6/23 | Crooked Houses:Playful Yet Pricey Fun For Kids
TLC show gets Crooked Houses noticed
The Covered Wagon Crooked House costs $6,187 plus shipping.
Thanks to some oft-repeated product placement, playhouse retailer Kids Crooked Houses is about to get slammed with business. That is, of course, if people can afford them.
Kids Crooked Houses are beautiful, fun, imaginative playhouses for kids. However, if you want the type you saw on “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ last night, you’ll need a lot more money than you can get from a quick payday loan.
Do it yourself
If you are hoping to have the same experience you watched Jon and Kate have last night, I’m sad to inform you that their reality show did not reflect reality. If you buy Crooked Houses, you’ll have to assemble them yourself. There won’t be a big teddy bear of a man playing with your kids while a crew puts together your playhouse for you.
Crooked Houses can be delivered, with a pretty hefty shipping fee. But they come unassembled. The Crooked Houses web site assures customers that assembly is quick and easy, and that all you need is a screwdriver.
The bottom line
Crooked Houses start at $1,249. That price will get you the Original Playhouse, which will arrive unpainted in seven pieces. Shipping costs $239 to $499, so unless you live near a Kids Crooked Houses facility in Utah, Oklahoma, Indiana or Maine, you’re looking at spending at least $1,500 for an unpainted playhouse with a 4-by-6-foot base, some of which is dedicated to the porch.
The Deluxe Playhouse from Crooked Houses is slightly bigger, and you can choose from nine colors. That one goes for $2,549, so with shipping, now you’re looking at spending in the neighborhood of $3,000 for one playhouse. The Double Deluxe Playhouse is $4,449, which gets you a bigger playhouse in one of the nine colors and and extra room in the back.
The Jon and Kate experience
Like I said before, the Crooked House crew won’t assemble your playhouses for you like they did in front of the cameras on TLC. However, you can order custom-made playhouses like the ones the Gosselins now have in their back yard.
If you want a pirate ship, haunted house, garden shop or some custom creation that you and your kid dream up, custom Crooked Houses start at $5,000. Yes, that means Jon and Kate got more than $20,000 worth of merchandise delivered to their home and assembled for them. Hey, it pays to be on television.
The feeling is mutual
Of course, while I am sure that Jon and Kate didn’t have to pay for their Crooked Houses, the company didn’t make out so badly on the deal, either. The business name “Crooked Houses” is one of the most-searched terms on Google this morning, so I am sure the Crooked Houses guys will make their money back quickly.
Speaking of the Crooked Houses guys, the company was started by by cousins Glen and Jeff. They got their inspiration from cartoon houses. They were searching for just the right playhouses for their children, and they couldn’t find anything satisfactory. So, Glen and Jeff built their own playhouses and Kids Crooked Houses was born.