A fundamental part of the Western culture is made of fairy tales and folk stories. Mostly known in their Disney version, they are a source of inspiration for many. We are deeply influenced by the memories of our childhood and the past. Even when the children stories are written by contemporaries, they carry in them elements of the tradition of fairy tales. In Wales, a family father built an eco-friendly house directly inspired by the Hobbit houses in the creations of British iconic fantasy writer J.R.R Tolkien. It is based in a hillside and made with only natural materials.
All natural, also, the materials used by John Kopchik, a half Irish half Russian American artist, in his Forest Dweller Houses. Those sculptures are carven in unique pieces by the artist himself and look like the perfect place for the Seven Dwarfs.
Unfortunately, nobody ever built them in a real-life size, but, during the wait, one can recreate the interiors of the place that host Snow White pretty easily.
If your favourite tale is, instead, that of Sleeping Beauty, but you don’t have the space and money of King Ludwig II of Bavaria to commission a copy of Neuschwanstein (which inspired the famous Disney logo, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle), you could build a cottage with a tower like this one.
Talking about eccentricities, fan of the Little Mermaid will find their dream place in Mexico City, where the Nautilus House is built. The design by Javier Senosiain, with its coulored glasses, will make everyone inside it feel like under the sea, where the sun plays games with red coral and the shiny tails of beautiful tropical fishes.
Back on the old continent, precisely in Yekaterinburg (Russia), we find another triumph of colour which reminds us of the confectionery house of the witch in Hansel and Gretel. While the fairy tale is German and there are no proven connections between the two, this coloured house looks like it was made of cake.
If you are not too eccentric but you would like a magic atmosphere in your home, the blue touch in this classic example of American architecture (from Portland, Oregon) makes the trick. The addition of the decoration is just the icing on the cake. You can see Wendy, and her brothers, fly away from the top window following Peter Pan.
If that is still too much, why not have your own secret garden with an enchanted entrance? This blue door opens on the Yorkshire of the Ewardian age and collective childhood memories.