We live on a 'family compound' with my parents and siblings. It's made raising our daughter much easier.

We have our own house, but my husband and I live on the same property as my parents and siblings.

Taylor Bunting My husband and I live in a separate house on the same property where my immediate family lives.

In total, nine family members and three dogs live in the two houses on our "family compound." We love spending time with my close-knit family , and it's been great for our daughter, too.

There's a popular saying that it takes a village to raise a child.

I'd always understood the saying as a metaphor.

But when my husband and I decided to build a house on the same property where my parents, younger siblings, and my brother's fiancé live, that adage became a lot more literal.

Now, we're raising our daughter on our "family compound," with our village right next door.

A compound wasn't the initial plan, but living here has been an incredible experience My parents built their house first.

Taylor Bunting Although my family had jokingly talked about building houses next door to each other since I was a child, we never thought we could make that a reality.

However, the arrangement started to materialize in 2024.

At the time, my husband and I were living about 15 minutes from my childhood home, which was bursting at the seams with my three siblings, my brother's fiancé, both my parents, and their two adorable golden retrievers.

My parents had been searching for a larger home for years, but eventually decided to purchase a piece of land in our Massachusetts hometown.

Here, they built a house big enough for all six of them to live together comfortably, and realized there was enough room left on the property for my husband and me to build our own house if we wanted to.

They began construction on their home that same year, and not long after, my husband and I decided to sell our existing home and break ground on a new place on the property.