The Beginning to What Would Become Cardboard Real Estate?
Building cardboard houses all started when I was a Journeys to Careers teacher in Lafayette, LA. When I taught courses in the Architecture and Construction Career Cluster, I had my students to construct a floor plan of several different models of houses using single ply corrugated cardboard boxes (they loved it). After seeing all the blueprints of the houses, I knew that I would one day use cardboard to construct an entire house with walls, doors and windows, and yes, even a roof... Teaching architecture and construction definitely ignited something in me that I never knew I had.
My first house, The Magnolia House, came two to three years later. I marveled that I could actually cut out brick patterns in cardboard. The second house, The Sunflower Shotgun House, absolutely thrilled me and inspired me to do more. The next house would be even better--sturdier and more imaginative. And, so it was. The third house, The Sweetheart Candy Cottage, took me to a level of cardboard construction that was even more challenging. It contains hundreds of cut-out colorful message hearts that covers the roof, along with a heart-painted, lighted patio. And, the fourth house, The House of Emma Louise, is nothing short of magnificent in its details and construction. And, guess what, I have only just begun to imagine, create, and build cardboard Real Estate.
