Indoor Slides Make Getting There All the Fun

For some intrepid homeowners, their home is their playground. Bringing slides indoors is not common enough to call a trend that's sweeping the world, but we're starting to see it here and there, and the idea is spreading. From taking center stage in swanky Manhattan penthouses to providing the fun secret way to get from the laundry room to the basement in Minnesota, these playground pieces are anything but child's play.

We've all got our heads wrapped around an indoor slide like this one, but what about ...


... this?

This slide in New York City's East Village, originally in the pad of a bachelor professional poker player, received a ton of press online, in magazines and on TV. I saw it on one of those high-end real estate shows, and the slide's projected effect on resale value caused some entertaining manufactured-for-TV drama. When square footage is at a premium, taking up a lot of room with a slide is a very specific homeowner choice, but wow, it really dazzles, and I bet it gets the endorphins going if you slide downstairs to get the first coffee in the morning.


The slide was conceived by the creative minds at Turett Collaborative Architects. It connects an upstairs office to the middle of the open floor plan below; it's a half-tube design in stainless steel.

However you feel about its function and the room it takes up, the slide certainly stands up to the 18-foot-high ceilings in the large, open space.

This image shows what the apartment looked like after Joyce Elizabeth staged it for resale.


This slide is for recreation and art; its beautiful form is a huge presence in Skyhouse, an artful Manhattan penthouse, connecting the attic to the guest room hallway, then continuing down in a second leg to the living room below. This place is like something out of a movie, perhaps a remake of Sleeper.


Inspired by German artist Carsten Höller, architect David Hotson's slide design has a futuristic form and serves as a sculpture in this unique space. It was fabricated in Germany and put together onsite, before many of the walls inside the penthouse went up.


The end of the slide makes a huge design impact and also serves as a work of art on its own. Houzz contributor John Hill put together a wonderful tour showing more of this one-of-a-kind home.


Rather than serving as a sculpture or major design statement, some slides are surprises hidden in the walls. The basement rec-room fun begins with the trip down a level in this Minnesota home. This one's entry point is tucked away in a first-floor closet.





The round opening does not give away what the slide experience will be, which builder Steve Kuhl describes as "severe tubular craziness." He estimates that installing a slide like this somewhere else would run from $2,500 to $5,000.


For those of you considering head-first descents, be sure to have a soft landing spot at the bottom.

See the rest of this house


There is a secret way to this Atlanta basement from the laundry room as well. This one has a cover over the mouth of the slide's tube for safety, something important to consider if you have tots around who are not ready for a big-kid slide yet.


In a clever design move, the slide is lined up with arcade machines with similar lines, as well as painted stripes on the walls and ceilings.


In this new construction, the clients requested a slide between the first and second levels of the home. "They thought it would be a fun feature to have a slide for the children to use to get from the their bedrooms upstairs to the family room downstairs," says architect Dan Nelson (who also installed a firefighter's pole in another house).

The distance between the two floors is 12 feet, requiring a long space to accommodate a safe and comfortable rise-to-run ratio. Nelson tapped steel fabricator Coastline Manufacturing (Bellingham, Washington), which specializes in playground equipment, to make the slide. It's built into the walls, so it had to be installed before the walls were framed.

Not shown in this photo are the thick foam pads at the bottom for landings.


Like a spiral staircase, a spiral slide can fit into a tighter space where you may not have all of the room for the long run.


If you want to enjoy the fun of a slide in a less-expensive way and with much less construction, one like this is a good option.


Also, basic playground equipment you'd usually buy for the yard can work in a playroom and may not require custom fabrication. This indoor tree fort has a tubular slide and a climbing wall that can be used no matter what the weather is.


A simple slide makes getting down from the top bunk a lot easier and more fun than using the ladder.

Tell us: Do you want a slide at home? Do you already have one? Please share your idea!

More: Inspiring ideas for indoor forts

URL: Indoor Slides Make Getting There All the Fun http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-21596.html