Playhouse For Kids: Playhouse Back Wall

Playhouse Back Wall

BIG PROJECT, BUSY BUSY WEEK

Last week, when I started building the playhouse, I was feeling quite discouraged. With my husband out of town for the week, meaning no childcare relief, on top of prioritizing creating a dozen new plans that you have been asking me for for months, it seemed each wall was taking forever to build. Yet I set a goal, one wall a night. And one wall a night, I somehow ended up with this at the end of the week (the door is just leaning there).

TACKLE ONE WALL AT A TIME

I'm really not sure how myself, but out in our backyard stands four walls and a pink door. The roof will be super easy to put on, I'm just waiting to finish the playhouse deck before I put the roof on. In the current stage, it's a five minute job to unscrew the four different panels and disassemble the playhouse. If you click the image above, you can see the seam between the front wall and the gable end wall. Once the playhouse is in it's final location, the seam will be hardly noticeable.

The big question has been how much is this playhouse going to cost? I haven't personally spent a dime because my brother dropped off a bunk of leftover plywood and I buy 1x2s, 1x3, and 2x2s by the bundle (just in case I gotta whip out a prototype on the quick for you), but I am going to make a very rough estimate, assuming you use 1/4" plywood at about $10 a sheet and you can buy furring strips for $1 for 1x2, $1.50 for 1x3 and $1.75 for 2x2s my ballpark guess for just the playhouse without a floor or windows (but with a roof that sheds water and a door) to be in the $150 ballpark. This is a rough estimate, and I encourage you to call your local home improvement store and get quotes on the board prices.

THE COST OF DDIY (DIDN'T DO IT YOURSELF) or DSIY (DO-SOME OF-IT-YOURSELF)

This playhouse that I designed was largely influenced by how easy it would be to build. I created each side from a single sheet of plywood in an attempt to save you both time and money. But I did take some styling influence from this playhouse from Toys-R-US for $3500 and still requiring 8 hours of set up for two people and this one without a deck for $3000 (also from Toys-R-Us). You can easily add dormers (those ones are false) and move your doors around to get the same look. It's the accessories that are going to "make" the playhouse. And they didn't even paint the insides, it's just OSB, for $3000+, you should get a painted inside. And take a look at these playhouses from Lilliput, just incredible! And of course, the price is pretty incredible too. Don't forget to check out their playhouse furniture too.

When building your deck for the playhouse, I noticed that the 2x6 x 8' board are almost DOUBLE the cost of the stud length (92 5/8"). That's twice the cost for just 3 3/8" of 2x6. If this is the case for you as well, I will be posting a quick plan in the next day or two on how to build your playhouse deck 3 3/8" narrower, saving you about $60 in lumber.

Grace wasn't too fond of not getting a pink house, so we convinced her to get a pink door. And we are both quite happy with that. I found this cool site online today that helps you select colors for your playhouse! Have fun! And yes, I will be adding plans for shutters, a simple sticker free slide, ladder, and flower boxes. Again, it's the accessories that are going to take this playhouse over the top.