my inner child is..**envious**

sickening. i bet there is a lcd tv in there.... what happened to the idea of kids building forts with pillows and treeforts in a weekend WITH their parents?

the closest i ever got to this as kid or adult, was buying plans to DIY it in the backyard of my house in california. back then i was such a procrastinator, i kept putting it off and eventually my daughter got too old to be interested in it. boy did the ex keep bringing that one up as the years rolled along. i would totally live in something 3-4 times that size now though. i am so into the prefab mini designs now. ahh the irony.

I'm involved in a group called HomeAid which provides housing for the homeless across the US. One of the annual fundraisers we have is called Project Playhouse. Local builders and architects donate their time to build elaborate playhouses to be auctioned off for charity. The houses are incredible. Check out designs from prior years... www.projectplayhouse.org

i'm pretty disgusted and amazed at the same time. amazed at the mini-ness of it all. disgusted at the lack of imagination a child would need to use it.
my dad built my sister and i a huge playhouse complex at our first house (playhouse on stilts, sandbox underneath, swings on the side etc). it was pretty impressive, but simple enough to let my sister and i make it our own. and it was big enough that even he could play with us (he's 6'5").
i feel sorry for the kids that get stuck with that playhouse.

My dad (an architect) built me a playhouse in our backyard in Dallas, TX in (or around) 1989. It didn't have simulated hardwood floors, but it did have a sleeping loft and electricity!

When I was a kid, one of my friends had an elaborate, beautiful playhouse that was designed to look like the actual house. I don't think it had electricity, though. However, she was totally "over" it and it was dirty inside with cobwebs everywhere. I used to beg her to let me help her clean it up and make it nice again, but she just couldn't have cared less. Arghh.

....Just like my friend with the huge trampoline who never even wanted to jump on it! What was wrong with those kids?

clairbear13, do you have pix of the lil house your dad built way back then? :-)

yea, I'm envious too, it is nicer than my house...

wow. wasteful and not very stimulating.

Could have had a small summerhouse for that:
http://tinyurl.com/5ogbwa

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/10228

What was wrong with those kids is that they were so spoiled that they'd become bored with LIFE ITSELF. I feel sorry for these kids too, not jealous.

My dear old dad built me a playhouse that had a tiny table and two chairs inside. It was based on a plan from a more generic swing/ladder/slide playhouse, and he added some of his own touches like cedar shingles and fireman's pole.

I envy my friend who took me to her childhood home to meet her dad and see the underground fort he dug in their backyard. He later build a pump to keep the groundwater out. She and her brother and dad were all beaming when they talked about how long it took to create and how many buckets of dirt they hauled out of there.

I think every kid needs a playhouse, a hideout, or a fort. These mini manor houses seem so complicated they would just take the fun out of it for me. The best play spaces are designed and built by kids, so I think simple is better. However, if I had a kid who drew up plans for an elaborate playhouse like that, I would build it with him or her. I am secretly hoping that this happens. . .

I don't know; there's no imagination required from the kids. My cousin and I spent a weekend cleaning out my mom's detached garage (we curtained off the rear and put all the tools back there) and set up the front as a really cool living room. We found an old rug and took some old furniture (my mother was a thrift store addict) and even set up a small tv (which was cool for back then). We would spend hours in there in the summer after playing handball. All it needed was a fridge and we probably would have never come inside!