Playhouse Makeover: An Inexpensive & Easy DIY Project!
When my oldest son was about 2 years old, we decided that he needed an outdoor playhouse. I researched the best (& most affordable) playset, and finally came up with one that seemed to work for our little guy, so we got it!
That playset provided a lot of fun & entertainment for our son, and not too long after that, his twin brothers! But after a little time, that playhouse got kind of worn by the weather & my boys started to use it for stick storage!
We decided to get our boys a larger play-set that would fit them as they grew, and at first I really wanted to just get rid of our old playhouse! But soon, we found out that we would have a baby girl!
Not long after that, I started thinking about a playhouse makeover! I decided to take our worn out playhouse from drab to an adorable play area for our little gal (& her brothers even though, they still claim they like it the way it was! Silly boys!).
Playhouse Makeover
I sat on this idea for quite a while! I knew that my husband didn’t want to put any time or money into this playhouse, so I waited. And then one day, I just went for it! I took a trip to Lowe’s and came back with paint, wood & some sand paper, and I got started!
*Note- You may notice that our playhouse has an opening in the front where the slide used to be! Our slide had a cut in the plastic that could have hurt our kids as they used it, so my husband removed it. He also removed the swings because we have swing on our newer playset. If you are needing a new slide for your playhouse, you can purchase a new slide for about $100-$200.
Supplies Needed for the Playhouse Remodel
The main supplies that are needed to really transform a playhouse is obviously paint! However, as you can see in the photos, the paint helped a lot to spruce up the playhouse, but the little extras really made a big difference! Check out the things I did to create a beautiful new play area out of our old playhouse!
- Paint- be sure you get an outdoor paint that will hold up in the weather! I choose 2 different colors, white & a pale blue-green. I needed every bit of a gallon (and could have used more) of the white, and a quart of the blue-green, but could have used more with that also!
- Sandpaper (medium to coarse)- the wood on the playhouse was very rough since it had already been outside for several years. I didn’t worry about it for the most part, but there were a few places that I attempted to smooth out a little!
- Paintbrushed & Paint Roller- Be sure you have larger brushes to cover more area, & a paint roller was a total lifesaver!
- Wood- I purchased a piece of wood about 6 inches wide and 6 feet long (1/4 inch thick). Then, I sweet-talked my husband into making several window boxes!
- Styrofoam- I cut a Styrofoam block to fit in my window boxes so they would hold some bright flowers!
- Artificial flowers & greenery- I bought some beautiful artificial ranunculus and several bunches of pretty green artificial boxwoods from Amazon. I had some other flowers that I used to fill in here and there too!
- Fabric- I got about a yard and a half of floral fabric for the curtains & another quarter yard of about 5 different prints for the bunting along the top! My mom was good enough to sew everything for our playhouse makeover!
- Tension Rod- We used a small tension rod to put the curtains up!
- Signs & shelf- I found a couple of simple signs at our local Walmart & Hobby Lobby! I put one on the front saying “hello”, we use another as a chalkboard “menu” of sorts. I also found a small wooden shelf that we put up inside of our playhouse to hold toys like dishes.
Aside from the making of the bunting & curtains, it only took about 8 hours to complete the playhouse remodel! One of the best parts was that my kids could help! With most of the painting being white & all of the work being done outside, I wasn’t too worried about anything getting messed up!
My boys were a lot of help! They felt excited about the projects, and the project went SO MUCH FASTER with those extra paint brushes going!!
When everything was all completed, I was so happy with the outcome of our DIY playhouse makeover! I ended up spending about $125 and I think it was well worth it!!!
I hope you got some great ideas for making over your child’s playhouse! Let me know what you think of these ideas & if you are ready to tackle your own playhouse makeover in the comments below!
