Well used & well-loved Hideaway Fort passed on to a new family

Our story of our Barbara Butler Hideaway Fort and how we came to own it... from 2003 thru 2011:

It was 2002. My husband and I were strolling thru the S.F. Garden Show, then held at Fort Mason, San Francisco. I had recently seen a reference to Barbara's work in a magazine and suddenly there was a play structure in the middle of the show Marketplace... yes, it was a Barbara Butler Hideaway Fort. We looked, talked with the gang and continued on.

No sooner than 2 months later a large oak tree fell on our little play structure which had been tucked away in the corner of our yard. At the same time, we were moving to a new property in sunny Emerald Hills and decided that we would replace the damaged unit with that same item displayed at the show we had come upon a couple months back.

Jeff came to our house, spent an entire day digging, drilling and installing the Hideaway Fort with the world's best slide ever... even for adults. My son and daughter loved climbing the wall, going down that slide over and over and crawling thru the secret door, not to mention the endless imaginary pieces of mail passed thru the slot marked "MAIL" next to the door.

Time went on and we had Barbara design an additional swing feature and a chin up bar for swinging, hoisting and whatever. We even braved their meticulous techniques and added on a glider ourselves, true to the B.Butler construction and staining methods. Many games, parties and time passed on this thing... and our yard always had the beauty of a well designed and crafted play fort gracing the garden and grounds.

In 2008, we moved again, brought it along, refinished the surface to its original glory (see image, above) and once again the games and climbing started over, this time adjacent to a soaring stand of redwoods in the hills of Woodside, CA.

Now it is May, 2011 and I am sad, yet thrilled at the same time, to be passing our beloved fort along to a new family in Los Altos, CA. There, 3 young boys will have never-ending fun on one of Barbara's creations.

We will miss our Hideaway Fort yet smile as we know it will continue to bring fun and wonder to another yard and family.

Kerri Linden

Detailing a Robin Hoods Fort

Luscious browns and blues with touches of curry make a tasty color palette for this Robin Hood's Fort with 9' long bridge (soon to have 2 swings attached underneath).

The guys are "detailing". This is the stage in our process where we erect the structure and bolt it together to make sure that every modular piece fits perfectly.

Then we add:

- swing hangers & monkey bars under the bridge,

- rock holds to the back wall

- play accessories and more...

In this picture Jose is adding the side shutters to the Fort and Marco is just coming in from the metal shop where he was welding. We make many of our own metal parts, such as the special metal sleeves that wrap around the "footing" ends of every post that will be sunk into concrete, 2' below grade.

Robin Hoods Fort 1 Swing in classic colors

A few weeks ago we installed our classic Robin Hoods Fort with 3' long bridge over 1 swing. It fits beautifully into a small backyards. This installation is almost complete: Jeff will return the following day to remove the bracing (which keeps the bridge level while the concrete footings set overnight).







Barbara's Artist Sketch in the color palette chosen by the client is an exact match.









The Robin Hood's fort offers plenty of challenging play activities: hand-woven rope net ladder, turbo tube slide, rock climbing wall, firepole and swing underneath the bridge.












The outside colors are cool and natural while the inside colors "pop"! This fort has one of Barbara's favorite play accessories: drop leaf table (under the shuttered window) & drop seat.









To check out our many different Robin Hoods Forts click here.

Robin Hoods Fort with 2 swings

Barbara's "pre-designed" Robin Hood's Fort is popular for good reasons: lot's of play activities, choose how many swings (1, 2 or 3), add features like a roof, choose your style of railing (rope or wood), pick the configuration that works best for your yard (how about the rock wall on the front?) and choose your own colors!














The finished play structure looks exactly like the drawing Barbara does ahead of time.

Used Hideaway Fort for sale: Deal of the Century!

We just had to bring this to your attention.

This gently used Hideaway Fort is "For Sale by Owner" on our web site for the incredibly low price of $2,500.
Located in Davis, CA it is just waiting for it's new home. You will have to transport and re-assemble (or you can hire us to do it). Well worth it - the cost is over $12,000 new!
For inquiries, email julielkuo@gmail.com
For more details, click here