The American dream is to own a house, to settle down in a community and raise a family. Once the kids move on to create their own lives and live their own dreams, we have choices. This past winter we spent several months in Hawaii and loved it. When you move somewhere new, it’s exciting with lots of new experience. My husband and I decided we would sell our house and become vagabonds.

Like others looking at their options in retirement, we wanted to share our story with you. We hope you also share you ideas so we can all enjoy these years of freedom to sleep late, live where we want and discover the wonders of the world!

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There’s a freedom associated with downsizing that I’ve found only after the fact.

Two  years ago, my husband and I (just turning 60 and with all our children grown and gifting us with grandchildren) decided to sell our large Pennsylvania home in Bucks County and move to our much smaller home in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Our decision to sell our primary home, and live year round in our vacation home was based on a number of factors. These included financial, responsibility for two homes and our love for the Massachusetts house location on Cape Cod Bay.

I start this story by sharing one of our major challenges.  My husband is a bit of a collector, OK, he’s a big collector.  Picture 50 coffee cans of nails, separated by size and type.  He is not a carpenter.  How about five thousand antique lead miniature soldiers, along with two years of WWII and Civil War Magazines (he often tells me he is still trying to figure out who won the wars).  Not to mention the 100′s of holiday ornaments, many from his childhood or accumulated artwork stacked a mile high because there wasn’t any more wall space. Not to say that I didn’t contribute with my40 year pewter collection, antique glass pitchers, crocks, shoes  and — you get the picture. READ MORE

Spring is popular for garage sales. We get to clean out what’s cluttering our homes – the garage, attic, basement and oops, don’t forget the dining room table. Garage sales offer the perfect opportunity to reward your de-cluttering efforts with a night on the town, a new outfit or maybe you want to add a little extra to this year’s vacation budget.

New parents have lots of paraphernalia to buy and often can’t afford to buy everything new, so tag sales are a great way to recycle kiddie stuff from one family to the next. When my boys were little, they outgrew clothes in 6 months and toys lasted a bit longer, so it made sense to buy these gently used items at tag sales near my home in Danbury, CT.

Some baby items should be bought new to get exactly what you want. When visiting my granddaughter last month (5 months old), I decided it was time to get the magical backpack, knowing it will be used for many hours, over multiple years. READ MORE

What features in your home do you treasure the most? Lots of natural sunlight is a top priority for my home but I didn’t know this until our family moved to Tokyo. On our house hunting trip, the realtor asked what we were looking for? We were moving from a 2500 square foot house on an acre of land in upstate New York, to a city of 13 million where most people live in apartment buildings. I didn’t know how to answer.

Rarely at a loss for words, I described our home in Wappinger Falls, New York. We had 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths packaged up in a 2500 square foot home with a wonderful deck snuggled among the trees. Our acre lot was on a small cul-de-sac with lots of trees so we had total privacy, only seeing one neighbors’ house in the dead of winter when all the leaves were gone from the trees.

My challenge was not knowing the choices for a family living in an apartment, in a city of apartment buildings and definitely not knowing a thing about homes and living in Japan. READ MORE

Outdoor living trends offer the opportunity to blend old memories with our new lifestyle. We might not have enough time to plan a camping trip but we remember fondly, camping as a child. Firepits are the new campfire, when we buy or build one in our backyard.

When we add a firepit to our backyard, we’re making a commitment to ourselves or maybe our children, that we’re going to make time to relax and enjoy the outdoors. There are many ways to add an outdoor fire to your home’s outdoor landscape and it’s important to pick the right one for your family so let’s explore your options. READ MORE

Open concept layout, open floor plan are phrases that describe a home where rooms flow naturally from one room to the next. These floor plans provide visual openness so when you’re in one room, you’re able to see into other rooms and watch the kids or enjoy the natural sunlight streaming in through the family room windows. Open floor plans seem to be what everyone wants today if you’re watching the home shows on HGTV.

This open staircase does a great job of illustrating the concept. If you’re standing next to the photographer, you can see rooms to the left and right of the stairs, as well as anyone walking up the stairs or hallway at the top of the stairs. Now imagine how this might feel if there were walls surrounding the stairs? READ MORE

Children dream about different careers. Through play, sports and hobbies we explore many interests and hopefully find our passion. My first love was figure skating but I wasn’t going to become a professional skater. At times I wanted to be an architect, a teacher and tried my hand at various entrepreneurial ventures like selling flowers from our garden.

Life’s journey isn’t a straight line. After student teaching I switched to technology and eventually my interest in building and business came together when I started a handyman business. We all have hidden talent and skills from our childhood. As a homeowner you get to rediscover yours, to maintain your investment and create your dream home.

Maybe you remember building things as a child? Did you enjoy the challenge of balancing building blocks to see how high you could stack them up? There are many concepts that transfer from children’s building blocks to building houses and that’s what we’ll explore here. READ MORE

Stairs are one of the many things we take for granted in our homes, unless you’ve got one of those grand entryways like we’re used to seeing in movies like Gone with the Wind. Stairs are an integral part of any home with more than one level, giving us access to upstairs along with the attic and/or basement.

We’re able to take stairs for granted because of the building codes which control how they’re designed and built, making them safe for us to use and often, abuse in our chaotic lives. Fortunately houses come with stairs so when exactly do you need to design stairs? READ MORE

Gretchen’s story is about planning for her retirement home in the country. We’re often so busy juggling our professional and personal lives that we don’t allow enough time to plan for tomorrow. As we join Gretchen’s journey, you’ll gain insight into many of the choices and difficult decisions that need to be made when you leave the city where you’ve lived for years, to settle down in a new community with a different culture and lifestyle. For Gretchen, she’s leaving Boston to return to her roots living on a farm in western Massachusetts.

We’re launching “homeowner stories” where many women will share their personal stories. We spend more time in our homes than anywhere else, so it’s important that we learn how our homes shape our lives and how we can transform our homes to support the lifestyles of our dreams. By sharing our stories, we can learn from each other and capture the essence of home is where the heart is! READ MORE

Pets are a wonderful addition to a family. They’re cute, lovable and more than anything, they give their love unconditionally to each and every family member although they might have a favorite. While many adults might think they need a pet for their children, pets also fill a void for people without children, young and old.

If you’ve got a dog or cat, you’re not alone. Sixty-three percent of US households have a pet – 39% own at least one dog and 33% have at least one cat and yes, lots of families own multiple pets. My husband and I grew up with dogs so we’ve had one ever since we bought our first house and once our boys got older, we added at various times — fish, birds, a guinea pig and a rabbit. READ MORE