For Sara McDaniel, with every season of despair, faith has been the architect of her restoration, both personally and professionally.
Written by Susan Marquez / Photography by Hector Sanchez
Sara McDaniel has a passion for old houses. “There is something special about them,” she says. “I love the history and the charm of an old home.” It’s a passion that began with a fourth-grade field trip to Jefferson, Texas, a town known for its historic homes.
She tackled her first home renovation in 1998. “From that moment, the thrill of transformation was etched into my being – the meticulous design, the labor of love, the sheer magic of the reveal.”
A native of Springhill, in northwestern Louisiana, Sara began her career as an educator, later moving into educational sales. She moved around a bit, landing in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she had a good life living near the beach. But her mother was encouraging Sara to return to Louisiana. It was not something Sara seriously considered until she clearly heard God’s voice speaking to her. “He told me I needed to be in Louisiana. I tried to ignore it, but it kept pulling at my heart.” After wrestling with the idea over a few months, Sara began to entertain what a move home to Louisiana would look like.
She determined her criteria for a home and came up with five non-negotiables. The house she would move into must be near her parents, be near an airport, be old (preferably 50 years or older), be in a walkable area with amenities, and be located in a safe community. She also required that the home be roughly 2000 square feet, have at least three beds and two baths, have high-speed internet access, have a small to medium-sized yard for entertaining, and be in a picturesque setting. Of course, it had to be the right price. “I had renovated and/or built several houses, so I was not afraid of a fixer-upper.”
She found the perfect home in 2014, in the historic district of Minden, Louisiana, just 30 miles south of her parents’ home in Springhill, and 30 miles from the airport in Shreveport. While in rough shape, it checked all of Sara’s boxes. But acquiring the home was a long 22-month process. “I prayed that house into my life,” she insists.
The house was a long way from being a home, but she began work on it. “It was a dark time in my life,” she says. “I went through a bad divorce in 2009 that was absolutely the worst thing ever. I thought I’d never be happy again. But as I worked on renovating that broken-down home, I realized my spirit mirrored the decay of that cottage. What I had to focus on was that in every season of despair, faith has been the architect of my restoration.”
She used the services of a local craftsman to build her cabinets and front door. Nick Cox is not only talented with wood, but he serves as the mayor of Minden. “I worked hard to find just the right maple for the door,” says Nick. “I wanted it to take a stain well and look really good on the house.” But Sara had another idea. “I had Nick paint the door bright yellow. That was an outward sign of the joy in my heart.” The house with the yellow door became a showpiece in Minden’s historic neighborhood. And Sara’s light began to show as bright as her door.
Charles Veeder founded Minden in 1835 when he built a small inn on a hilltop near Bayou Dorcheat. In 1838, it received one of the first charters for a public school from the State Legislature. Today, Minden High School sits on the site of the original school. Veeder didn’t stick around long. He left in 1849 for the California Gold Rush, but the town continued to thrive until tragedy struck three-fold in 1933. A major fire burned a large portion of the downtown area, followed by the fall of the largest bank in town. The final straw was a powerful tornado which caused more than $1.2 million in damage and killed 28 people. Yet, Minden persevered. Today the town of just over 11,000 serves as the seat of Webster Parish. Serena Gray serves as the executive director of the Webster Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have so much to offer here year-round.”
Now Sara has provided even more reasons for people to visit Minden. She purchased The Villas at Spanish Court, a dilapidated apartment complex located just down the hill from the high school. Built in 1931, the Villas were once the most state-of-the-art multi-family dwellings in Louisiana. Several teachers at the high school, located just up the hill, lived in the apartments. It is believed the last residents moved out by the early 1980s, and the property was left to decay since that time.
Sara had already built a social media following when she blogged about renovating the yellow-door cottage. Without planning on it, she became an influencer at Simply Southern Cottages, with large numbers of loyal followers who were interested in the renovation of her home. Utilizing her skills in sales, she leveraged her followers to obtain partnerships to renovate the Villas.
The jumping-off point for the design of each villa was the bathroom tile. Each bathroom had different tiles, and most were in fairly good shape. The original tile remains in each unit, and the colors used in the overall design of each villa plays off the colors of the bathroom tile. Each of the eight units has a different design with bold wallpapers, unique light fixtures, and comfortable furnishings accented by whimsical thrifted finds.
Every unit bears a nameplate instead of a room number. One of the units is named after a teacher who once lived there. Others are named after sponsors (for example, Laura, because of a sponsorship by Laura Ashley). The units each have a kitchenette with appliances in coordinating colors to match their unique design, and a back door leads to adjoining patios with comfortable Adirondack chairs circling fire pits.
The Villas at Spanish Court have seen honeymooners, girls’ trips, family reunions, and other gatherings. Sara says they are also ideal for retreats. But the Villas aren’t the only gathering place Sara has created. When she purchased the Villas, she also purchased a 6,000 square foot Victorian home next door, as well as a small cottage across the creek. The Victorian, built around 1905, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The home was in good shape but needed updates. Known as the Fuller-White house, Sara felt it would be ideal as a community gathering space where people could hold receptions, reunions or meetings. The renovation of part of the first floor and the space on the third floor was shown on Magnolia Network’s In with the Old (season four, episode seven). “We renovated the men’s parlor, the dining room and kitchen downstairs on the show,” Sara says. “We also rented the large third floor space, which people have told us was used as a speakeasy back in the day, where dances and parties were held.”
On the show, Nick said he’d been wanting to see inside the house for forty years. “It is right down the hill from the high school, so I grew up going past it all the time.”
Today the Villas at Spanish Court stay filled with people coming to Minden, and the Fuller-White home is booked for receptions and gatherings. “Sara is such a blessing to this town, says Serena. “She is using the influence she has developed online to bring attention to all we have to offer in Minden. Lucky for us, Sara not only renovates homes, but she also maintains and preserves the historic aspect. She is a champion for Minden, and she is at a constant presence at local events, often leading behind the scenes.”
There has been a resurgence in restoration and renovation in the town since Sara first restored her yellow-door house. “Sara really is a big bright spot in our community,” says Nick. “She raised the morale in our city. And because of the TV presence, she has put us on the map.”
The downtown area of Minden is booming, with almost all of the buildings there occupied. One of the businesses downtown is Brick Street Coffee, owned by Derrick and Debbie Perris, who moved to Minden from Washington State to open their business. “We were drawn to Minden because it is a place that has the spirit of America,” says Derrick. Located in a former hardware store, the Perris’s maintained the historic aspect of the building, keeping all the original cabinetry in the space. It’s a true family business, with the Perris children joining Derrick and Debbie at the shop. The coffee shop and café is a gathering spot for Minden residents, and upstairs they roast their own coffee, which is shipped around the country.
Sara has continued to develop the Simply Southern Cottages brand and extended it to include vacation rentals, a rug line she has developed, and entrepreneur workshops for women.
In one of her blog posts, Sara wrote that her life didn’t turn out as she planned. “At first, I was devasted. But once the days passed and the scales fell from my eyes, I realized what an incredible blessing I had been given. I got a do-over! And now I get to show up in this space and share grace, hope, mercy, and redemption every single day. I restore blighted properties along the way to outwardly display the restorative work done in my heart.”
