Photo: Thinkstock

There's nothing like thinking about real estate during a recession to get a person down. The gap between the home of your dreams and the housing you can afford can rival the Grand Canyon. Aspiring home-buyers have dwindling budgets and potential unemployment to contend with; potential home-sellers have the uneasy specter of plummeting home values to confront. But even on the most dreary and grown-up of days, can't you sort of remember when "home" meant only a source of comfort, "house," a place of dreams?

As always, here comes Pinterest to the escapist rescue. I can't stop looking at this brilliant "The Old Woman and Her Shoe" Pinterest board, which collects whimsical dwellings from all over. Shoes, yes, and also treehouses, tiny houses, fancy tents, garden teepees, and playful home accents like interior slides—from the really-out-there to the easily imitatable (an indoors sleeping tent!).

Here are reminders that dwellings don't have to be all serious and adult. Some of the structures are distinguished by their tinyness, and it's always nice to remember that in the era of McMansions and car-sized sofas, there can be something wonderful about downsizing. Others are larger spaces divided by tents and bunks and forts—suggesting ways to work with the space you have to create a sense of whimsy and fun. And others are just plain eye candy, calling to mind the ways in which this world we've created can be just as magical as, say, the land of hobbit-holes.

Read More:
The Tiny House Trend
Your Online Happy Place
The Joys of Downsizing