The Bairds have done it again.
One year ago, Patsy and John Baird moved into their new cottage in The Preserve subdivision. It’s a downsize from their previous 3,750-square-foot brick home near the Hoover Country Club, but the couple craved a smaller, more intimate space as empty nesters.
The Bairds, Hoover natives and alums of Green Valley Elementary and Berry High schools, have a blended family of five adult children and four grandchildren. They have lived in five homes in 13 years, moving from Vestavia Hills to Hoover in 2010. Patsy says the cottage is just right for she and John, and they have no plans to move again, at least not yet.
“I truly know everything I have now, and I truly know where everything is,” Patsy says of downsizing. “I got rid of a lot stuff and some stuff that made me sad, but it’s OK.”
The pros of purging outweigh the cons as one sets foot inside the Baird cottage, which features an open-floor plan that flows through the living room, dining room and kitchen. Natural light pours in from the floor-to-ceiling windows…

To read more about the Baird’s home, check out the August 2014 issue of Hoover’s Magazine. Find your copy here.