This is a project that I have had on my list for years but I thought that we out grew our old playhouse. I was sad to think we were past those days and even asked our good friend if they wanted the house. Quarantined happened and that old playhouse sitting on the side of our yard waiting for someone to love it… it became THE PLACE TO HANG all day long! Long story short… we randomly refurbished this house with things we had at home already and grab the rest on a scheduled run to Home Depot for other home supplies.

I asked my husband for a couple stone pavers so the kids didn’t hurt their feet when they walked to it in the rocks. He must of felt very board, he said “No, I will not get pavers… I will build a deck!” This is how this entire thing happened. I told him if he was building a deck, we should just paint it at the same time. BAM!! The storybook cottage become our Sunday project.

Step 1: DECK

We did this as a moveable feature. Technically this is on our side yard and in an area we couldn’t have a permeant fixture. Justin built this with the following material:

7- 2×4 to create a box with braces
32 1x3x8 Pine Boarding

He created a square 8 ft. x 8 ft. deck with a small 26 inch walkway from our concrete pad to the square.

Step 2: PAINTING

You have to unassembled the house. We choose to remove the old attached seating area on the side and the sink that went outside of the window (we didn’t want to keep those items).

We used Rustoleum (semi gloss) White and Black plus (metallic) Champagne for the door and shutters. We had these colors at home. We used 2 cans of White and 2 cans of Black and a little bit of the Champagne can we had on hand. To give the brick some dimension and not use a ton of white paint (this one doesn’t cover as well as the black) Justin did a light coating on the brick area and made the body of the house the pure white. This gave the appearance that the house is white and the brick is grey.

This process is very easy!! It just takes time, do long strokes and let it dry. Do multiple layers if needed!

Step 3: ACCESSORIES

This of course is my favorite part! Here is what we used from the house and a couple things I purchased through Target Drive Up (which is awesome if you haven’t used it!!) One thing that I can’t link that was a last minute add– the window boxes! We have had these IKEA white metal tubs for years, we use them for outdoors decor with their faux plants (which are awesome, by the way!!). We wanted to have planter boxes on the windows and these were it!! These tubs do ship, which is so great (but they do take a while). Justin screwed them into the house under the window and it worked well!

Wreath- we choose to also screw this in (top and bottom) to prevent it from falling off. It is in secure and won’t be on and off the door when the kids play.

I have to say that I loved this project and it made my heart so happy to see the kids playing with something that we thought was just a donation piece a couple of months ago. Such a happy unexpected Sunday afternoon but one that makes me smile every time I look outside!

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