Children's Play Area

Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination. ~Mrs. C.W. Earle, Pot-Pourri from a Surrey Garden, 1897

All that needs to be done now is some staining and painting of the windows, door, pickets and interior wainscot. We love how it turned out. The stucco color, brown trim stain color, and the green slate roof are what we would like to use on our eventual home and pool house renovations.




September 18th 2008: A photo of the new play area.






This area is for all information related to the special children's play area currently under construction. See all of the construction progress here.


Answers to all of the remaining details are here. (This is for all of Bob and Aaron's questions)


All of the notes below detail the planning and concept process.

This drawing shows the general layout as it will be finished, although we have played with the positioning of some of the components as the site has been excavated.


A LOT of planning has gone into this area. I started last year trying to find a landscape firm that would create this charming and functional area that we dreamed up. I lost most contractors when I said I wanted to sink the trampoline into the ground, so we decided to table the idea until we had planned the main house renovation because we want all areas of the property to feel unified.

This year, we interviewed about six firms and are very excited to have Charles Owen of Fine Landscapes doing our project. His firm has done so many of the landscape projects that we have admired in Woodlea Mill, and he is very familiar with the style of home we will be building. I liked his enthusiasm about creating something different and special for the kids. His landscaping style really lends itself to our idea of an "enchanted children's garden with a European feeling". The original requirements we gave to Charles can be seen here.

We had to submit the entire project to the Avenel Community Association Modifications Committee for review. Here is what was submitted....Blasko Play Area




This is a photo of the pool house. Since our poolhouse has been the inspiration for our planned renovation, we felt it could also safely act as a guide for the playhouse concept too. We don't want to match to structure, but we do want some tie of its architectural details to the playhouse, specifically in the arched braces, beams, and roof style. The playhouse can have much more of a fantasy feeling.

I started searching the Internet for photos of Bavarian and French half timbered architecture, and came across many charming photos of villages in Alsace, France. Riquewihr, Colmar, and Strasbourg are all beautiful towns with great architecture.















My thought was to give the front facade the look of an alpine village storefront




with a pretty sign and a porch light



a dutch door and a big window that could double as a pretend lemonade stand or puppet show stage.

I found everything by searching google images, downloaded a bunch of photos, and sketched this concept of what our kids' playset/playhouse might look like.


The playset will have...

• 10' x 10' playhouse with a 8'deck on top and a hip style roof, hopefully with a little bit of flaring to soften the lines. It will have the arched braces and a little bit of roof overhang to fit some sort of finish detail underneath. I envisioned a simulated half-timbered look with details like corbels and flower boxes.
• 14'-15' feet bridge over swings with trellis joists exending out over the swings on the front of the structure.
• Commercial grade slide with an 8' deck and 360 degree turn. (Installation Instructions and specs here.) There will need to be a small deck cantelevered from the building to allow the slide to empty along the side rather than the back of the building.
• Rope ladder on opposite end. Specs and installation
  

Yesterday (06-04-2008), Bob recommended several things, such as a trap door opening from the playhouse up into the deck, a firepole, and an overhang in the front to better simulate the architecture we like. I love all of those ideas and look forward to seeing it come together.

The structure is also inspired by the beautiful climbing structures built by Barbara Butler. We will be buying the rope ladder component from her and having it shipped from California.
www.barbarabutler.com. Here are a few highlights...



This structure is actually in Bethesda. I called the owner and will get to see it in person. Devon and I saw this structure on June 07, 2008. Not visible in this photo is a pulley bucket dumbwaiter, and a copper pipe in the lower deck that extends to the upper deck. The kids used it to talk like a telephone. Very cool. Devon also had no problem climbing up the rope net, which we have ordered directly from Barbara and should be here in less than 3 weeks.



I love this railing detail.


Once the structure was decided upon, we needed to design a setting for it to create the secret garden effect.

• I wanted to use berming, as we had done with the yard of our previous home, to create natural barriers to "corral" the kids into a play area, rather than just put up a fence.

• We want filtered light and shade throughout the day, so that it does not get too hot.

This photo shows a depiction of how I would envision a view from outside the berm. Things would be visible, but somewhat hidden, helping to create intrigue.

• Sunken trampoline

• We want a artificial turf fall surface so that there are less bugs and less maintenenace.

• Adult seating area to take advantage of the view of the willows, as well as monitor kids
• Sandbox, but very naturalistic, like this photo below.
  

• Water feature, like a gurgling bolder, but a stone pebble return, not a pond.

This fountain is from a company called Southern Grace out in Madison VA. It is concrete formed to look like a boulder. This fountain comes in two sizes and is priced betwwen $899 and $1299 including the basin and pump. I saw it at Merrifield in the spring and it is VERY realistic.


This photo is a real boulder.

• ...and a small bridge at the end of the stone path as a transition to the artificial turf. We could extend the pebbles around the water feature under the bridge to simulate a creek.

• Maybe Tomato and Strawberry garden within a protected area from deer.

• Turf Steps exiting toward willows in lower yard

This is a photo similar to the area at the end of the play area with the lanscape turf steps overlooking the trees. I am not sure we would put the table there. I am noticing the step off and the perennial beds and the trees lining the exit of the space.

This is a home in Woodlea Mill. I like the woodsy, but slightly manicured english garden effect of the landscaping. It looks a little "storybook cottage" to me, which if you read the rest of this blog, is exactly what we want our whole property to feel like

.....and another Woodlea Mill home.