I have often wondered about whether I will be able to be doing things in my creative life , creative ideas that I may never have the time enough or money enough to ever see come into reality.  I want to share some of my (a very few of my…) creative dreams with you that I have always wanted to do, and I only hope someday, I will find the time, situation, and money to do them, before I pass from this earth.

     I have always wanted to create an elderly care home which would be the kind of place that would bring a new dimension of peace and excitement to aging lives.It would bring a better quality of life to older folks.  More than hospital rooms disguised as hotel rooms, disguised as real home rooms. More than a sitting area and an eating area and a few card tables for crafts.

     I would design someplace that the family members would actually want to visit because the place had something special for the whole family to enjoy.  Having families “want” to visit (instead of having to drag them to see great grandma or cousin Albert) is important because seeing younger folks interact helps keep the residents young. If I were to build such a home, it would have pool tables.  It would have a video arcade and game room. It would have a playground to let youngsters tumble and frolic while older folks could watch and enjoy the laughter of play.

     I would have a small “church” complete with pews, an organ, an alter, and stained glass. This would be a spot where some may go to pray and reflect and praise wihtout having to always find transportation to a church. We could have guest preachers and small services at Christmas and Easter. When a resisident passes-on, we can have a special area to put thier portrait and special memory photos so others can pay their respects, or place flowers.

     I would have a pet shop where folks could go to snuggle with pets, and an art studio where arts could be taught and artists could teach how to paint, draw, or sculpt. Perhaps a few kilns for doing ceramics.

     It would have a gift store where an outside entrance and signage would invite customers to buy gifts, some of them hand made by the residents. This way, business minded guests could keep their minds sharp by seeing commerce at work and maybe even turn their work into a few dollars profit.

     I would have a restaurant styled area which projected video images on all the walls so as to mentally transport guests to exotic settings while they eat(by the sea shore or on a mountain top). This would allow them to explore and travel without leaving “home”.

     I would have parks and ponds, and a theatre stage where music could be heard or plays be performed by guests or residents. The movie theatre would be big enough and comfortable enough to allow everyone to enjoy movies just like going to the cinema. 

     I have seen people in my life who were seemingly healthy adults go into elderly care homes and then deteriorate and die. I think it has something to do with these folks not feeling alive but rather being put into “storage” until they pass. I know, if I were in one of these homes, I would be hard pressed not to age and give-up. I need to design and build one while I still can.  We all need to feel like we are not shut-out of normal living and all need the ability to contribute in some way.

      On a much lesser creative scale, I have always wanted to design and have my own kind of restaurant. In my place, like the elderly home idea, where folks would be transported visually to different remote spots on the earth, or to the greatest Wisconsin sights. A place where you can bring the family and “get-away ” on a small escape vacation to the tropics when you have had too much snow.  The grand piano would play different types of music for each destination or season.

     I have always wanted to build a fantastic tree house which has running water and all the amenities of home, next to a stream. The tree house would have lots of glass so you could see upward and feel like you were sleeping under the stars at night.

    I have always wanted to build a bedroom where you could walk into this children’s  bedroom and find yourself  walking on a suspended rope bridge going directly into a huge indoor tree fort. You see, the floor of this bedroom is suddenly gone because it is open to the basement entirely! You would climb up stairs to get to the sleeping hut in this tree and another hut for the play room. The trunk would have a curving slide to take you from the top of the tree to the very bottom of the trunk exiting in the basement, near an indoor pool.

    I have always wanted to build a bedroom entirely out of legos. I thought this would be especially fun to build the walls, bed, dressers, chairs, even the doors and window frames entirely of legos. Then build common non-lego toys out of legos.

     I have always wanted to build a teenager’s room which was decorated to be messy and beautiful. I would have the carpet seamed with cut-in shapes of clothing astrewen about the floor. The dirty sweat socks are actually seamed into the carpeting along with the shapes of jeans and t-shirts, all done in carpet. The bed spread and window curtains would all be made of fashionable clothing sewen together to form these items. The walls would be soundproofed so they could play the music or guitar or drums as loud as they like, and I would have a stack washer dryer right in the room to make doing laundry as easy as possible.

     I have been an amateur magician since middle school and I would love to have a bedroom with shallow stages all around the room so I could display my large colorful stage illusions on all walls and be able to perform them at a moments notice for guests. I would like to make it so my bed could “magically” rise from the floor and a couch group would rise up onto the main level of the floor for changing the room into a lounge or bedroom.

     I have always wanted to build a living room or rec-room that was built on a turn-table so it could turn in various directions to favor the views or sun light.  It might feel like you were in one of those spinning restaurants or just be static.

     I would like to build a master bedroom that has two toilets as well as two sinks and have a special way to automatically separate the beds when someone is snoring (see a previous blog article)too loudly.

     In this year’s parade of homes model ,I am calling the “HYBRID WONDER HOME” I will have the opportunity to do several things I have always wanted to do. I will be creating outdoor “rooms” that feel like indoor rooms. I will be creating a portion of my fantasy restaurant complete with automatic piano and changing video environments, I will be creating the first kitchen ever to have no space wasted between the counter tops and the wall cabinets. I will be putting a laundry room IN the master bedroom closet area, and many more things that I have always wanted to do.

     The term bucket-list seems a current popular term. It means making a list of things you want to do before you die(kick the bucket). I may not ever get to do all of my bucket list(I have so many more things I want to create) but thank God for the many blessings he has allowed me to create or help create. It is not about the creation, it is about the smiles and lifes you impact with the things you create.

     If you want to join me for some creative idea sharing or hearing more about our 3 Parade homes we are now building in Richfield’s Reflection’s  Village, I hope you will stop out at the models in Milwaukee, Monterey, or Jackson.  I would love to share a lively conversation. Remember, this is the last weekend for the MBA Spring Tour Of  Homes  from 12 to 4. We will also be open this Monday night from 6 to 8 in Jackson and Milwaukee. I hope to see you there!

     Creative Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

P.S. I would love to hear your feed-back or comments. Please feel free to post them. I get a LOT of spam comments so please comment by mentioning something I actually wrote about in your comments.  Thanks for blogging!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Tom Hignite's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.