack and has made a lovely home out of it. We purchased our home from her family. It was her mother’s. Anyway, I digress. The point is our home is nothing special… to anyone but us.
The truth of the matter is this. We’ve been in this home now going on six years. That’s not a very long time, but somehow we feel so connected to the land and the house itself that it just feels deserving of a name. Maybe it’s because of the countless hours that we’ve spent whittling our visions onto its walls. Or maybe it’s because of all of the days that ended in exhaustion but accomplished so much within the grounds. We named ourselves The Homestead Kings about four years ago now, and we call it our life logo. It represents us and the life that we’ve built, but for some reason the house feels like it should be separate, like its own entity.  this house is a character in our life. It sees all of our trials and tribulations. These walls have already witnessed so much. They kept us safe during a hurricane. They watched over us as we nested for our first child. They welcomed us as we bunkered in against the pandemic. They stand by as I change their color or texture “I swear for the last time… at least for awhile. ” And hopefully, they’ll continue to do so. We’ve poured so much love into this home (and money… renovations aren’t cheap! But mostly love 😉) and will for years to come. It’s a safe haven. It’s a sanctuary. It’s our home.
This is where you come in! Help us name our home. It’s just a name for the house. Not the property. I’m going to list our ideas below. We’ve turned this little ranch into the sweetest little whitewashed cottage complete with a cottage garden. Husband is worried it will sound like a Bed & Breakfast. I’m anxious to pick a name that will stand the test of time.
Comment below with your pick or even if you have suggestions! Help us name our house!
- Norwood Cottage – the name of our street is Norwood. It was named after the original plantation owner of this area who came from England I believe.
- Blueberry Cottage– wild and cultivated blueberries galore all over our property. They’re our favorites!
- Oak Leaf Cottage- oak leaf hydrangeas greet you as you come into our gate. They’re so prolific and beautiful that I have split and moved them in all the secret crevices of the garden. We also have oak trees sporadically placed though we’d like more. We’ll have to plant some.
- King Cottage– for obvious reasons.
- Bee Balm Cottage- because I planted bee balm when we moved here, and I’m pretty sure a nuclear bomb wouldn’t eradicate it which is of course perfectly fine with me. It’s beautiful and tasty in tea!
- Capall Cottage- capall is the Irish Gaelic word for horse. We are both descendants from Irish immigrants, and we obviously like horses.
- Norwood Glen– we aren’t a valley, but our property is long and narrow.
- Potager House– the garden consumes our little house. You can barely see it. Throughout the whole garden, we have ornamentals next to edibles. In the French kitchen garden or potager, gardeners have intermingled vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs since medieval times. For the French, the potager has always been the country counterpart of the grandchateaux parterres. [ source ]
thehomesteadkings.com 
The first three are my fav! But they all sound great!!