After I wrote about multi-generational housing, I heard from all sorts of interesting people with different kinds of experience and expertise in this subject - either as caregivers for their own multi-generational families, or as urban thinkers who've given a lot of study to the subject of how we can make our living spaces work better.
My neighbour Fred Hollis lent me this book ("The Small House Book" by Jay Schafer). It is full of inspiring pictures and ideas - inspiring not only if you're trying to do a major downsize, but also if you only have a small space to start with. Tiny can still mean luxurious, liveable, and definitely cozy.
Then tonight I happened to read a story to my son: published in 1971, Peppino is illustrated by Sita Jucker and written by Ursina Ziegler. As far as I can tell (and I can't find out much... i.e. a link to put here!) they were (and still are, perhaps?) both Swiss. This book (like most of the zillions of children's books piled around my house) was mine when I was little. I remember loving this story of a boy whose dad was no longer able to work as a travelling magician; Peppino (the boy) helps by earning money - and creating hope - with his wonderful drawings. I loved all the pictures in the book, but I really liked this one, which shows Peppino's drawing of the house he dreams of living in with his father.
Peppino was ahead of his time! He was designing tiny houses long before they became trendy!
My neighbour Fred Hollis lent me this book ("The Small House Book" by Jay Schafer). It is full of inspiring pictures and ideas - inspiring not only if you're trying to do a major downsize, but also if you only have a small space to start with. Tiny can still mean luxurious, liveable, and definitely cozy.
Then tonight I happened to read a story to my son: published in 1971, Peppino is illustrated by Sita Jucker and written by Ursina Ziegler. As far as I can tell (and I can't find out much... i.e. a link to put here!) they were (and still are, perhaps?) both Swiss. This book (like most of the zillions of children's books piled around my house) was mine when I was little. I remember loving this story of a boy whose dad was no longer able to work as a travelling magician; Peppino (the boy) helps by earning money - and creating hope - with his wonderful drawings. I loved all the pictures in the book, but I really liked this one, which shows Peppino's drawing of the house he dreams of living in with his father.
Peppino was ahead of his time! He was designing tiny houses long before they became trendy!
And, you know, this wasn't where I was going with this at all, but those pictures just make me think of another children's story: Roald Dahl's "Danny, the Champion of the World" in which another boy lives with his father in another cozy "tiny house" (a gypsy caravan - pictured here in one of the original illustrations by Jill Bennett). Tiny homes in children's literature - perhaps a subject for another day!
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