Unlike many whose families moved about during their childhood, mine lived in the same home until well after I’d left for college and started my career. I sometimes wonder if I’m making up for lost time with the number of places I’ve lived as an adult, and I’ve come to realize that I love taking hold of a house, considering all it could be and transforming its spaces, indoors and out, at least in my imagination.
Hours can be lost to plotting potential renovations on graph paper as I envision new additions or configurations – not that these fantasies become realities. Mostly, I take things as far as fresh paint, hardwood floors, new cabinet doors and maybe a bathroom remodel while spending my energy putting in gardens and building raised vegetable beds.
Good luck getting me out of my nest on the weekends except for my regular sojourn to my favorite home improvement store where I have friends in every department. Right now, I’m awaiting their upcoming vanity promotion. Finally, the hall bathroom may get its facelift.
But even as I anticipate this project, my eye is beginning to rove. This time, however, it’s different. This time – which might be in another 10 years – it won’t just be another house. It could be a whole community.
Enter the world of co-housing. If you haven’t heard the term already, you will. Just Google it, and you’ll turn up a whole new world. On the site cohousing.org, this description sums it up:
Cohousing is a type of collaborative housing in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own neighborhoods. Cohousing residents are consciously committed to living as a community. The physical design encourages both social contact and individual space. Private homes contain all the features of conventional homes, but residents also have access to extensive common facilities such as open space, courtyards, a playground and a common house.
Originating in Denmark in the 1980s, the concept has been quietly spreading around the world. What strikes me is how closely it aligns with the “wouldn’t it be great if” conversations that friends and I have had for years. Carl Jung introduced the idea of the collective unconscious, and if ever an idea were incubating at that level, this is it. There is a widespread yearning for connection that these communities address. They wrap the idyllic vision of a traditional small town in 21st century guise, potentially complete with sustainable design, community gardens, shared resources, etc., etc.
I don’t know if this will turn out to be another graph-paper exercise or whether my friends and I will eventually create a community or find an existing one where we want to live. For now, I’m just excited, once again, to imagine all that a home could be.
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