Indoor Playhouse Decor Ideas for Every Under the Steps Playhouse

Move Over Tiny House Movement: Indoor Playhouse Decor Ideas for Every Under the Steps Playhouse

Have you Googled "under the steps playhouse" lately? You get this, followed by deep pangs of jealousy. Yeah, playhouses aren't what they used to be. Move over Tiny House Movement, there's a new competitor on the block, and this one's dominated by three-to-thirteen year old property owners. Though I'm not going to lie, at 37, I sit here typing and wonder: Can I create my own and blame it on the dog? Maybe I'll call it "A Room of One's Own" and blame it on Virginia Woolf.

So what are some tips for decorating our–ahem, our children's–indoor, under the steps playhouses? I've done the research for you and your kids. Call it my selfless act of giving today. I swear it is. What follows are six of my favorite finds:

1. Design on paper first. When we designed on paper, our forts stayed on paper. Now you can work with your children to plan a space that is intentional rather than accidental, a space that really will come into being and which includes important lessons in planning, design, and construction. You choose the level of complexity.

2. Don't hesitate to let your mini-interior designers dream as big, as other-worldly, as they wish. Just like we used to do on paper. Later steps can include the limits and feasibilities of planet Earth. But start by encouraging the big imaginations in your little ones' heads.

3. Indoor doesn't have to mean absent nature. Include plants in your decor. Further, let your minis assume responsibility for the watering of those plants. Prefer plant life and plant-like life that doesn't require watering, even after outsourcing the work? Do it with decals.

4. Related to the previous, you can do anything with decals. Add color or go black and white. Add dimension or turn your walls into pages by *sticking* to clever quotes. Whatever you do, you can make it personal.

5. DIY furniture pieces. Google has dozens of clever ways to repurpose a milk crate. I bet your kids have more and better. (Milk crates are just a start.)

Finally, and I admit this one sits uncomfortably with me,

6. This is their house, not yours. Give your children their own voice. Let them choose a theme. Or let them choose a dozen themes. Remember when you were a child and everything matched everything, and it all looked fabulous? Why not let your tiny ones rule their tiny home? Soon they'll be in charge of dinners