Looking for ideas - kids play houses

[JD350Cmark]

Hello - I'm gonna build a play house for a niece and looking for ideas & photos from any members who have built one.

It's not going to be a fancy victorian one but rather a timber frame look.  Any ideas and/or photos of what you have done?  Thanks, Mark

[ARKANSAWYER]

[DanG]

Here's a cute one that Woodbowl and I found up in Tennessee several years ago.  It was settin' by the road for sale.

[metalspinner]

Here's one I made for the boys...

https://forestryforum.com/board2/index.php?topic=192.0

It's looking nice and weathered now.  It's loosely based on the playhouse in Norm Abrams book.  Mostly just for proportion. I did extend the front porch a bit so we could squeeze in a chair.

[metalspinner]

A couple more pics...

[thecfarm]

metalspinner,that's the one I wanted to post too!! I have a picture of your cabin in my notebook.I want to build a cabin for the goats.

[JD350Cmark]

MS - I recall that post but it didnt come up when I searched.  thanks for the photos

[metalspinner]

JD,
It took me a while to find it, too.  The pics were not even in my gallery??  But, it eventually turned up in the Crash Archives.

I like the modular system as it makes the build easy.  If I would have put a bit more thought into it, the roof system could have been modular, too. Then the whole thing could have been flat packed for shippment. ;)

[okmulch]

Here is the playhouse I am building for my boys. It is not finished yet. The wall on the right of the picture is for rockclimbing (without the rocks so far.) The windows are in the garage and not yet installed. The left side will have a spiral slide. A 120 foot zip line is coming off the back left . corner and a firemans pole off the back. The house is made of 3 1/2 X 3 1/2 eastern red cedar posts, that have the corners beveled off and are screwed together with log home screws and insulation in the middle. They will eventually be siliconed to prevent air flow.

[Ironwood]

Some of those little cabins look like the "guest house" I want to build for my MIL while she is here  :D


Ironwood

[Coon]

Ironwood, if your makin' it to house the MIL you had better have steel bars for doors and windows..... don't wanna get to fancy now would ya?  :D

[scgargoyle]

A friend of mine built one that had half as a storage shed, and half as a playhouse. When the kids out-grew it (faster than you would think), he had a nice shed. I like to let kids 'help' with the construction, too. I built a swing set for my son when he was 2, and gave him a paint brush and a pail of water so he could 'paint' it. I like the idea of a TF structure- good way to learn some skills on a smaller scale.

[JD350Cmark]

I agree it's a good idea to be able to use it for something else down the road.  There's tons of ideas out there, but like to actually see what others have done.  Hopefully it will last long enough for her kids to enjoy it.  Her b-day is coming up, guess I better get cutt'in.  My hope is to do this w/o spending any $$.  (might get comp singles instead of using old tin that I have)   Thanks for the imput

[okmulch]

The roof I used is a rubber composite from Lowes. It was fairly inexpensive and went up  fast. My expenses were log screws and the roof. Lumber was free of course. The windows I found on line and we got four of them for 125 dollars and that included shipping. The windows have screens and are fully functional.