If you’ve ever been truly dedicated to a particular collection, then you know just how heart breaking it would be to lose it after putting in so much time and money. Now just imagine your collection transformed your entire apartment into a Star Trek ship only to risk losing it in a divorce. That’s what very well may happen to Tony Alleyne, whose wife wants to convert it back into a “normal” dwelling and sell the property to a presumably “normal” buyer. Read all about the sad news over at The Sun.

Link Via BoingBoing

Buying a new home is a big commitment and for first-time buyers especially, it can be a little terrifying. Imagine just how horrific it would be then to discover your home ended up being home to thousands of snakes or the mummified body of the last homeowner. Read about these terrible discoveries and more over at Cracked.

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We’ve all heard of underground societies, but rarely is the term used in such a literal manner as these amazing underground cities featured on Dornob.

Cities, empires and religions have risen and fallen around these unique underground havens once used by early Christians to hide from Roman armies, yet they remains occupied to this day – 100 square miles with 200+ underground villages and tunnel towns complete with hidden passages, secret rooms and ancient temples and a remarkably storied history of each new civilization building on the work of the last.

Read more about these amazing homes and enjoy the stunning pictures at the link.

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This is a real house in Portugal called Casa do Penedo, which means “house of stone.” Built in 1974, the current resident had to reinforce the house with security doors and window bars because of the many visitors and occasional vandals. Casa do Penedo is just one of a list of Ten Strange Places Where People Live, some of which may induce vertigo. Link -via J-Walk Blog

Link Via Consumerist

Do you own more than one property? Do you have so many rental homes with no mortgage payments, yet you still feel unfulfilled? Tired of your illegal tenants whining that there are rats in the walls? Have you always wanted your own dinosaur? Now is your chance my friend.

In exchange for one of your properties, I will be your personal dinosaur for one year. I will be at your beck and call, 24 hours a day, wearing a dinosaur costume. The type of dinosaur is negotiable. I can babysit your children (references upon request), scare the mailman, wash dishes, entertain and impress your guests, and much more.

Link Via Consumerist Image via TypeFiend [Flickr]

When I was a youngster, I thought firefighters were the coolest people alive…not because they were heroes, but because they got to slide down a pole to go to work. These days, while I respect the heck out of firefighters (anyone who lives in Southern California knows just how important they are), I have to say the people who own this house filled with slides might just be the coolest people on earth.

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And you thought your place was a dump. What if you actually lived in a dump truck? This industrious person has utilized every bit of a small living space inside of an old garbage truck. See link for full gallery.

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The present drying up of jobs available to low- and middle-income Americans is leading to a drastic and largely unexpected phase change in the way we live and get around. Imagine what would happen if an ever-increasing percentage of the population could no longer afford a roof overhead or basic transportation. Norms for what are now considered “acceptable” lifestyles would be revised downward. Being homeless might be considered somewhat “normal”!

Yet Americans are famous for their ingenuity. They like to believe that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”  Perhaps a new class of mobile dwellings called motorless homes will evolve. They will be muscle-powered!

Visit Steven M. Johnson at his website.

Take a look at the ten largest homes in the United States that were built before 1950. Nine of these homes are open to the public and get millions of visitors every year but the one home on the list that is actually owned by the public is not open for tours anymore. Every one of these homes is a great place to visit. Pictured is The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island. The home has 70 rooms covering 65,000 square feet, and it’s only number five!

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(image credit: Wikipedia user upstateNYer)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by hemlcok.

Clayton Homes has an ad on a newspaper website offering a premium when you buy a new home -a can of beans! Link -via J-Walk Blog

Who would have thought that shipping containers could be used in making beautiful homes? In this post at Green Diary, blogger Aditi Justa explored 10 of the most interesting homes (and structures) built with recycled shipping containers.

Take, for instance, the Redondo Beach Container House:

The Redondo Beach House is an architecturally designed shipping container based contemporary house to suit your site and lifestyle.

The award-winning De Maria Design’s luxury beachside house was constructed using eight prefabricated, recycled steel shipping containers, which are integrated with some traditional building techniques.

Built on modern lines, the sleek and elegant building is resistant to fire, mold and termites. About 70 percent of this affordable construction was assembled in a shop making it inexpensive, time-efficient and resource-efficient.

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From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by supernova.

WebEcoist has some truly fantastic homes on their latest post, including this fantastic hobbit house above. The whole collection is quite nice.

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WebUrbanist has some fantastic houses on this list, the upside down one is probably my favorite after this list. Don’t miss out, click the link and view them all.

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I just discovered a great site with great Christmas lights from all over the world. Who knows, maybe you’ll recognize one of the houses.

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