A Neighborhood Should Offer More Than Rows Of Garage Doors

Rows of garage doors facing each other make me wonder how much thought we’ve given to the life between our homes.

I believe the environment we surround ourselves with matters deeply. I want a home to make room for beauty, for connection, for contributing to something beyond ourselves. A place to retreat has value. But I don’t want retreat to become our whole way of living.

It is easy to spend our time thinking about what a house might be worth someday and put off asking how we want to live in it now. I want beauty and time together to be part of that conversation while our children are growing up.

Think about an evening together. Sitting in front of a 75-inch TV or sitting by a fireplace are two different ways to spend that time. To me, that choice gets at something important about home design: what do we want our days together to feel like?

I think modern life has lost too much human connection, touch and feeling. That’s why I care about the surroundings of a home as much as the home itself. The rooms matter, but so does what we face when we walk outside. I want to see more than a place to park a car.