The $50,000 playhouse

Bling for the Posh Tots
I love the New York Times, I really do. Both the hard copy and web versions. But last week they published an article in the Home section that had to be a joke. (A friend referred to it as "perverted.") It was on playhouses, some of them ultra-expensive.

Excerpts from "Child's Play, Grown-Up Cash," by Kate Murphy, July 21, 2011:
"APART from the open bar by the swimming pool, the main attraction at parties held at the Houston home of John Schiller, an oil company executive, and his wife, Kristi, a Playboy model turned blogger, is the $50,000 playhouse the couple had custom-built two years ago for their daughter, Sinclair, now 4.… the two-story 170-square-foot playhouse has vaulted ceilings that rise from five to eight feet tall, furnishings scaled down to two-thirds of normal size, hardwood floors and a faux fireplace with a fanciful mosaic mantel.…stainless-steel mini fridge and freezer are stocked with juice boxes and Popsicles. Upstairs is a sitting area with a child-size sofa and chairs for watching DVDs on the 32-inch flat-screen TV.…And, of course, the playhouse is air-conditioned. This is Texas, after all.

'I think of it as bling for the yard,' said Ms. Schiller, 40.…"

I mean this is a joke, right? Well maybe not, there's more:

"Dan Burnham, who retired as chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon, the defense systems manufacturer, in 2003, wanted something elaborate for the 187-acre retreat he and his wife, Meg, have in the Santa Ynez Mountains outside Santa Barbara, Calif.…The multilevel house…has a gabled roof made of corrugated tin, an interior with hand-carved rafters and beams, and windows made of shatter-resistant laminated glass. Connected to the treehouse with a zip line is a second, fortlike structure with carved finials and flagpoles, as well as a rock wall, a firefighters’ pole and a slide…“We’ve got chairs arrayed all around it, so we can watch the kids run, climb and scream,” he said. “It’s adorable and worth every penny.” (Nearly $248,000 for the two structures.…)"

"…PoshTots, an online retailer, carries high-end playhouses from a variety of manufacturers, from $6,000 to $122,000…."

There are some lower-cost playhouses, but glorification of tasteless excess like the above in these times is clueless and pathetic. "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/garden/playhouses-childs-play-grown-up-cash.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=childs%20play&st=cse&scp=1