Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara McDaniel.
Hi Sara, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
In 2011, my marriage took an unexpected turn, and overnight, the life I thought I was building looked completely different. I found myself having to start over, not just personally, but financially as well. It was a season filled with uncertainty, but it was also the beginning of learning to trust God with a life that no longer looked anything like the one I had planned.
In 2016, I bought a neglected little cottage in Minden, Louisiana. At the time, I thought I was simply buying a house and creating a home for myself after divorce. Looking back, I can see that God was using that little house to rebuild so much more than walls.
Built in 1926, I began restoring the cottage one room at a time and sharing the process online through Simply Southern Cottage. I had no grand business plan and certainly never imagined it would become a career. I was simply documenting the transformation of my home and, in many ways, the transformation happening in my own life alongside it.
People began following the journey, and that little corner of the internet grew into a community of more than two million people. Eventually, I left my corporate career and stepped into entrepreneurship full time.
Restoration became about much more than my own home.
I began investing in and restoring neglected properties throughout Minden, including an abandoned 1930s apartment complex that became The Villas at Spanish Court, as well as restoring historic homes, affordable housing, and other properties that could once again contribute to our community. I am passionate about showing people what can happen when we stop looking at something for what it is and start imagining what it could be. I believe people and properties are worth saving.
That same philosophy eventually led me to open Purvéy (pur-VAY Minden), my vintage and reloved clothing shop in downtown, historic Minden. Even though clothing and old buildings may seem like two completely different worlds, to me they are connected by the same idea: seeing value in something that might otherwise be overlooked and giving it another chance to be loved.
Today, I’m a content creator, real estate investor, small-business owner, speaker, and now an author. My first book, The Bright Side of the Other Side, releases in October 2026 and tells much more of the story behind this journey—the heartbreak, the rebuilding, the unexpected opportunities, the losses, and the countless ways I can now look back and trace God’s hand through all of it.
None of this was part of the plan I had for my life.
But I’ve learned that sometimes an ending is actually an invitation to begin again. And if there is one thread running through everything I’ve built since that season, it’s this: people, places, and stories are worth saving.
Sometimes restoration looks like bringing an old house back to life. And sometimes, the thing being restored is you.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been anything but a smooth road, but I think that’s also what has made the journey so meaningful.
There have certainly been the struggles that come with entrepreneurship like leaving the security of a corporate career, taking financial risks, purchasing properties other people thought I was crazy to buy, navigating renovations, building businesses from the ground up, and learning a lot of lessons the hard way. There have been plenty of moments when I’ve wondered, “What in the world have I gotten myself into?”
But the hardest parts of my journey haven’t been business related.
My divorce was one of the first times life forced me to completely reimagine my future. Then, as my businesses and platform were growing, life continued happening behind the scenes. I lost my dad unexpectedly, and more recently, I lost my sister, Lori, after her battle with ovarian cancer. Those kinds of losses change you.
One of the strangest things about life is that tremendous joy and tremendous grief can exist at exactly the same time. Some of the greatest professional opportunities of my life have happened during some of my most painful personal seasons. I’ve had moments when something I had prayed about for years finally happened, and at the same time, I desperately wished I could pick up the phone and tell someone who was no longer here.
I think those experiences have changed the way I define success. I’m certainly proud of the businesses, properties, and platform I’ve built, but I’m much more interested these days in whether the work I’m doing matters.
I’ve also learned that a hard season doesn’t necessarily mean you’re on the wrong path. Sometimes the road can be incredibly difficult and still be leading you exactly where you’re supposed to go.
That’s really the premise behind my new book, The Bright Side of the Other Side. It isn’t about pretending everything happens for a reason or putting a pretty bow on painful experiences. It’s about recognizing that even when you can’t see what God is doing in the middle of a difficult season, there can still be goodness, purpose, and hope waiting on the other side.
So no, the road hasn’t been smooth. But looking back, I wouldn’t erase the hard parts. They’ve shaped the way I love people, the way I lead, the risks I’m willing to take, and the way I recognize the people, places and stories worth saving.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Simply Southern Cottage, Minden Stays, Purvéy Minden?
At the heart of everything I do is restoration: seeing potential in places and things that others might overlook and finding a way to give them new life.
Two of the businesses that represent that philosophy best are The Villas at Spanish Court and Purvéy Minden, both located in of Minden, Louisiana.
The Villas at Spanish Court began with a set of eight abandoned apartments built in 1931. When I purchased the property, it needed a tremendous amount of work, but I could see what it had once been, and, more importantly, what it could become again. We carefully restored the property and transformed it into a collection of boutique short-term rentals designed to give visitors an experience that feels much more personal than checking into a traditional hotel.
Today, The Villas are part of Minden Stays, my collection of unique accommodations in and around Minden. I want our guests to feel like they aren’t just coming here for a place to sleep; they’re getting to experience the charm, history and hospitality of our community. Each property has its own personality and story, and I think that’s a big part of what sets us apart. We’re not trying to create cookie-cutter spaces. I want people to walk through the door and immediately feel like they’re somewhere special.
Then there’s Purvéy Minden, my vintage and reloved clothing and home goods shop in downtown Minden. Purvéy was born from that same love of giving beautiful things another chapter. We carry vintage and secondhand clothing, accessories, home goods, records, plants and all sorts of wonderfully unexpected finds. Part of the fun is that you truly never know what you’re going to discover when you walk through the door.
We like to call what we offer, “storied finds,” because everything has had a life before it reaches us and now someone gets to become part of its next chapter.
What makes me especially proud is that both businesses contribute to the larger story of what’s happening in Minden. Every time someone books a stay at The Villas, shops at Purvéy, eats at one of our local restaurants or explores downtown, they’re participating in the revitalization of a small Southern town.
I think for a long time people were taught that opportunity meant leaving small towns and heading somewhere bigger. I’m passionate about showing that sometimes opportunity is right in front of us. It might just need someone willing to see the potential.
Whether I’m restoring an abandoned building or putting a vintage dress back on the rack, the philosophy is essentially the same: people, places and stories are worth saving.
And I hope when people experience one of my businesses, they leave believing that a little more than they did before.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I’m so overdue a return visit to Houston! What I’ve always appreciated about Houston is the sheer amount of culture, diversity, food and opportunity packed into one city. Coming from a small town in Louisiana, I’m always fascinated by the energy of a city that size and the seemingly endless things to experience.
As for what I like least, I’m afraid I have to give the most predictable answer possible: the traffic! Years ago, I regularly made the drive between Corpus Christi and Louisiana, and Houston was always the part of the trip I dreaded most. There never seemed to be an easy way around it or through it!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://simplysoutherncottage.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplysoutherncottage/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplysoutherncottage
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramcdaniel/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simplysoutherncottage
- Yelp: https://fr.yelp.ca/biz/the-villas-at-spanish-court-minden
- Other: https://mindenstays.com/ https://purveyminden.com/
