The Resurgence of the 80s Townhouse

When you get to a certain age, the prospect of mowing lawn, trimming shrubs, shoveling snow and replacing various systems in your home loses its allure. I realized that about 11 months ago, and embarked on a journey to consider townhouse living. The thought of it gave me chills --- living smack up against other humans, having to weart make-up to get my mail, learning the art of small-talk --- so I avoided it as long as I could.  When I fell out of my tree trying to saw off a broken limb, I realized I had  had enough. I found the proverbial sow's ear --- an 80s townhouse that had been rented for 20 years to people who clearly never owned cleaning supplies. The good news was that it was in the only complex I wanted to live in. The added blessing was that my closest friend is an interior designer (not a housewife who decorates; a real designer). I told Philip my dream was to live in a New York loft, so he started with that premise. There was wonderful space in the townhouse, but a lot of it was wasted on things I didn't want or need, so we completely gutted it, and designed my dream home. The Baby Boom generation is starting to want similar housing, but a lot of them are worried about losing style, space and storage, especially when they see what most of the townhouses in our area look like. he 80s was the Lost Decade when it came to beautiful design in housing, especially townhouses, but with some vision, a great designer and a wonderful contractor, you can have it all. I do!