A Backyard Playhouse Makeover

Growing up in the 80s, my sister and I spent most of our summer days outside. We grew up in a cozy little neighborhood that housed a group of girls we couldn’t wait to play with.

After we inhaled our breakfast cereal, we rushed outside to see what our friends were doing. Even before social media existed we had real #FOMO back then.

These days I have to practically beg my boys to go outdoors. Video games, YouTube and iPads sometimes consume our freetime. So, a few summers ago my husband and I decided to build an outdoor playhouse. If you build it, they will come???

We documented the entire playhouse build here.

It was just what we needed… our kiddos loved it! We planned to paint it and decorate more later that fall but we simply ran out of weekends.

Summers are fleeting. Every moment, weekend, free day counts. And this summer, my little guy and I decided that we would finish this project and give our playhouse a coat of paint… together!

A backyard playhouse makeover.

He was eager to help and this was an outdoor project that could get messy (i.e. a young child armed with a bucket of paint and a brush) and no one would sweat it.

Here’s a look at the playhouse. These last few years had weathered the exposed wood so we prepped it by power washing the whole thing and letting it dry completely.

The paint we purchased a few summers ago had went bad so we chose another color in the aqua blue family.

This little one has a new appreciation for painting… and likely he won’t ask me to help for a while. Ha!

It’s amazing what a little paint does to a space! It’s so much brighter, cleaner and welcoming! Painting the railing white really made them stand out more against the blue walls.

And those  pesky spiderwebs are gone… for now.

Nearly all the accessories and furniture came from our flea market finds. We repainted the table and added some chalkboard paint to the top for another fun space.

Some of our curated treasures included old pennants, a vintage game board, a cabinet we pulled out of a dumpster, a repurposed locker basket, and some old toys.

This little truck belonged to my husband, as a child.

I used some scrap fabric to add a little color with mini bunting. Can you spot the narwhal? They are my boys’ favorite animal.

This is a boy playhouse so the antlers add a little masculinity to the space.

We incorporated the slide from our old play structure. It makes for a speedy escape. You know… just in case.

And of course, we updated the curtains. This space boasts a nice view.

My little guy was very proud of his work. I can’t believe how much he’s grown up since we built this playhouse a few summers ago.

And that concludes our backyard playhouse tour. I hope this refresh keeps them playing in it this summer and the summers to come.  And while I know they will eventually outgrow things like this, I try not to think that far in the future. For now.

Thanks for stopping by! And happy summer!