Treehouses? Been There, Done That

Indoor pools: Indoor pools are cropping up in homes with increasing frequency, particularly in states with cold winters. More families are entertaining around the pool, and cold evening weather cuts short the play time.

Granoff says many of his clients are adding wings for indoor pools -- often in addition to already-existing outdoor pools. "The minute it gets dark and the temperatures drop, my clients like to tell the kids it's time to switch pools," he says.

An indoor pool extends play time and entertaining time. It's year-round, and while it might seem extravagant to some, to others it really does make sense. Granoff says he has clients trading up from 20-foot pools to 50-foot pools.

Playhouses: Playhouses and tree houses have also gone upscale. Such Web sites as PoshTots and Lilliput Play Homes provide playhouses -- some complete with electricity, recessed lighting and doorbells. These elaborate houses can start at $5,000 and easily climb to more than $20,000. Some are custom-made to replicate the main houses.

Granoff was asked once to design a treehouse for a client to complement the main house. The $30,000 price tag was a bit too rich for the client, though, and the house didn't get built. "But it would've been really cool," Granoff says.

Christopher Alexander, a professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in A Pattern Language: "To help achieve a balance, a house for a small family needs three distinctive areas: a couple's realm, reserved for the adults; a children's realm, where children's needs hold sway; and a common area, between the two, connected to the both."

Alexander says that giving children their own world is as much in the interest of the adults in the family. "The adults and children can co-exist, each without dominating the other."

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