Nests

Dale and I have owned four houses (and sold three) since 2001. How does that compare to national averages? I sure feel like a nomad sometimes, even though statistics show that we’re not particularly unique. But, frequent moving and house hunting have honed my sense of what I want in home–the features that appeal to me and make me feel “homey.” And, since I’m one of the chief decision makers around here, we’ve worked steadily toward realizing something like an affordable version of our shared vision of a cozy domestic space.

But what would the kids have chosen, I wonder? I sometimes miss a garage (like yesterday, when 20cm of snow fell on our long, unsheltered driveway. With a garage I would spend less time scraping off my car. A snowblower would also fit in a garage!) but would the kids care one way or the other if we had one? Because of the way homes in our neighborhood were built, our basement has a rather low ceiling. Dale and I feel like the basement is sort of cramped and a bit damp. The kids don’t seem to mind at all and would like us to turn it into a lair for them.

Ingrid’s ideal home, I think, would feature walls constructed entirely out of cubby spaces. Something like this yarn shop’s display walls, only with tinier cubbies:

The Loopy Ewe

Ingrid is a fan of all things small and collectible. Unchecked, this fandom would lead her to gather piles of beer bottle caps and wine corks, postage stamps and mailing labels, fake credit cards that come in the mail, used up gift cards, shiny bits of wrapping and cloth. Maybe she channels some kind of paper-obsessed magpie. I don’t think Ingrid needs a ton of space. She likes tight quarters and being surrounded by her stuff. A small, cluttered, colorful full home. That’s Ingrid.

Greta, on the other hand, needs space. To judge by her bedroom, she doesn’t need wee cubbies to hold wee collections of wee things, like her sister. She needs real estate that will accommodate her desire to build piles of things, pyramids of clothing (clean & dirty), books and notebooks, school bags and ballet paraphernalia.  Given that she also opts to keep her curtains forever closed, I picture Greta’s ideal home as some sort of far-reaching, undulating hobbit hole (of which I shall provide no picture, because copyright and such).

And you–what does your current living space say about your ideal home?