Home Field ADVANTAGE

For an Alabama family in a football-loving neighborhood, there's no better way to kick off the season than with cozied-up communal spaces and a few pumpkins in your team's palette.

- LAURA KOSTELNY

As the days get shorter and the leaves start to change, friendly greetings of “Hello” and “How are you?” are replaced with chants of “War Eagle!” and “Roll Tide!” in just about every corner of Alabama. That includes Homewood, a picturesque town just over the mountain from Birmingham. John and Lauren Bryant (an Auburn alum, by the way) immediately connected with the charming community and its old-school collegiate rivalries. “It checks all the boxes—there are tree-lined streets, a 100-year-old elementary school, friendly neighbors, and plenty of spaces for children to explore and play outside,” says Lauren. “It feels like a small town—you walk to grab coffee and you'll start a conversation with someone you see along the way.”

Almost 10 years (and three kids) after settling into the idyllic neighborhood, the Bryants remained devoted to the tight-knit community even as they needed more space. As luck would have it, the property across the street was getting ready to hit the market. Lauren and John, a builder, soon went to work on plans for the family’s new five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home that felt like a chip off the old block. “We always imagined a home as not just four walls but a refuge filled with love and a place where comfort trumps perfection,” Lauren says.

Outside the Bryants' classic English cottage-inspired home, the golden leaves of willow oaks help provide the property with an autumnal palette.