This young family in Sandy Springs, GA, worked with a designer and wanted a one-of-a-kind playhouse in their finished basement for their daughter to grow up with. Working with Tim from Bungalow Woodshop, we designed the structure off of an inspration picture found of a similar, but smaller, structure online. Our version includes

• a staircase with drawers integrated in each step

• a bookcase at the top of the stairs

• small storage nooks on the bottom platform

• a playhouse with custom door and windows with flower boxes

• a loft area with netting on one half and a 'roof terrace' on the other

• a central tree anchoring the structure, with a branch reaching out into the room

• storage cabinet for board games under the stairs.

Both the platform and house are lit with hardwired LED can lights, each operated on its own dimmer switch. In addition, the front lip of the platform contains an LED strip that can be controlled by an app on mom and dad's phones.

The structure stretches 13 1/2 feet across and 9 ft. tall at the bookcase and treet top. The staircase comes out about 6 ft. from the wall. The loft is about 4 ft. above the lower platform. All in all, it's got framing like a small house!

Before installation, the designer had the mural wall paper put up on the wall, creating the jungle backdrop. The netting provides cover under the handrail of the stairs, across the front of the loft, and between the posts on the terrace.

The central tree and stair/terrace posts are from old-growth pine salvaged from the Atlanta area. Unlike modern pine, these pieces were about twice as heavy and extremely dense. Whereas a modern 2x4 might have 15 growth rings, these pieces had close to 40 in the same area.

This was quite the challenge, with everything done in-house, from the design to build to installation. An electrician was used to make the connections to the house's system.