Cottage On The Ridge - Part One
By Kathy Fox
Photo credit Ross Jaynes Video Media Co.
We are all dreamers and dreaming big gives us the freedom to think about life and what we really want out of it even when it does not seem possible. Some just dream big while others make their dreams a reality. This past year has no doubt presented many challenges for the world, but in rural Spring Hill, Tennessee, Brad Rempel and his wife, Rebekah, had a vision they wanted to share with the community, a beautiful cottage at the ridge with breathtaking views of middle Tennessee.
“I remember the first time I rode by the ridge in 2012. We had just moved here, and I rode my dirt bike from our house in the Spring Hill up this road. I was looking for wide open spaces and was coming up the hill when I saw guys on horseback doing a cattle drive pushing cows down to this pond. I came home and told Rebekah it was like the Wild West out here and it felt like the real country,” explained Brad. Rebekah grew up doing cattle drives with her dad and brother and knew exactly what Brad was describing.
At that time the land was not for sale, but Brad kept hoping it would be someday. As part of the country music duo High Valley, Brad loved this ridge in rural Spring Hill so much that the band shot the video for “I Be U Be” in 2016 in front of the pond with the hill in the background on the property. “I literally called our label and said I know this road with a beautiful view where we want to shoot the video, so there’s a lot of connection for us to this property,” Brad remarked. Rebekah chimed in saying, “I used to think he was just crazy because there was so much land, but he told me he wanted to own it one day. Brad is a big dreamer! I’m not as big of a dreamer, I’m a super content kind of person and I don’t go there but being with him I’ve learned to just go with the flow and dream with him. His dreams do come true a lot of times.”
In 2019 Brad and Rebekah bought the land Brad had dreamed of owning one day and his aspirations began to materialize. “We initially thought we were going to set up a tiny little shed down by the pond so we could store fishing supplies, chairs, and canoe for the boys to do their thing while we were down there. When we shot the music video here for “Grew Up On That” in early 2020 we were riding four wheelers around and we started thinking maybe we should build a garage so we could leave the dirt bikes here,” remarked Brad. However, when all the publishing houses on Music Row shut down due to COVID in March 2020, there became a need to have a place to write songs and forced Brad to find a safe place to write. Brad explained, “If we could have a little kitchen in there and a place where I could have guys to come with a lot of space where we could ride four wheelers, write the songs, and record them we would be set. There’s even Tequila’s Mexican restaurant down the road where we could go afterwards, that would be the perfect day right there.” From that point the dream of a building garage grew into the designing a more functional space out of necessity.
The process of designing and building the cottage has been a lot of teamwork between Brad and Rebekah. “I love interior design and Brad has the business mind, so I feel we’re a good team in that way. Then when we started deciding what this is going to be we had so much fun designing it, but honestly he was more into because I didn’t think I believed it was really going to happen,” Rebekah said.
The plans for the cottage started as a drawing on a scrap piece of paper with a garage in the back and some living space in the front with a kitchen and a possible loft. With a Mennonite upbringing, Brad heard there was a Mennonite population nearby and was told Summertown Metals could “erect a barn in two minutes.” With nothing to do because of COVID, one day Brad hopped in his car to see if he could hire them to build the cottage. Derek Stoll, one of the Summertown Metal owners, met with Brad and drove him around for an hour looking at structures and literally that day on a handshake it was agreed they would build the cottage. From that point Josh Lapp, with Summertown Metals, took over and made the little paper drawings into a 3D rendering and architectural drawings bringing them all to life. Then on September 15, 2020, they broke ground, and the project was officially underway.
With construction moving forward, that meant it was time to focus on the exterior and interior décor. Originally the exterior color was going to be white, until Rebekah saw black wood siding in a photo on Pinterest. “I was inspired when I saw the photo of the black exterior and wondered how that would look up on the hill. I definitely thought it would look better than white, but Brad thought it was just a little too risky,” Rebekah explained. At the same time, some friends were in the process of building a house in The Grove and were using the color iron ore on their accents. When Rebekah and Brad went to look at their friend’s house, Brad came around to the “bold idea” of the dark colored exterior because the shade was spectacular. “I can’t wait to see the cottage pop up on the hill when the trees bloom and the landscaping will be done, it will be so pretty. From that day forward the cottage flipped from white to black, you can even see the change on Instagram,” Brad chuckled. Another exterior feature on the cottage that is visible immediately is the standing seam metal roof. The dark colored metal roof adds a sheen to the cottage’s exterior, as well as character with the vertical seams finishing the dramatic look. One more notable feature on exterior is the outdoor shower. “We added this cool shower on the side of the house, which is perfect to clean up in after spending the day outdoors,” Brad commented. “It wasn’t included in the original plan but is the perfect addition.”
As progress moves forward at the Cottage at The Ridge, the May/June issue will feature the finished interior and completed cottage. Stay tuned to see how Rebekah and Brad partner with Ashley Furniture to create a cozy, colorful, and comfortable living space for themselves and their guests. From the modern chic furniture, to the built-in bunkbeds that can sleep up to 8, or the colorful tile work, the completed project will be a work of art for the community to enjoy. To be continued…