Of course, "Kischdle" is a little box, therefore Andrew is right. But: as I understand it (not Swabian, but southern German) "Kischdle" expresses a certain fondness, a kind of unspoken pride in this house of his. Swabians like Brits like a certain understatement. Therefore I am trying to get some emotional element across - maybe this helps somebody else to come up with the ideal solution.

Brigitte rightly points out that the '-le' is a diminutive, hence "little box". It works both as the man's own affectionate description as well as the other town members' disparaging term.

I could also suggest an alternative that is not a literal translation of Kiste: if the man is building his dream house and wants to apply figurative language to it, then I think "nest" can be suitable as a creative translation in this context, provided that there is no additional wordplay on Kiste/box elsewhere in the text.

"Kischdle" is indeed Schwäbisch for "Kiste", and also for "Kasten" - "i gang a Kischdle Bier hole" (approximately!)

It's quite common for Judendhäuser-Treffpunkte etc. to be called "Kischdle" in Baden-Württemberg, emphasizing the "we don't stand on ceremony, drop in any time, this isn't a posh place you have to be afraid of coming to" aspect of the building/club.

I think the use of "Kischdle" to refer to this house is to emphasize either that it is a plain, unostentatious building - Swabians often "downplay" things so as not to sound pretentious or "posh" - or to show that you aren't impressed by it even though it is trying to be ostentatious (it's red, which the speaker might feel is "going a bit too far"). I get the feeling the "I refuse to be inpressed" element is predominant here, so perhaps something like "Have you seen that red thing/place" - "place" might give the same feeling in English, rather than "that fantastic house..."


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Note added at 2006-04-19 13:22:56 (GMT)
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Or, depending on the context, even \"that ugly red thin\" might work - I qouldn\'t use \"little\" in English, as the \"-le\" ending doesn\'t express small size in Swabian, it\'s an almost auromatic use of the diminutive - e.g. \"Grüß Gottle\"! And Badem-Württemberg is \"das Ländle\", of course, expressing affection not size.

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Note added at 2006-04-19 13:31:26 (GMT)
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Having read the article the Asker added, I think \"Kischdle\" is probably being used in two ways - affectionately by the owner (\"Wir bauen unser Traum-Kischdle\" - our dream homw/nest - and disparagingly or suspiciously by the townsfolk before they \"come round to the idea\" - \"Hosch`s roade Kischdle au scho gsää?\" - \"Have you seen that [big] red thing yet?\"

Kiste: a storage box can also mean a schack; see Eurodicautom under Kiste

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Note added at 59 mins (2006-04-19 13:31:51 GMT)
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After a quick read of the article I would like to change my answer to "our little red box"
suggesting an acceptance on the part of the townspeople.