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

Garden Potpourri: Josie visits her old/now new playhouse

Garden Potpourri Playhouse will be auctioned 9/24/10.
All proceeds to benefit Coyote Point Museum.

Josie (almost 16 years old now) stopped by our shop last Sunday with her mom, Michelle, to visit her old Garden Playhouse. Josie enjoyed her Barbara Butler Garden Playhouse from age 3 to 15 and then decided to donate it to help raise money for a good cause. Barbara collaborated by throwing her skills at refurbishing and re-creating the playhouse, using reclaimed materials.












Josie and her mom loved the new playhouse and almost want to buy it back at auction! Instead, they hope that a wonderful family with small children will fall in love with Garden Potpourri and bid to buy at the auction this coming Friday.

For more information about how to purchase tickets to attend the "Tinkering by Twilight" fund raising event, go to www.coyoteptmuseum.org

To see more images of Garden Potpourri playhouse, click here!

Garden Potpourri: Barbara Butler playhouse to be auctioned

Join us at the September 24th fund raising event for Coyote Point Museum!

Barbara's "Garden Potpourri" playhouse, made from 100% reclaimed materials, will be auctioned to highest bidder!













A few months ago, Coyote Point Museum sent a request asking if we would create/donate a playhouse made from re-claimed or re-purposed materials for their Tinkering by Twilight fund raising event. It was an exciting idea!

Around the same time, Barbara was contacted by former client, Michelle Furbershaw, who wanted to sell or donate her daughter, Josie's, Garden Playhouse. Barbara had made Josie's playhouse back in 1999 when she was 4 years old. After 11 loving years of use, Josie was no longer using the playhouse and it was sitting empty in the backyard.

It was a timely combination of events!



Josie and her mom decided to donate their playhouse which Barbara would then clean, repair, refurbish and enhance to create a new structure for the auction, to be purchased and enjoyed for another 11 years by a new family, and raise funds for a good cause. Recycling at it's creative best!

Garden Potpourri playhouse was created by adding a large front deck with steps up and a rung ladder out the cafe doors at the back. The railings are made from extra unused shutters gathered from different playhouses and a couple of abandoned ship's wheels. The skirting comes from all the left-over stained pieces of redwood saved and stored over the years but never used. Special touches were added such as the Top Secret Safe under the playhouse and step railings made from old stain sticks.

Here is the Garden Potpourri playhouse drying on our dock after a final coat of tung-oil.


















DONATION/AUCTION INFORMATION:

All proceeds donated to:
Coyote Point Museum, San Mateo, CA
a non-profit organization for Environmental Education
Auction info:
Tinkering by Twilight gala event
on September 24, 2010
www.coyoteptmuseum.org

PLUS, other playhouses and animal habitats created by teams of designers, contractors, builders & suppliers will also be auctioned at this event. Children's playhouses & animal habitats will be an exciting and unique part of the live and silent auctions!

For more information, click here to go to the Coyote Point Museum website, or click here to go to our website.

Brighten up your redwood play set!

Every spring & summer, when there are "holes" in our build/install schedule, our crew goes out and refurbishes some older ones. It is amazing how resilient redwood is. Even if left for years to fade and dry out in the sun, it will spring back to life and look glorious again with one good cleaning, re-staining and tung-oiling.

Here's a "refurbish" job our crew tackled last week. It came out great!
Before...





































































Definitely after!!!