#135: How Many Dollhouses Is Too Many Dollhouses?: a

If you think our podcast has tackled this question already, Simply YOU WAIT! The universe lately tested Sherry’s dollhouse fixation and whether she passed or failed it, well, may depend on who you ask. We also share what item Ikea was mysteriously selling in bulk – but only in America (we laughed out loud at the big reveal) and we hear from some listeners about how space makeovers can affect behavior in a fascinating way. Plus some interesting lessons someone learned when they challenged themselves to dress in only one color. And we talk about the consistently emotional topic of textured walls. Buckle your seatbelts.

You can also find this episode on your go-to podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.

What is New

Below is a “before” of the dollhouse that our friend lately offered up to us, despite having already accumulated our fair share of dollhouses over Christmas. You can hear more about those in Episode #124, as well as the little “Sweet Shop” (that in short counts as half a dollhouse) in Episode #130.

Does it remind you of a certain home we know and enjoy? Especially now that our brick is painted white.

Sherry and our daughter have already had a lot of lively fixing it up, so I am sure she’ll post about how it turned out and detail all of its compact contents soon. In the meantime, you can read about how they fixed up our son’s dollhouse already.

Updates

You can hear the original mention of Wheel of Goon / Goon of Fortune in Episode #133 where we talked about design norms from around the world. If you wanna see the game in action, simply google “Goon of Fortune” and a few videos will pop up for your viewing pleasure.
Also, here are those Ikea articles that listener Jo was kind sufficient to share with us: this one about how Ikea tweaks its designs for each country (including the anecdote about the vases) and this one about how many of Ikea’s images are now computer generated. Here are some examples from the article below:

You can also hear our original discussion of the book Joyful in Episode #130.
And there is more info on Sherry’s minimal and mostly black uniform in this closet tour post and in Episode #115. And I believe we also mentioned Sherry’s “salad-dressing” face routine too, which you can read more about here.

Also, speaking of using parameters to your advantage, we talk in Episode #97 about what we learned by creating some major shopping parameters for ourselves as part of a “No Spend Month” and in Episode #131 we share the lessons we learned from creating parameters around our TV watching.
And if you want to listen in on the original debate about shoes off or on in the house, it is in Episode #132. Below are some charts (charts!) summarizing the nearly 10,000 responses we now have (we got more since we recorded the episode).

The main thing to note is the big difference between the blue slices, which represents those with a strict practice of consistently removing everyone’s shoes – which jumps dramatically from Americans (21%) to Non-Americans (62%)
It is also interesting to note that the green slice (“do not truly care”) is nearly three times as large for Americans.

Can We Simply Talk About Textured Walls?

The photo above (from our bonus room) is a fairly good demonstration of the smooth walls we have in our home – and have had in all of the homes we have owned. Literally never had a textured wall or ceiling anywhere.
By contrast, a space with texture on both the ceiling and wall, certainly seems to be regional as well as more prevalent in certain home-building eras.
And now on to the essential part – the poll!

We are Digging

This is the book I am SO glad you folks recommended to me: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. If you want to get a flavor for what it is about and why it was way more fascinating and engaging than even I expected, here is a trailer for the movie HBO made based on the book:

And here is the version of Ticket To Ride that we have been playing (it is the standard, grown-up, American version). There are also plenty of other variations like Ticket to Ride: First Journey (for kids), Ticket to Ride Europe, Ticket to Ride New York, and even specific countries in Europe too.

Here are some other games we have been playing with our kids (ages 4 and 8) lately too:
- Glad Salmon
- Clue Jr.
- The Game of Life Jr.
- Tenzi

If you are looking for something we have dug in a past episode, but do not remember which show notes to click into, here is a master list of everything we have been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we have recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Rothy’s for sponsoring this episode. Use code YHL at Rothys.com to get free shipping with no minimum order!