This house has a magical, almost fairytale quality about it so, of course, I love it.

It should come as no surprise that one of the primary influences of the HOUSE I AM CURRENTLY BUILDING is none other than Brothers Grimm’s Fairytales, since in addition to BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC magazines, the illustrations in fairytale books were one of the few ways “art” entered our home.

Even as a child, I remember reading about Hansel and Gretel and looking at the paintings and being less afraid of the witch, and more jealous of the whimsical architecture of her home. Forget the fact that it was made of candy, most illustrations were usually heavily influenced by classic English cottage architecture, and that happens to be a design aesthetic I have always adored.

I know that this is not the common (or intended) takeaway from this fairytale, but I doubt children today are much afraid of the story either. It’s too unrealistic: most of today’s big fat American children know that they are way too large to fit in any residential sized oven.

Maybe we could tweak the story just slightly so that the takeaway is somehow to be afraid of JAILS AND PRISONS, where they have huge vat mixers and industrial size ovens.