This whimsical playhouse was conceived and built by artist, woodworker, and carpenter Chris Axling. Axling built his first playhouse after taking on his most important job: stay-at-home father for three-year-old Josephine. Not only was his daughter enchanted with the little house, but his friends and family were, too. With their encouragement, Axling started his business, Magical Playhouses.
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Axling created the dragon playhouse for the 2015 Bellevue Arts Museum’s annual fair. He designed the swooping line of the shake roof to look like a dragon’s wings frozen in a downbeat. The swoop of the roof is echoed by cedar sidewall shingles. Unable to find real dragon horns on eBay, Axling added the next best thing to the hand-carved cedar dragon head: genuine Texas longhorns. The stained glass in the three arch-topped upper windows was done by Axling’s wife, Sarah. Inside the playhouse are custom built-in bookcases and cabinets, a window seat with a pullout step, and a secret compartment in the floor.
Axling’s playhouses use the same construction practices employed on many well-built homes: Douglas-fir 2x4s, plywood sheathing, R13 insulation, and electrical wiring. The dragon playhouse has a Broan wall heater (wired with a safety shutoff switch 52 in. off the floor) and double-paned windows tempered for safety. Axling also builds treehouses, potting sheds, and custom woodworking pieces to the same high standards.
—Maureen Friedman
Design and construction: Chris Axling, Magical Playhouses, Port Townsend, Wash.; magicalplayhouses.com
Photographs: courtesy of Magical Playhouses