Finishing and Decorating a Playhouse
Finishing and Decorating a Playhouse
Hi friends, welcome back. I have one more post for you. converting this 2 room shed into a kid’s playroom. The front part of the building is geared to a younger aged child, probably 2-5. The back room will probably appeal to a slightly older child, maybe 4-10.
Hopefully, if you’re designing a playhouse this will give you a few ideas that you can use in your own space.
This is what the front part of the shed looked like before it’s makeover.
Now it’s much more kid friendly. This side of the room has a marketplace, a pet store and a place to “eat”.
The marketplace is new since I first shared this space with you all. Of course it was a thrift store find.
The other side of the room has a kitchen, kid’s refrigerator, a few dress up items and a doctor’s kit is in one of the hanging bags.
Yup, everything second hand.
All of the wood, from the floors, to the walls, to the ceiling was also scavenged from a local second hand store, Second Chance.
If you went up the stairs to the side of the shed you would find this lovely room. It’s just crying out to be an additional playroom.
As it was, I wouldn’t be spending too much time playing in that back room. Two of these guys were hanging from the rafters. Luckily we didn’t find anyone home. I didn’t even know snakes shed their eyeballs!
The corners were filled with spider webs.
There was also an old electrical panel in the corner. Since there is currently no electricity in the shed that thing had to go.
First thing we did was sweep out the building.
Next up was sanding the metal cabinet on the wall. I must say there were a couple of nests on the shelves of the cabinet, probably mouse, but once again I was lucky that no one was home. While the cabinet was not in the best of shape it would still come in quite handy holding any kids toys that needed stowing.
A few cans of black, semi gloss, spray paint made the cabinet usable again.
I think I was lucky to be working on this room in November. After three days of work I only encountered one little spider. No snakes, and no mice :roll:.
After the cabinet the first metal panel went up on the right wall. This is the one I’m using for the marble run. It was just screwed to the studs.
On the back wall, the metal panel for the wood tiles and barn yard animals was installed. Once again, screwing to the existing studs.
Once the large metal panels were securely in place I could now add shiplap to all the exposed 2×4 studs. The shiplap is just varying lengths of 1x4s or 1×6’s. I saved wood by not doing the shiplap behind the metal panels or cabinet. Cut to size and nail in place with a pneumatic nail gun. I used tons of 1 1/2″ finish nails.
I saved time by painting the shiplap at home. The walls were finished as soon as the wood was installed.
Once the shiplap was complete, I painted the cinder block half walls and board and batten wall with a dark gray porch paint. To save money be on the lookout for a decent color of OOPs paint at your local hardware store. This $50 can of paint was $9.
More discarded hardwood floor pieces make a great playhouse flooring. Much smoother than the current rough pine.
We had 2 distinct color of flooring so we divided up the flooring before installing and determined that we had to integrate some light colored flooring into the dark in the ratio of about 4 to 1. Would hate to have one quarter of the floor light and the rest dark.
Once again, we used a nail gun to install.
The ceiling is all old beadboard. Most of the wood was from the scrap pile but I did have to purchase 3 pieces when the scrap pile ran out. You can probably tell that the wood is rather beat up and hard to sell but it’s kind of perfect for a kid’s playhouse.
Now for decorating the playhouse. I mentioned last week that my inspiration for the wood magnetic tiles came from a trip to the Maryland Science Center. They have a wonderful kid’s area.
My version of the magnetic tile wall.
The Science Center also had a Lego table. My kids always loved Lego tiles, I could do that.
Another thrift store find, this table and chairs. The finish on the top was a little messed up so I had no problem converting this set into a Lego table.
I used E6000 glue to attach the large Lego panels to the table.
Store extra Lego pieces in a basket under the table.
These pieces were all from my kids stash, but don’t worry, I still have plenty more for when the grandkids come over to play.
The right wall has the marble run.
You can really see the variety of wood colors in the hardwood flooring here. By spacing out the light colored wood it almost looks intentional.
Don’t forget to decorate with some artwork. Would you believe that these are more thrift store pieces. (All except for the bunny, I did that one.)
The easel and step stool? Of course they were from the thrift store. I’ve been picking up bits and pieces for this room for the past six month.
This was my gallery wall from the front room. Aren’t they fun? While the giraffe goes well with the other animals he is not one you would normally find on a farm.
I’m so close to being finished with this 2 room project. I have a bit of trim work I’d like to do and finish off the outside but that is for another day. As for now, my grandkids gave it their thumbs up seal of approval.
Until next time, stay inspired.
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How blessed your grandchildren are. This is a place to create and have fun.