Well...maybe it's not a house, but Tile Envy could not resist featuring these most unusual hotel/travel destinations for White Christmas month - the obscure Icehotels. And yes, there are more than one Icehotel even though the original was first created in Sweden and remains to this day, formed anew every year from December to April constructed mostly of ice carved from winter's frozen Torne River.
Now this is going to sound utterly fictionalized, but trust me, it's not. As the story goes, the first Icehotel was born in the winter of 1989 when Japanese ice artists came to Sweden to do an ice art exhibit. Sometime in the spring, tourists found that all the hotels were booked and the exhibit hall was offered to them with sleeping bags and reindeer hides. And VOILA!! How's that for a near-Christmas story??
Now there are several Icehotels around the world, including places such as - Canada, Norway, Romania and Finland. I think there may even be one in Alaska. But I prefer the original and largest, where each spring tons of ice (like 10,000!) and 30,000 tons of snow are used to recreate an entirely new version of the transient hotel. And in keeping with the sustainable movement- 1,000 tons of the "remains" are stored to start the next winter's hotel.Very cool!
By the way, they're looking for artists to help construct Icehotel 2012. I know some of you out there who would be perfect for this!!