What does a "dream house" symbolize?

The dream house is in line with his ethos of simplicity except on a grander scale. Thoreau compares wood to gold, and in doing so, he does more than emphasize the greater value of this product of nature, which is a necessity rather than a luxury. Rather, he admits and accepts that wood ­ an economic tool as well as a physical need ­ must play a part in his life, a fact further driven home by his reluctant purchase and use of a stove the following winter.