Patricia Mikkelson lives at the Living Springs Log House and is a friend of the owner, Barbara Hulley.

There’s an old idea that is starting to come back: a family doesn’t have to scatter. In fact, it can be healthier for the generations to live close to each other when good boundaries and systems are in place. Grandparents, parents, and children can live within calling distance, sharing meals some nights and privacy every night, raising kids and gardens together without anyone losing their own front door.

At one time, this was my own dream for this land. So it’s easy for me to picture it for people who hope for the same thing. Here’s how I see it working, room by room. And if this is your dream too, I pray that you are successful!

How the House Could Be Shared

When I look at the house with a big family in mind, I see natural places for each household.

A master suite with its own private entrance. The larger master bedroom could open to its own private entrance, so one couple, or one generation, could come and go without walking through anyone else’s living space. One of the two windows that open onto the deck could be turned into a door.

A garage that could become a small apartment. With insulation, plumbing, and some finish work, the garage could become a studio or one-bedroom apartment, a good fit for an aging parent who wants their own space, an adult child getting started, or a caretaker who needs to be close but not underfoot.

A basement suite that’s already lived in. It’s the most finished private space on the property, with its own entrance opening onto the gardens and a concrete patio. Whoever lives here steps outside into their own quiet world. Inside, a spacious, sunny room works as a dining room, living room, and kitchenette, with hookups in place for a full kitchen. There’s no kitchen sink yet, but a bigger sink could replace the standard one in the full bathroom.

Two more rooms, connected by a walk-in closet, have no windows, though one could have a window added to make it a real bedroom. The other room has three walls against concrete and earth, so it stays cool and can work as a root cellar. I lived in this space for years and enjoyed it thoroughly. Washing dishes outside or in the bathtub was very doable.
A couple or a single person could live here comfortably.

Upstairs, a private world of its own. The upper story has its own bathroom and two extra-large bedrooms, each with space for two beds and two huge walk-in closets. A couple and their four children once lived up there, which gave them their own space while I lived in the bedroom below. With a private entrance and a deck added someday, it could be a suite all its own, for a young family or a grown child coming home, while still being part of the larger household.

A Second Bedroom That Could Be Something Else

Just off the mudroom and laundry room sits the smaller of the two master bedrooms. It has a tiny closet and not much storage. The funny thing about the ground floor is that the only bathrooms are in the two master bedrooms, so it makes sense for this one to become the bathroom everyone on the main floor can use. Running upstairs isn’t very practical, especially if that’s someone’s private space.

I picture this room as a shared workspace, with room for around eight small desks, where family members can work, study, or run their businesses side by side. It’s close to the kitchen and dining room.

Because it already has a full bathroom, everyone on the main floor would have a bathroom without climbing stairs, while the upstairs keeps its own. A guest who is camping could use the shower too.

I love it when the “problem room” turns out to be the most useful room in the house.

With that workspace, the kitchen, pantry, laundry room, and living room shared, this floor could become the heart of the home, where everyone cooks, works, and gathers, while each generation still has a private place to go at the end of the day.

The Spot for a Back Deck

In the living room there’s a door that opens onto nothing yet. It was clearly placed with a deck in mind, at the cool, shady back of the house. The steep, forested hill behind the house works like natural air conditioning, and the back stays cool all day, even in the hottest summers. A deck there, enclosed and screened, would make a three-season room for early coffee and evening conversations, keeping the bugs out and the breeze in. I can picture a family gathering there, young and old together.

A shade garden full of medicinal plants and other shade-loving plants would grow well there in the rich forest soil.

Or, instead of a deck, that same stretch of land behind the house is level and open enough for a motorhome, with electricity close by. For a family trying out living together before building anything, someone could be here, part of daily life, before a single wall goes up.

Tucked into the house is a room built to keep us safe in a storm, with thick, solid walls. Most of the year, though, it does something else. We hung grow lights and turned it into a winter growing space, and through the cold months it was full of kale, longevity spinach, mint, and even young moringa trees reaching for the light. On a gray January day, there’s nothing quite like stepping into that room and being surrounded by green, growing things. There’s a faucet in there, and we keep 5-gallon jugs of water for emergencies.

The Metal Building: A Second Home, or a Shared Gathering Place

The 40’x60′ metal building is where my imagination really takes off.

With a second story, it could hold studio apartments, bedrooms, or a large home for a family with many children. Or the whole building could become one roomy home for a big extended family.

What I’d love most, though, is for the ground floor to stay shared space for everyone. It already has water and a bathroom (ready for a shower to be added), plus electrical for a stove, so a shared kitchen is within reach. Right now the water isn’t running, but that can be fixed. With a big gathering space, a place for tools and projects, and room for small businesses, it could become the place where everyone cooks, eats, and builds things together.

• A shared kitchen for family meals
• A gathering hall for birthdays, potlucks, and meetings
• A makerspace for shared tools and projects
• Space for small businesses: mushroom growing, a fermentation kitchen (kraut, kimchi, kombucha, vinegar), a workshop, a studio

I like this idea because if the metal building holds the shared life of the family, each household’s own space can stay simpler. Not every apartment needs its own big kitchen or gathering room. Each household can keep its door closed and still be a short walk from everyone else.

Room for Another House

From what I’ve learned, Madison County zoning allows one house per four acres, and this land is 14.75 acres. So there’s room for a second house, and there’s a natural spot for one.

A second house could be another multigenerational home, or a home for a different family who shares the land and the same values. Looking ahead, when the grandchildren grow up and want families of their own, there would be room for them too.

Room to Grow, Literally

There’s enough land for each household to have its own garden plot, plus the garden that’s already here for everyone to share. With clear boundaries and agreements, a shared garden is a real gift, and it brings a family together in a beautiful way.

And Then, the Pond

Here’s my dream inside the dream: where the old pond was, spring water still flows all the way from the spring down to that low point in the land. Over the years it has filled in with cattails and other wetland plants, so it would need to be fully dug out and reclaimed. But the water is still finding its way there, patiently, the way it always has.

Once dug out and reshaped, it could become a natural swimming pool, with cold, clear spring water filtered by plants and gravel instead of chemicals. I picture children and grandchildren swimming, while the grown-ups sit at the edge with coffee, looking out at the lake.

The Land Itself

All of this rests on the land. A cave spring that has kept the cisterns full enough for our use since 2017, except when a hose was left running or something went wrong at the spring. Organic gardens and hugelkultur beds, chemical-free and producing. Quiet, privacy, and a lake view that makes you forget there’s a world beyond the tree line.

I once hoped my own family would grow together here. I’d love for another family to have that chance.