From dollhouse to retreat - small is beautiful!
"Charles Lantz was great - he was more than great!
His work is beautiful - the use of space is very inspiring." - Rose Johnston

When Rose Johnston and her partner Muriel Agnes bought their home, it included a sweet little walk-in doll house. With imagination, a couple of additions (extending the micro structure to 15 x 17 feet in total) and very careful fitting, the dollhouse grew up to become retreat-studio for the contemplative song-writer.

"The use of space is inspiring," Rose says. She sees her getaway as an excellent demonstration that we can live in smaller, more efficient spaces than we normally consider. There are only 42 tiles in the work-area floor between the sink, stove, kitchen table and computer table. At the end of the cabinet by the kitchen table are four drawers.

"The kitchen is wonderful," she notes. "It works." Right next to it is a sitting area with teeny woodstove plus lazyboy, electric piano, computer and guitar. Opening the space is as simple as fitting the computer table under the kitchen table. The bed, visible in the photo below, left, is free-standing and can be easily moved.

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The middle section with the high pitched roofline is home to the original dollhouse. Two wings were added, one a comfortable screened-in verandah.

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