What Is a Dream Home?
What is a dream home? Is a dream home a “perfect home”? The word, “perfect” is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “Having no mistake or flaw.” Is your dream home a perfect home or the home that only you “dream” of?
Let’s try to determine what your dream home really is. Is it a larger than life luxury home with loads of living area? Is it a cozy cottage on the sea? Maybe it’s a cabin on a mountaintop or possibly a breezy bungalow located on a private island?
Everyone’s Dream Home Is Different
When I recently asked some family members to briefly describe their dream home, their answers were varied and quite surprising to me! What I found from their answers was a dream home not only includes a home but a dream location, too!
The answers also indicate that the ideal dream home is not necessarily the lavish home you see in home magazines but appears to be a practical home that works well or fits for the individual(s) living in it. Here are a few of the answers I received.
- “My dream home is simply a home with plenty of space and a peaceful atmosphere,” said my 70ish aged sister.
- “An open concept home that would be able to seat all of our kids and their families for get-togethers without being too crowded. Also, Steve (husband) wants a basement, and no super close neighbors would be nice too,” said my niece just turning 50.
- “A home with a big garage and a large kitchen that is located near biking and hiking trails,” my 64-year-old hubby described.
- And my mother-in-law, who is in her early 80s, described her ideal home as “A home with a big kitchen, a glassed in sunroom and a small yard. Must be located close to town.”
My Own Dream Home Experience
I have had the unique opportunity to build four dream homes in the past 40 years. They consisted of a 1300 sq. ft. ranch home on a small lot, a 1500 sq. ft. ranch home with basement on a one acre lot, a 2100 sq. ft. ranch home with basement on two hundred acres and a 5500 sq. ft. two-story home with a large interior courtyard on five acres.
It’s funny how, now that I look back, the four homes listed would not be considered my ideal dream home today. Ideally, my dream home today would be a more simplified home with less than 2600 sq feet and a small yard.
So why is my dream home only my dream home for a certain period of time? Is it me or why did my “dream home” preferences change?
Life Changes Us
As we get older, our lifestyle changes and our needs change. The home you may dream of in your 20s is not necessarily the dream home you dream of in your 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond.
I consider the true “dream home” to be the home that fits you at the right time of your life. If your home just does not fit, then it may be time to look for another ideal dream home. And hey, it’s okay if you end up like me with multiple dream homes during your lifetime.
I think it is great if you happen to be one of the few that find their dream home early in life and that home fits you throughout the rest of your life.
I recently had the opportunity to read an obituary of my great-great-grandfather. The last sentence of his obit made me smile. It stated, “Alexander Blair Cathey, died 1916, 90 years old, born and died on the same tract of land.” I suppose he decided that the place he was born fit, and he saw no need for change.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
So, what is your ideal dream home or better yet, dream home(s) over the years? How many dream homes have your lived in? How has your taste in home styles changed over the years? Or are you one of the lucky few where your dream home has remained the same over the years?
Tags Finding Happiness
This is such a timely discussion. I’ve moved a few times over the years, always lived at home with my mum and dad and am still single at 60! Lost my Dad 17 years ago and my mum, 2 years ago. We had a nice little bungalow near the sea ( I’m in Kent in the UK ). Stupidly, trying to be brave in my grief, I decided to move and sold up and bought a lovely brand new bungalow in a new area a couple of counties away. I HATED the area…..the garden was also far far too big for me. Within a year, I really felt my age and felt even worse being away from where I knew. I sold up, at a loss and moved back purchasing another bungalow which I knew needed a bit of work. I had some savings though not a lot, to do this…..or so I thought. Post Covid and with the costs of living being so high, I’d vastly underestimated the costs of ‘ doing up ‘, and, as a daft lady living alone, I got caught a couple of times with tradesmen walking off with money. Thankfully not a lot but I felt upset about it all the same. Its dented my trust in people too. So, now, in a really difficult housing market, I’m trying to find somewhere else. Last year, I had two broken chains ( a nightmare ), and the value of my bungalow, especially given it’s not all potshot done up, has dropped considerably. I was thinking of a new build but after living in a bungalow for the last 30 years or so, I now can’t afford another single story place sadly. So, I looked at houses and then saw a very old property, a farm building that had been converted in 2015. I ended up – not without some trepidation – offering on it. It’s a 2 bed converted farm building with a very tiny courtyard garden. Allocated parking, no garage which was something else I’d have said I’d not have compromised on. So, I’m now getting really scared as everything I said I’d not compromise on, I have and it does still need decorating and some new carpet. Am I doing the wrong thing at 60, I’m asking myself? It has stairs when I should be looking for no stairs. I’ve used most of my savings which worries me, but I also know I can’t stay where I am as it will just fall into a state of disrepair as the years go by. Is anyone else as daft as I am? 🤔
Mostly windows in the blue smoky mountains. Eco friendly of course
My dream home was a 385 square foot studio apartment in what was once a hotel built for the 1904 World’s Fair. It had lovely old details, crystal door knobs, high ceilings and a retrofitted 1940s bath. I used to lay in bed and daydream about who might have stayed in my room over the years.
My current dream home is an approx. 600 sq. ft. A-frame, main living area downstairs, sleeping loft upstairs. Location is important to me, I love Nature and I do a lot of nature photography, so it’s on the edge of a forest/wooded area, and has a great view across wide-open areas, either natural meadows or farmlands. I desire a long view having always lived in places where the longest view was across the street! :)
My perfect home would come with a cleaning crew.