Cribs for Kids: Would You Pay $50,000 for a Playhouse?
From the Cardboard Box to the Brick Colonial
Very few people can afford these. They might want this, but they don’t have the means to do it. ... Not everybody can drive a Rolls-Royce.
— Michelle Pollak, interior designer for La Petite Maison Playhouses in Denver
Spacious lofts, built-in bookshelves, faux fireplaces with walnut mantel, decorative wrought iron railings, crown molding, air conditioning, balconies, slate roofs, cupolas, front balustrades, Flemish Bond brick façades and a striking four-column front porch.
The descriptions read like something out of the real estate section of the Sunday newspaper. A quick glance at the online pictures of the palatial houses with their sprawling, manicured lawns gives the same impression – until you notice the name of the construction company: Lilliput Play Homes, "creators of distinctive play houses for children."
For children of the rich and famous, gone are the days of the pillow fort. Crudely built tree houses are out and classical architecture and interior designers are in. These mini-homes, typically replicas of the houses the children actually live in, come complete with electrical systems and varnished hardwood floors.
Playhouse 'Mansions'
Featured on the website of Lilliput Play Homes is a miniature mansion, a $50,000 playhouse measuring 24 feet long, 8 feet deep and 11 feet tall, dwarfing the little girl sitting on the front stoop.
“Very few people can afford these,” said Michelle Pollak, interior designer for La Petite Maison in Denver, Colorado. “They might want this, but they don’t have the means to do it. I don’t know how else to say that. Not everybody can drive a Rolls-Royce.”
Companies specializing in luxurious playhouses have taken off since the turn of the century. The only thing limiting the size and design of the building is the client’s budget, Pollak said. It isn’t unusual for the budget of a single structure to exceed $75,000.
“We built one house for a Hollywood producer who lived on a cliff, so it had to have an earthquake foundation in it,” Pollak said. “Another project we did was at the top of a hill, so we had to use an old mining cart to load up the supplies and carry them to the building site.”
Barbara Butler of Barbara Butler Artist-Builder Inc. in San Francisco recently flew to the south of France to build a town of western-style playhouses that stretched 50 feet by 50 feet at a cost of $150,000.
Dreaming Too Big
Some requests, however, can’t be met, no matter how large the budget. Occasionally, concepts just don’t work, functionally or aesthetically, said Glen Halliday, owner of Kids Crooked House in Portland, Maine.
“I had a client who wanted a candy-style house but with massive cupcakes on top. We can build something like that, but when you’re living in northern Michigan, you have to consider the impact snow load will have on a playhouse with four massive cupcakes on top.”
Other times, requests are simply too dangerous.
“We had one client who asked to have a working stove and fireplace installed in their playhouse,” Pollak said. “We said, ‘No way. This isn’t for your child to actually move into.’ So on occasion, we’ll put our foot down.”
Genesis of a Playhouse Builder
Most luxury playhouse companies start the same way: Parents with backgrounds in design and construction build a house for their children because they don’t like the cheap plastic models available in toy stores. Friends and neighbors gawk at the elaborate playhouse, waving handfuls of cash as they beg to have one built for their own children. And from there it snowballs.
Halliday, who started Kids Crooked House in 2007, said it bothered him to see his children playing video games or watching cartoons on a beautiful summer day. So he figured if he built something they could relate to, something with a cartoon twist, it would inspire them to drop the remote control and play outside.
Halliday’s buildings have strange angles and lean in haphazard directions like something out of a Tim Burton movie. The roofs are bent, the windows and doors are off-kilter and the siding is painted with vibrant colors. Everything is asymmetrical. He describes them as “funky” with “wonky lines.”
“It’s like their own cartoon world comes to life for them in their backyard,” said Halliday, who describes his clients as upper-class people with large disposable incomes. The typical price for his playhouses ranges from $2,800 to $5,000, though he has received orders approaching $100,000.
“When a house goes up in a neighborhood, everybody else has to get one,” he said. “It’s kind of like keeping up with the Joneses.”
Affording the Dream
Keeping up isn’t always easy, given the price tag. Some clients create playhouse funds instead of vacation funds and save for years to afford what Halliday calls “their kid’s first home.”
Others are not as patient.
“We have people who call us while the baby is still in the womb," Pollak said. "They call and say, ‘My baby isn’t born yet, but I want to start designing a playhouse.’ ”
So what happens to these magnificently expensive baby mansions when the son or daughter outgrows them and moves on to cars, dating and, eventually, college?
“Sometimes we’ll remodel the playhouses, just like you’d remodel your home, and make it appropriate for the mom or dad,” Pollak said. “The parents use them all the time. You can get a dozen people in our playhouses standing up having a party and be comfortable for hours.”
- Photo Credit iStock
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Comments
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Must be what the 1% is putting in the backyard...
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i agree. what about "how to build a playhouse" at home?
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agree!
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Not really an ehow. More of a puff piece. Didn't learn anything about how to do it. Not the right piece for your site. A little sickening, actually.
