This post has been a long time coming! We bought the kids a used cedar playhouse back in 2018 when we were stationed in San Diego. It definitely got used, but after wear and tear and the sun beating down on it for 2 years, it had seen better days. Logan and I had toyed with the idea of redoing it, but never pulled the plug. Insert Covid lockdown, and we were presented with the perfect opportunity to give it a makeover!

I wish I could show you official plans that Logan drew up, but he sketched something out on a piece of paper within a few hours, I gave my input, and the vision slowly came to life. I did however, take cell phone pictures each step of the way. Here’s what we started with:

The first step was taking the entire thing apart. I think I blinked and Logan had it down in just a few hours.

Next came a new bottom floor. Logan created a larger foundation for the playhouse to sit on top of.

The floor of the playhouse was cedar fence pickets, which we cut the ends off of and ran each one through a router to get a semi-round edge.

Then we screwed each board into the floor joists. My neighbor Christie had been quarantined in her house for a few weeks at this point and would venture over to our backyard to help. She’d stay until her husband found her but I’m so glad someone snapped this picture of us working! 😂

After my back recovered, Logan sat the old frame of the playhouse on top of our new bottom deck.

Logan then removed the wooden framing from the bottom to be able to open up the interior space on the lower floor. He even extended out the top floor to create a nice upper level balcony for the kids!

Cedar fence pickets were then added to the top floor deck.

While Logan worked on that, the kids and I pressure washed every inch of the playhouse. This made such a difference in the appearance of the wood!

Once the pieces were all clean, Logan reattached them to the existing playhouse frame.

Next, the slide was added back to include a platform to accommodate the extra height we had created with the addition of the new deck. Then, new walls were made for the sides and front of the playhouse.

The existing swing frame was then put back on (and raised as well) and railings were added to the top deck for a balcony.

She really started coming along splendidly! Shortly after these photos were taken, Logan made custom wooden window frames for the front two windows. I had lots of plans for a door but the kids insisted that they preferred there not to be one for easier access during nerf wars.

After finishing up some final details and adding a bottom step, it was time to paint!

My neighbor helped me paint the inside of the playhouse in these bright fun colors! (Thanks again, Christie!)

Then came the real labor of love! I wish I would have bought a paint sprayer gun but stubborn me didn’t want to spend the money and for some reason I love manual labor. (Remember the witch’s broom I sanded for dayssss?)

This took weeks.

Probably because I’m a perfectionist and insisted on creating a star mural on the top of the ceiling of the upper floor. But I absolutely love how it turned out! SO worth it!

I stained the decking on both the bottom and top floors and painted the outside of the playhouse an emerald green with off-white trim. Then it was time to start accessorizing!

Shelving was added to hold cooking utensils, my neighbor sewed up some playful curtains for the windows, and I even made a custom wooden play kitchen out of a $10 nightstand.

The finished product!

The kids played with this for a good year and a half before we received orders to move to North Carolina. I was not ready to say goodbye yet so we took it apart and carried it in a trailer all the way across the US. Upon arriving at our new home, the task to put it back together again seemed daunting. It rains so much more here on the east coast, and we had peace about letting it go. We were so fortunate to sell it within a few hours of listing it though.

Logan and I make a pretty good team on projects like this. I’m already dreaming up ideas for a tree house for the kids when we find our forever home!