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Modern Paper Dwelling (A Girl Can Dream)

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We’ve been house-hunting. Or at least, house-window-shopping. 

The only development thus far has been discovering that my dear husband and I have slightly different ideas about the kind of house we’d like to live in. He keeps showing me listings that have boarded up windows, boast of “freeway access”, and almost inevitably are pictured with at least half a dozen broken down cars, ally cats or abandoned refrigerators strewn about the front yard. 

I picture us in something like this:

…only with a giant backyard, fruit tree orchard, thriving vegetable garden, private craft studio, a trampoline, ducks, a waterfall, stream or river on the property, two-story garage for hubby dearest, and a pony. Ok, that’s excessive. No pony. But I really am having a hard time seeing past the boarded windows of the inner-city listings, so I decided that ONE way to get us an awesome home and share my vision with the mister, was to make a paper model of what I wanted.

During a recent trip to the hardware store, I drifted into the garden center and picked up a 6-pack of Irish Moss. Armed with my miniature “lawn”, and my trusty pack of construction paper, I got busy sketching out the modern home pictured above.

I simplified the design a little to accommodate my clumsy and inelegant construction paper-cutting skills.

After a bit of snipping and gluing, my paper home began to come together.

I glued toothpicks to the back of the finished design, drew some furniture in the windows, and covered them with wax paper to give a translucent look.

I went into the garden to look for a rock that would make a nice backyard mountain range, created a waterfall out of more wax paper and part of a Q-Tip, added a stream, and presto…The house of my dreams?

(Minus the ducks, garage, and all that other crap.)

While it did end up being an exercise in futility (husband BARELY noticed it- probably due to lack of paper alley cats…), it was a fun project and did really get me thinking about what I wanted in a house and neighborhood. Plus, working with these materials reminded me of working on dioramas when I was in elementary school (fun!). Only time will tell if this craft has any lasting influence on the location or style of our future home…. in the meantime, wish me luck?



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Comments

  1. Good luck! I love/hate house hunting. It’s so wonderfully dreamy when you finally find “the one”. But up until that point, it can be difficult/confusing/frustrating/discouraging/lengthy/quarrel-inducing….um. I mean, you’ll have a great time and everything will work out fine! 😉

    Reply

  5. Thanks Cassandra! I completely understand the love/hate thing!! Looking at cute neighborhoods is so fun… until you see the price-tags…

    Anonymous- thanks! Better than pouting and getting depressed, right? :)

    Patricia Lynne- Thank you!!

    Catherine! Thanks dear! I should have made a paper version of myself and my dude! xoxo

    Reply

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