Style and Design
An attractive wooden playhouse constructed in quality materials with a window and small verandah area to the front, the Trigano Jardin Jane is guaranteed to delight younger children. The playhouse features a traditional design with an apex roof and space for up to three children inside. The open door construction will allow plenty of air and light to reach the interior while allowing easy supervision of play.
Materials/Construction
The Jane is constructed in FSC approved wood to a 12mm specification mounted on a wooden frame. The window is glazed in plexiglass for safety while the door features a child friendly magnetic catch. The construction includes an integral wooden floor.
Dimensions
The playhouse measures 4'2'' x 5'7'' (1.27 x 1.71m). The height at the highest point is 5'4'' (1.62m). The dimensions of the window are 15'' x 15'' (38 x 38cm).
Finish/Treatment
The playhouse receives a class III autoclave (pressure) treatment with fungicide and insecticide prior to delivery. It's not necessary to apply any further treatment although the purchaser may wish to decorate the playhouse to their own personal preference. The top model illustrated above has been finished in an attractive blue with white trim.
Delivery/Assembly
The Jane is delivered in easily assembled pre-formed panels along with full instructions and all necessary fixings. You can see a preview of the manual here (opens in a new window). Availability
See the details of sellers and prices given above.
Our Verdict
The Jane features a decent amount of space internally with a nice external patio area to the front. The build quality looks good for this size of playhouse - 12mm pressure treated tongue and groove cladding mounted on a wooden frame - with a front window glazed in perspex and a child friendly magnetic catch to secure the door. The integral floor will increase the strength of the entire structure and the pressure treatment is a welcome bonus. It should extend the life of the playhouse considerably without any further treatment having to be carried out.
The treated wood looks a little bare though and we do think you'll probably want to decorate it to your own (or your child's) taste. If left undecorated, even treated wood will quite quickly take on a worn and weathered appearance when exposed to the elements. Applying a suitable varnish or stain will help to prevent this and keep your playhouse looking nice and fresh. We'd suggest you apply the decoration prior to assembly to make sure you reach all the parts you need to. This will also enable you to turn the pre-assembled panels upside down to decorate all the way into the tongue and groove joints. If you don't do this, natural movement and expansion and contraction can lead to bare areas appearing later. Keep some sandpaper to hand as well during the process of decoration. Wood is a natural material and you'll often find one or two rough edges which have escaped the manufacturing process. We wouldn't see this as an issue, just something which comes with this type of outdoor wooden building.
And on the issue of assembly, we don't think you'll have any great difficulty. More or less everything arrives pre-formed and just needs to be screwed together to give you your playhouse. The only downside is that the screw holes aren't pre-drilled so you'll need a power drill with a 2 or 3mm bit to deal with this. It's not a major job but it will extend the assembly time a little. The manufacturer estimates this at two hours for two adults - we'd suggest you treat this as a minimum.
At the time of review, the Trigano Jardin Jane was priced quite competitively for its size and type but be sure to check our price guide above to make sure this continues to be the case. At the price, we think the Jane has plenty to offer: good design, pressure treatment, wooden floor and patio, easy assembly and no real safety concern. Apart from the lack of pre-drilled screw holes our only negative comment would be that the uncovered roof and open design of the door mean that the playhouse won't be watertight. This means you'll have to make sure that items which are susceptible to damage from moisture aren't kept in it and from time to time you may have to mop up water which has gathered inside. The open door does provide plenty ventilation though and it will mean that your playhouse should dry out quite quickly after wet weather. If you wished it should be quite straightforward to cover the roof with either felt or some other suitable waterproof material to increase weather resistance. Note though that this would probably count as a modification of the playhouse and might invalidate the manufacturer's two year guarantee.
So, overall quite a positive picture for the Trigano Jardin Jane. The customer feedback we've managed to track down so far is favourable on the whole too other than some reservations about the lack of pre-drilled screw holes during assembly - we've awarded the Jane 4 wooden playhouse stars. Properly looked after it should give you many years service. It's a continental model which, unfortunately, isn't as widely available now as it was before Brexit. You should still be able to pick it up at a reasonable price on eBay though and we think it's worth the effort. 
