Monday, August 2, 2010

Little Houses

When I was a little girl my mother sat with me at the kitchen table and taught me how to draw. It was nice, mostly being with my mother. But the thing that drew me the most was building houses. My first homes: a refrigerator box (nice and cozy); blankets hung from the clothesline (a little too roughing-it for my taste, even at 7); blankets over a table in my great-grandmothers flat. 

After mom divorced, she and I moved into my aunt Katie's house and shared the attic bedroom. My houses became much more sophisticated. Kim, my best friend, and I would walk up to the paint store and collect old wallpaper books. We got cardboard boxes from behind the grocery store and knives from the kitchen. Then we'd cut little windows and doors in the boxes, put in cardboard partitions and wallpaper the rooms. 

Then in the fifth grade my art teacher, Miss Schwitzer, taught us perspective. PERSPECTIVE! Wow. You can draw the inside of rooms with perspective! So on to the next phase, drawing my little houses and making floor plans. Bliss. I favored the cozy, efficient, no waste of space houses. This continued all though high school and beyond.


Ok, so that's some history.

My architect husband and I  now live in a four bedroom colonial house. As I get older this house gets bigger and bigger. More work. Too much stuff. 

A couple days ago I found a PBS video that I've played over and over. It's all about the small house movement.
http://video.pbs.org/video/1553961054


This video brings me back to a very appealing place that I used to live in in my head. Small (not my head). Cozy. And I owned nothing more than what I really needed. 
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The Doll House. The grandkids like it. John hates it. You can't please everyone.

2 comments:

  1. Lynn, love this post and the doll house is wonderful! Enjoyed the video - but no matter how much room I'm given, it's never enough! No desire for that tiny space! Now for another look at your fabulous paintings! So glad I found your blog!

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  2. Hi Rosemary, I love hearing from you again. I keep thinking about that little house in the video, and truly, the reality of my "stuff" doesn't fit in the fantasy in my head. I couldn't even fit my husband in there with me. I was painting encaustic yesterday and was wishing for more space. Still, simplyfing has enormous appeal.

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