apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

To me, anyway, you always need the place to escape to - the refuge, the retreat. When you pack up and move there for all time - does it seem as special? Does it seem as splendid of a get away - something so different from your every day life?

When the country becomes an everyday occurrence, where do you then go to escape? Do you go over sees for a different culture, a different relaxation?

I say, if money was no object at all, I would keep my life in the city and purchase a plot of land with the most beautiful country side I could afford - I would then build my escape. Cottage for me - small and efficient with only what I need. Then I would escape there to my secret getaway - and it would sooth me every time.

Beautiful photograph, by the way.

Living in the West brings with it additional choices, such as living in the city and working in the suburbs. We've done that for... yikes... close to 15 years in four regions, some of which weren't all that Western.

I need my urban environment, but I wouldn't actually turn down a free beach cottage in Encinitas.

I second Chad's comment, except I would put a small scale prefab on mine like Rocio's LV series.

I know AT is a design-centric site, but maybe every once in a while the community could let each other know where plots of land are for sale in the countryside...in the classified section.

The views there are very similar to my own and let me tell you, I never get tired of it. The rolling green, the trees and their shade, the hills and valleys are so calm and serence. This is who I am.

I love to visit big cities (talk about country mouse) and get lost in the rumbling traffic and people but I love coming home.

I fantasize about living in the Berkshires full-time -- I grew up there -- but I know I'm not ready to give up the city -- YET! But looking down the pike I can see a shift to more time there and less here leading into retirement there.

But times change -- it's hard to know how I will really feel in another decade or two.

If NYC does add another million in the coming years, as predicted, taking the "B" will be much more appealing than an ever more crowded "IRT" !!!

For me, the ideal is to have no disconnect between living and working--not in the sense of working all the time, but in the sense of integrating my work into my life and my life into my work, and being able to do my work and live my life anywhere in the world.
If I was a furniture maker, for instance, I'd like to spend roughly three weeks a month down in NC making stuff, one week up in NYC selling it, with a few months thrown in for inspirational travel and education.

I think it's hilarious to lump the suburbs and the country in the same group. The two are nothing alike. I live just across the river from Washington, in the suburbs, and it's much more like living in the city than living on a farm.

confusing suburbs with country strikes me as a bit odd too.

but then again what if one wants a retreat in another city. A place in New York and a pied a terre in Paris, say?

well...for some NYers, Long Island can be considered countryside. :-)

Definitely a difference between country and suburbs. I grew up in a bit of an anomaly. Its proximity to Chicago, about an hour, would seem to make it a suburb. But the fact that it is unincorporated, dry, has beautiful forests and streams and mostly farmland would seem to warrant being called the country. To me, it is the country, even though a major beltway is slated to rip across its soil which is some of the most highly nutritive in the country and will bring with it residential, commercial and industrial development transforming it from an anomaly to a bonafide suburb.

I could live in the city or I could live in the country. It's what lies between that I am scared of.

Shannon, I would love to be able to live my life like you described.

Other: Live/work in the city, escape to/vacation in cities.

JonathanB has the right idea. Let Paris be your countryside. It has lots of elbow room between things and gorgeous vistas with foliage and yet it's still a city. I'm al-LER-gic smelling hay.

For 15 years I lived in the city, then I moved to the suburbs (ICK)then, a little bit further out, and now 24 years into my adult life I live in the country. On a river. Facing the woods. I treasure this every day and wouldn't trade it for the world. I go back into the city weekly- to shop, see friends etc... but I can't wait to retreat back to my country home.
Living in the country doesn't make you a bumkin by the way, and I can't smell hay OR animals where I live- of course, I also don't smell the air here either....

I am about to move to the suburbs in northern westchester because it feels like the country. The house we're buying is an old farmhouse on 5 acres and is next to a horse farm with 75 acres. The houses on the street are almost all 100-200 years old. It is dead quiet and serene and peacful. Yet there are great restaurants, museums, parks, art movie houses, coffee houses and galleries within 20 minutes. And the city is 45 minutes away. I have friends who live there and I love it whenever I visit. It isn't really the country--everyone works in Manhattan and there are strip malls nearby--but it has many of the benefits of the country without many of the problems. That is the perfect balance.

This has me pondering a bit... are the Hamptons considered country or suburb? I suppose it is technically not a suburb since it's 100 miles away from the city (or thereabouts). It also lacks a major highway, big-box retail outlets like Wal Mart and strip malls (Bridgehampton Commons, excepted). It has a country vibe overall, yet there are villages and hamlets and, I hate to say, tract developments here and there. The traffic is horrendously suburban in nature, and, of course, the overall mindset is rooted deeply within New York City. So which is it?

I must admit that I do get that overwhelming feeling of relaxation and "deep breathing" when I get to my house in Sag Harbor. Or is it that I am just so beat after sitting in traffic for three hours? In any case, all I want to do is cook, read, have a drink, take naps and, in general, be lazy. Although this is great for a weekend, I can't imagine being such a sloth every day of my life. For me, the city/country balance is a vital one- one existence reacts to the other perfectly.

How one defines "the city" depends a lot on one's previous experience and lifestyle. For me, moving from a city with 700,000 people to a KS town with a population of 45,000 feels a lot like downsizing to the country. But for some of the students at the university who come from really small KS towns (like the one we visited this weekend with a population of 450), this is a big city. I am glad I made the move and am enjoying the different pace of life, not to mention a much needed shift in perspective and priorities. I also know that in the not-too-distant future, we will be going home, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But I will defintely take a lot from my time here with me!

I have lived about 34 of my 44 years in one city or another. More and more, I find myself daydreaming about living a quiet life in the country. The only negative would be leaving my friends here in the city. Maybe I can convince a few to come along...

I have been fortunate to have experienced both worlds in the last 7 years. I lived for 18 years in Jersey City, NJ, the most densely populated city in NJ. Then 5 years just outside rural Stockton, NJ pop. 560, among the least populated, now back in the city. Having moved here from the Midwest, I loved and still love Jersey City and living in the shadow of Manhattan and all those benefits. But life there was intense and I needed an outlet, so I constantly sought weekend breaks in the country where I eventually moved.

Living in the country was absolutely spectacular, but the hour drive back to Northern NJ and Manhattan for entertainment, shopping and visiting friends was a drudge. Another downside was everything you needed required driving substantial distances, which consumed phenomenal amounts of gas and time. I suppose the oxymoronic solution is the close-in rural town but I and most other people can't afford places like Far Hills, Oldwick or Bedford. So the result is I will likely always be torn between city and country.