Home » Reading & Literature » Folklore » Fantasy Houses

Fantasy Houses

© Virginia Marin

I usually receive at least two inquiries per week asking about story-starters and also ways in which children can be motivated to write fantasy stories. Story-starters can be found all around us: from books, television and personal collections to the internet. On a more personal note, most of my ideas come from a related venu. That is, I design stage sets, so to speak, and then allow the sets to speak to me. Many of these sets are miniature fantasy houses which I have designed from unfinished birdhouses. Children and adults love to paint these little houses and add their own creative embellishments. I can think of no better story motivator than this--for any age.

Let's get started!

Basic Supplies

1. Unfinished birdhouses of various sizes, shapes and attitudes
2. Acrylic paints - white, black, pinks, greens, yellows etc
3. Variety of inexpensive brushes
4. Elmer's white glue, hot glue gun and glue sticks
5. Buttons, rick-rack, old jewelry, what-evers
6. Magazine snipits. Be sure to collect doors, windows, bows, hearts, birds - anything fanciful
7. Very tiny Christmas items
8. Mod Podge
9. Victorian balsa wood strips in various designs, wire cutter, sandpaper

Bird houses are ideal for fantasy houses because of their low cost, small size and unusual shapes. Any level of difficulty is accepted by the houses. The trick to using birdhouses for fantasy houses is to always remove the perch and obliterate the bird's circular entry hole. If not, the house will ALWAYS look like a birdhouse, regardless of how whimsically it is otherwise decorated.

To begin, formulate a design and color scheme. If help with color is needed, there are many color wheels on line. A few possible color combinations which I like are purple and yellow; green, brown and rose; blue and yellow; blue and green; pink and green; pink, mauve and brown; yellow and green; and orange and pink. As in real life, try not to use more than three paint colors. I use only two, because I am very generous with color in cut-outs.

Next, assemble your supplies. Snip off the perch and discard. Some perches will simply pull out leaving a little hole, which can be covered with a dab of wood filler or some other medium. Sand flat. Little to no further sanding is required since unfinished birdhouses are ready to paint. When you decide how to cover the bird entry hole, the non-descript birdhouse mentally and physically ceases to exist, and from that point on in concept and design it becomes a fantasy house. I cover the entry hole with the smallest dollhouse door I can find, make my own unique door out of balsa wood scraps or use a cut-out paper door from appropriate magazines and books.

The copyright of the article Fantasy Houses in Folklore is owned by Virginia Marin. Permission to republish Fantasy Houses in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.