Stella is now the proud owner of a rustic cabin. Newly remodeled with outdoor sink & seating. Custom paint job on the table & stool. Brand new pots & pans. Comes with car & matching ATV.
*For rent she will accept Popsicles, dandelion flowers & random bugs.
**Must bring hammock or tent/sleeping bag for overnight visits.
***Original paint colors were kept during the remodeling process.
So my Aunt Katha gave us this old Little Tykes playhouse. It wasn't getting used at her house and she asked if I'd like it for our yard. I, of course, said "Yes!" It was in great condition, just faded and clay-stained. Once we got it home, Donald pressure washed it, but much of the clay color remained. I decided to paint it with the newer spray paint that's specifically for plastic stuff like this.
We went ahead and put it together since I didn't know when I'd get around to painting it. She instantly loved it. When I started telling her I'd paint it she immediately said she wanted a pink house. Pink is her favorite color so that makes sense. We visited our local hardware store for the paint and ended up getting essentially the same colors it already was. One, I figured it would be easiest that way. Two, they didn't have a huge selection of colors in that particular paint and finish that would work.
So basically, these are the "before" shots.
She loved Bandit being inside with her.
I found an unfinished wooden stool at Goodwill/thrift store two weeks ago and thought it would be perfect for the house. She requested pink so we had a little color lesson and mixed red and white together to get this bubblegum color. She wanted to help and actually did an ok job. I'd picked up a green wooden table at a yard sale that was at my neighbor's house backa few years ago for just a few bucks. Around $5 probably. It was very sturdy and in great condition. It was outside on the front porch for a while holding plants.
Once Stella got big enough to eat by herself, I moved it inside and added an orange plastic Little Tykes chair so she'd have her own special place to have a snack or color.
When the weather was nice, I'd move it onto the back porch as a place for her to dine al fresco.
I decided to grab it and paint it for the house. Once the pink paint was dry, that evening I cut out a star stencil and added some stars to personalize it for Stella. We did this last weekend so it would have plenty of time to dry and cure.
Yesterday, Donald took the house back apart and I painted it. "Before" in pieces.
Getting a little sun snooze. I thought she might actually fall asleep since she didn't have a nap, but no. She was so good though. She was so happy to just be outside and play with B. At one point I couldn't find her. Donald pointed to her in the corner of the yard talking to B and covering him in leaves while he slept.
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"After" assembled.
The mat was bigger than the house so I made it look like a porch.
This is the only piece of the playhouse I didn't paint. I just scrubbed it really good and then took a Magic Eraser to it. The stickers for the eyes of the stove came off, but it looks better that way.
We put this together and I decorated while she napped. When she woke up, we surprised her with it all together.
Preparing supper with the cut-able veggies from Lolly.
Fruit soup and vegetable soup.
I'm going to start leaving her mail, I think. Or at least when she gets mail in the real mailbox, I'll move it out here for her to check. I'm hoping to get some vinyl letters & numbers cut out and have her name and 68 1/2 put on the box. I think that will be super cute.
Playhouse-free
Mailbox-$3.93 at Goodwill
Stool-$2.92 at Thrift store
Star basket-$.99 at GW
Table-yard sale years ago. Around $5
Chevron mat-$5 at 5 Below
Plastic wicker kid's chairs-$10 ($5 each)
Plastic food-$3 at Fred's (from Lolly)
Sink-$7.97 at Goodwill (bought this past Fall & thought it worked well with this)
Flowers (4 pots each) & white flower planter-IKEA
Pots & pans-IKEA
Set of utensils (4 each, 2 stainless, 2 plastic)-IKEA
Soft food-IKEA *I have no idea how much everything was at IKEA. I took everything out of the packaging this week and chucked it in the recycling bin. I looked back at the receipt but since it's all Swedish words that aren't self explanatory, I have no idea what is what. I'm guessing around $25.
Krylon Fusion for plastic from Vickery's Do It Best Hardware in Smyrna
River Rock-Satin (3 cans)
Sun dried tomato-gloss (1 can)
Patriotic blue-gloss (1 can)=$34.29
Total of $98.10 (approximately). So roughly, for less than $100, Stella has basically a brand new playhouse, completely accessorized. I'm so grateful the weather was cooperative this weekend so we could do this. I'm also happy we could do this just before the weather starts getting really nice that way we can spend as much time as possible out here. I don't think that's going to be a problem.
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