About three years ago, I saw the cutest playhouse in Sam’s club – and had to have it for Shreya. It’s the Backyards Discovery Woodland Cedar Playhouse Kit. The kit was under $300 and very easy to put together. It’s about 4×6 foot with a little attached porch. That model doesn’t seem to be available now, but there’s a similar playhouse kit by the same company: Backyard Discovery Summer Cottage All Cedar Wood Playhouse (affiliate link.) available on Amazon.
A kit is the easiest way to build a little playhouse – and I highly recommend the Backyard Discovery brand kits. They’re so much nicer than the plastic playhouses. The only thing I did different was make a floor for my playhouse. The instructions have you put it on a soft playground surface in case of falls. But I wanted a floor like a real house. So, I first leveled the ground and made a foundation with cement pavers. Then I used a painted 4×8 sheet of treated plywood and bolted the playhouse to that. Since it was raised slightly, I nailed 1×3’s around the bottom – to keep the snakes and critters out. I even landscaped and planted flowers.
Shreya really enjoyed playing in it in our backyard for the first couple years. The cedar held up well even though I forgot to seal it that first year. It did get quite a bit of scratching and abuse from the squirrels and birds though.
When they finally bought a house with a big backyard, Shreya decided she wanted her playhouse moved to her new house so she could play in it more often, and have her friends
over. And, she said she wanted me to paint it purple.
I hadn’t thought about painting it – but that seemed like the perfect solution to cover up the scratches and give it a fresh cute look. So, I tried to color match it to her new house, and use purple for the door and accents inside. I started with a coat of Kilz primer.
Here’s the inside before and after. The white really brightened up the inside and made it more inviting. I even made purple curtains. (Shreya’s kitchen looks about like mine. Haha.) With a little purple rug and chair and table, it’s quite cozy. And, yeah, to Shreya’s amazement, Nani does fit inside – how do you think I painted it?
Papa didn’t think it could be done, but we loaded it right up on our trailer and pulled it to its new home.
Here’s the freshly painted playhouse in it’s new home, landscaped by Shreya’s daddy.
Follow Me!