ROOM WE LOVE: A Pretty Playhouse

Anna Stallmann is a public relations ace and owner of Anna Stallmann Communications, a women-led firm that serves a diverse group of local and national businesses and nonprofits. She’s also a mom of two daughters, Savannah, 6, and Madeleine, 4. Earlier this year, her girls requested a playhouse in their backyard. “I started looking on Amazon and found really basic ones, but I knew they’d outgrow them,” Anna says. “Everything we found that was bigger was thousands of dollars. So my husband, who does, like, no, handyman stuff, said, ‘I’m gonna do this.’” Anna and her husband, Chris, spent the next two-and-a-half months designing and building a custom playhouse, complete with flower boxes, a reading loft, and plenty of space for hosting tea parties. Now, she says, it’s where all the kids on her block want to be. —Taylor Bowler

BUILDER GRADE

“Our neighbors were renovating, so Chris was getting inspired,” Anna says. “He started taking some material from them—they’re good friends—and decided to build something.” Chris began sketching out his ideas and ordered more materials from Home Depot. “The funniest thing about this was, we don’t have building supply connections, so we just went to Home Depot and purchased everything. But we don’t have a truck. We have, like, a four-person family and four-person car, and my husband was at The Masters. So an 18-wheeler showed up one morning with all the supplies that he’d ordered.” 

A SOLID FOUNDATION

Chris began with concrete footers and framed the walls and gable roof with wood panels. He installed a 5-foot door and two windows on the front; inside, he built a reading loft that the girls could access with a wood ladder. They painted the exterior Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White to match their home and the front door a bright pink. “Chris found the little flower boxes from Home Depot, and I thought that was just so cute,” Anna says. “I got the flowers from Amazon.”

HELPING HANDS

About four weeks into the project, Chris needed some back-up, so he mentioned it to some friends at his poker night. “The next morning, a couple of dads showed up and jumped in,” Anna says. “Who doesn’t want a fun project to do without being responsible for it?” Chris spent every weekend and most evenings in the backyard, working on the playhouse. “It was like, 70% done, and it was the weekend before Mother’s Day, and I said, ‘I need my husband back’,” Anna says with a laugh. “So we did bring in a handyman to help finish up.”

THOUGHTFUL ACCENTS

Anna created an accent wall with peel and stick floral wallpaper from Lowe’s and got most of the accessories and pillows from Amazon and World Market. She found a pink and orange area rug for the lower level and gave the girls an oversized bean bag for reading. The pink wood cubbies hold their books and toys. “My daughter loves to sew,” Anna says, “so she helped make these handmade little curtains for the windows.” 

CHILD’S PLAY

Since they completed the playhouse in May, it’s become a gathering place for the kids on the Stallmann’s block. The best part? “There’s no electricity, no devices, and no distractions,” Anna says. “It’s great because you can keep an eye on them from the screened-in porch. I am so proud of Chris’ work on this project and willpower to make it happen! The girls will always cherish this.”