Casten House is a very important place in Casten’s Horn. The little yellow house sits on a large lot, across the street from the Old Schoolhouse Diner. The house is in the Queen Anne style, yet humble. It has curved exterior walls, intricate scrollwork trim and asymmetrical features giving it a quirky charm. It also exists somewhere in real life… sort of.

When I was looking to buy my first home, I was a single woman in my late 20’s. I didn’t know what I wanted or what I could handle, and my realtor showed me a lot of different options. One of the homes she showed me was a little yellow house on a very small lot. I remember it was built in the early 1900’s and described as a Queen Anne style home. I also remember how cozy it felt inside. Someone had updated a lot of it to modern standards, but it still had hardwood floors and vintage charm. The bedroom over the porch had a curved wall and I remember thinking it would be awesome as an office. (In Driftless Spirits, it’s a guest bedroom.) The living room had another curved wall.

I don’t remember the exact layout of the house anymore, but decades later it still came to mind when creating Casten House. I wasn’t brave enough to make its inspiration my starter home as owning such an old house seemed daunting at the time, but sometimes I still wish I had been. Instead, I occupy it every time I write about Casten House.

Below is an example of a Queen Anne style home for reference. It is not Casten House, but Casten House is out there somewhere.