Dream House

by Allison Pang

With all the stuff going at home this week - both kids sick, getting my back nerves burned out, pain for everywhere, I'd have to say my dream house is one that is 1) clean and 2) free of germs. These two things may or may not be mutually exclusive, but needless to say I'd be happy with the small things at the moment.

That being said, I don't know if I have an actual dream location - someplace by the sea would be nice, thought it doesn't have to be Caribbean in nature. Just near water. In fact, I've got this vision of myself when I'm 90, living in a little cottage on the beach and probably surrounded by cats. Of course, the inside would be nicely laid out technology-wise, but as to the rest of it?

*shrugs*

Stone chimney, thatched roof, stone walls...and I'm good to go. (This is probably pointing me somewhere in the direction of Ireland, since we don't see too many thatched roofs in the US. And they're probably a pita to keep  up. Especially if I were 90. And you just know those kitties would be all crawling around in the thatch and making a huge mess.)

So maybe we'll just keep that as a pipe dream.

The picture above, btw, is in France and was built for Marie Antoinette. Let them eat cake, indeed.

Incidentally, those of you who know me well know that I'm  not very domestic, but wonder of wonders, I actually painted my bedroom this weekend. And the husband and I are attempting to redo our bathroom ourselves -floor tiles, vanity, painting and the like. It will most likely be an unmitigated disaster, but one step at a time, I suppose.

Here's a few other dream cottages I adore:

And if you want to be really awesome - consider this homemade hobbit house - all natural materials and a rather enchanting inside as well. Read more here. (And more here.) It's sort of the best of all worlds really - the guy built it himself out of scrap wood and tree branches, for under $3000, basically.