On Housing

A photo essay on the art of perfect gingerbread house construction:

1) Who needs gingerbread and icing when you have graham crackers, frosting, Skittles, M&Ms, and Fruit Roll Ups? We obviously start at the advanced level of house building.

Here we see the early levels of construction. Notice the multiple layers of crackers to create the soundest walls possible:



2) Soon, it becomes apparent that utensils are useless. We must forge ahead with the tools God intended for use with frosting: Our fingers:



3) With an exterior base complete, it is time to work on the roofing. Here Emily serves as point man on the careful construction of the dark shingled, most delicious chocolate roof:



4) As anyone who has ever watched Extreme Makeover can tell you, exterior decorations are just as important as a roof. Here Sean begins the laborious process of beautifying the place up as Emily prepares the roof for placement:




5) Emily's master design completed, it is time for the roof. Notice our precision in placement - we could very easily be mistaken for professionals at this point in the process:



6) Alas, it was not meant to be. The roof was too delicious, and also too heavy for the house. Here we reinforce the ground floor by adding an attic to what is soon to become the most awesome edible house not contained in a fairy tale:



7) Frank poses with the new attic level, while Sean points out the awesome attention to detail taken in his creation of the door. Yes, that is a door knob you see, and yes, it might be a Skittle:



8) Finally, while Sean looks on in disbelief, as a unit we hoist the roof and begin viciously spackling every available surface:



8) The world waits in breathless anticipation - will the entire house collapse under its own sheer too-coolness? The answer is awesomely no:



9) From here on out, it's all just detail work. Bonus features added on to the best house in the world at no additional cost: Fruit Roll Up tarp covering the holes in the attic walls to increase livability, Graham cracker dog with red eyes and red nose out on the front lawn (a lawn created entirely out of astroturf flavored Fruit Roll Up, by the way), and an Evil snowman to scare away burglars and unwanted children.



Triumph!

And just to show off the design team, here's a couple gratuitous shots of the master craftsmen:



AND



We are too cool for words, if you haven't realized it yet. Go us!