A Playhouse Story

Once upon a time a family bought a house that came with a wonderful little playhouse attached to the deck.

The youngest daughter in the family was married in the backyard of the home and used the playhouse as a backdrop for some of her wedding photos. Read all about the wedding here.

Alas, the family's children were already grown, so the playhouse was used as a storage shed for all of the grown children's old toys. You should also know that the mother of the family (aka "Honey") had a tendency to hoard sentimental things. She could not help herself but she is much improved now.

It also housed folding chairs and Papa's hammock - anything that didn't have a home somewhere else.

It was dark, crowded, and spidery.

So one day Honey had a great plan - have all of the grown children come over (dinner was promised) and insist they go through all of their old toys and get rid of any they didn't want to keep for their own children.

The plan worked and even provided time for some grandlittle interaction.

The grandfellas always wore their boots when visiting in case running around in the mud was on the schedule. They had a great time checking out all of the toys that their mother had played with as a child
.

As it started to get dark, all that was left to go through was the mountain of Barbie stuff. The event was moved into the house.

The grandfellas wondered what all of the pink stuff was about.



The next day, with everything out of the playhouse, the family could see what the building was all about.

Honey took one look at the ceiling and shouted to her son, "Son, get me a crowbar!" Being a wise son, he suggested that maybe a cordless screwdriver might be a better solution. And he was right. And he did all of the work.

Little by little, the drop ceiling came down along with insulation that was full of ant nests, spiders, and all kinds of bug poo. Yuck.

After the gross stuff was cleared out, Honey got out her amazing vintage paint sprayer and started spraying the entire interior of the playhouse. She was especially happy to be using up all of the half used cans of paint from the garage - simply mixed together in a 5 gallon paint bucket. Honey loves free!

As the last two walls were getting their first coat, Honey was disappointed to find that she had burnt up the motor of her vintage paint sprayer. Bummer. The process had to be finished by hand.

After a second coat of paint, Honey put only the favorite toys back into the playhouse.

A shelf made by Papa many years ago held toys and bins.

The large bins in the corners held wooden blocks and matchbox cars with car ramps - all necessities of grandfella playtime.

The family's three generations were happy with the improvements and the youngest ones played happily ever after.

* Papa plans on putting in an additional window to let in more light and a play rug is ready to be installed. The table and chairs will be transformed with paint and fabric, and a few additional storage options will be added. Updated pics will soon follow.