Scavenger Chic

Creating a Playhouse in an old Shed

• By Joan
• January 10, 2024
• 11 Comments

Creating a Playhouse in an old Shed

Welcome back everyone.  I hope you all had the happiest holiday season and are enjoying a brand new year.

To catch you up a bit, or to remind you, in 2023 I was  busily and happily helping my oldest son Keith and his wife Steph renovate and furnish an old farmhouse that they are using as an Airbnb. It is now fully operational, though I haven’t yet shared all the projects I was working on.  One of those projects was this shed situated just across the yard from the kitchen.  Wouldn’t it make the best playhouse for the kids?

How hard could it be to make the transition?  A few boards here and there and boom! you’re done.

BTW, the birdhouses are from a previous post. 

After a lot of clean out, this is the interior of the  future playhouse.

Besides some rotting exterior wood there were a few interior details that needed to be addressed.  A leaky roof (upper left), no vertical 2×4’s on the back wall and some sort of bug was eating the wood on the top of the right wall.  Like I said, perfect for a playhouse!

First the roof.  While the shingles are pretty much shot I was able to actually find the hole and patch it with a liquid tar.  It should hold for now but the roof really needs to be addressed within the next couple of years

I went home, gathered up tons of pallet wood, gave it all a coat of white paint and was ready to start my playhouse project. 

Painting just one coat on the pallet wood will allow some of the wood color and grain to show thru giving you various shades of gray to white.  If you want all the boards to be solid white, paint a second coat.

Loaded up with my nail gun I was ready for the install.  While I knew I didn’t have enough wood for the entire shed I was sure I had enough wood to cover at least 2 walls. 

This tiny little shed is way bigger than it looks from the outside.  I was lucky to cover even one half wall.

Note:  If you’ve only given your pallet wood one coat of paint, make sure the different shades are spread out so that all the white or all the gray is not just in one corner.

Besides the wood, I did come equipped with the play kitchen, dishes, fake food and artwork, all courtesy of a local thrift store.  It was good for a start but I had to get serious….

…This time I took measurements.  It’s no wonder I ran out of wood so quickly, this tiny little shed is 11 1/2 feet long.

From the free pile at my local salvage yard I got tons of hardwood flooring. Yes, this is all stuff they threw away.

Laying it all out on my garage floor, I still had a long way to go.

This is the start of the back wall.  Again, from the free pile.

It all goes together so much better when it’s painted the same color.

Make sure you take a picture of your layout so it can go back together.

This little corner shelf was about to hit my son’s trash pile before I rescued it.

The  shelf just needed a fresh coat of paint.  While I don’t think I would have a place for this little shelf in my house, it’s perfect for a playhouse.

All loaded up and ready to return.  If I did my laying out correctly I should have enough wood for the floor and the remaining 3 walls.

I didn’t  even start to think about the ceiling yet, but it certainly wouldn’t have fit in my car.

First came the back wall.  I had lots of little pieces (shutters, doors, trim) that needed to be attached, I would need a lot more studs to nail to.

I found the easiest way to attach my doors and shutters was to add the 2×4’s as I went along determining where I needed to have something to nail to.  I started with the 2″ side of the stud facing out, but flipping the wood so the 4″ side was out gave me a wider nailing surface.  I didn’t need the 2×4’s for structure since the shed was sturdy and still standing.

The back wall is complete.   The pet store was created from an old chicken nesting box.  I had originally given the nesting box to my middle son and his wife to use in their cute little bungalow.  When they moved into a much more modern house it didn’t fit with their decor.

What better place for a chicken nesting box than on an old farm.

Some of the animals were my kids own stuffies, others were from the thrift store including the  ($5) kid IKEA Poang chair.

The right side wall needed a couple of 2×4’s replaced that had been eaten by some unknown bug.  Luckily I found no current infestation.

Before starting on your project, it’s also a good idea to take a picture of any wires that will remain behind the wall before you cover them up.

When putting up shiplap, try to stagger your seams just like you would do for hardwood flooring.  Each board should be attached to the existing studs in at least 2 places.  If you have a nail gun, use it, a nail gun makes installation go so quickly.

The last wall was the front wall.

On the front wall I stopped the pallet wood shiplap at the electrical box.  I sort of knew what wires needed to be kept, but I wanted to run it by my son (and homeowner) before I started yanking and cutting wires.

The last thing to be emptied from the car was the hardwood floor scraps.

To make sure I had enough of the hardwood floor, I  divided the floor into 3 sections. The slightly wider wood went vertical, then three rows of the narrower hardwood was placed horizontally.  Repeat 2 more times.

After a little research I ended up attaching   the flooring with  Gorilla Glue Construction Adhesive.  What I paid for the adhesive (about $100) was probably as much as ALL the other elements of the playhouse combined. And I’m talking furniture, wood, fixtures, toys etc…Hopefully it will last forever.

On my last trip down I came equipped with beadboard to cover up the ceiling.

 

 

I’m waiting for electrical to be hooked up but the grandkids don’t seem to care.  For anybody worried about those wires, the power has been turned off.

Still needs some painting and trim work but I have a question for you all. What would you put in a playhouse?  It can’t have too many pieces for clean up.  I’ve googled playhouses but most pics are of the outside.  Hmmmm…….. Or are your envisioning a She Shed?

Until next time, stay inspired.