What is the dream? You know you have it; we all have it! The dream to move by the ocean or to live in a log cabin off the grid or to find an abandoned loft space to create into a beautiful abode. Every one of us has that secret desire for a huge shift in lifestyle and if all fear and obligation was removed we all know exactly what we would do.
For some of you, it is the desire to get out of the city and to revel in quiet nights staring at the moon listening to the crickets. It is a longing in your soul to have a few animals and maybe raise your own chickens (fresh eggs everyone!) in a quiet, pastoral setting. Your heart’s desire is to build a rustic log home surrounded by trees and songbirds with a rustic yet stylish interior which has a soaring stone wood burning fireplace that you can curl up in front of on cold winter evenings. You imagine yourself embracing a simpler life as you learn new ways of creativity and food preparation in your humble kitchen. Carrying only the load of what you truly need, this type of living ripples over your conscious thought like a soft waft of smoke drifting across dewy grass.
You may be the individual who wants to live in a condo by the ocean with your time and home maintenance as free as the waves upon the shore. You spend your days hiking and traversing mountain trails and sea sides picking driftwood and stones to adorn your cool and contemporary abode. At night you dine at a trendy restaurant and hop down to have a sit on a moonlit bay as you revel in the rhythmic sounds of nature undulating all around you. As you retire to your low maintenance property you rest easy dreaming about the next days adventures; will it be a winery tour or maybe hopping on a cruise ship or a plane just to see more of your chosen province?
The adventurer wants an undiscovered and unique place to call home. The search is intense for a one of a kind property or abandoned building to make into the lair of their dreams. No building is too abandoned or too ragged for this brave soul and they see potential and beauty in every brick and every crumbling window sill. This may be a property in a bustling city or industrial neighbourhood or it may be on an abandoned acre in rural areas. Either way the glory is in the finding and the victory is within your grasp as you plan the perfect renovation. Your life in an RV for a few months of summer only adds to the adventure as you live free spirited while creating your unique and adventurous home.
Whatever the dream, it may not be immediately at hand but it is possible to create niches or spaces within your current life to give your soul a taste of the good life. Whether you desire the quiet of the country or the hum of a big city, it is possible to bring those elements to your home now with collections and memories from those unique and special places.
Kim Wyse is a freelance designer in Red Deer. Find her on facebook at ‘Ask a Designer/Ask a Realtor’.
