Sunday 19 August 2012

Little House on the Patio

Hello!

I thought I would drop by briefly to fill you in on more of our summer.  Those of you who follow me on facebook will know we have had some excitement here.  Last weekend we collected a second hand playhouse from good friends of ours who are moving and who's kids have outgrown it.  I confess when I found out our friends were moving and not taking the play house I jumped in very quickly and asked if they would mind if we took it - sometimes you just have to put yourself out there!  Amazingly our lovely friends said as long as we did all the disassemble & moving we were welcome to it.  The girls and I were very excited and my eldest quickly began choosing paint and co-ordinating soft furnishings - she's 4 but already has a very strong nesting instinct!

The playhouse was not in a bad way apart from the windows which were broken and the perspex had gone cloudy.  We replaced these, tidied up each panel - making several thousand spiders homeless in the process.  Finally we gave it a fresh lick of paint and new curtains it looks as good as new.   I painted the playhouse inside and out.  A sweet pink on the outside with contrasting white trim.  Inside I painted the panels white.  Our garden does not get much sunlight so I felt a fresh white finish would keep the playhouse light and airy all year round.


As you can see I made the girls pitch in and work pretty hard on this project.  I was keen to teach them that in life when we want something we have to work for it.  Furthermore that sometimes it is more enjoyable to take something old and a little rough around the edges and make it new again.  I had them sanding panels, prime-ing and painting.  Even my two year old!  I am still trying to scrub the paint off her little hands.  It was a great feeling that we were all pulling together, united, working towards a common goal.  That being said you have to be realistic my girls are 2 and 4 &  maintaining concentration on one project, having your parents constantly busy and waiting for your play house to be built for a whole weekend is probably testing enough.  I worked solidly on this project utilising every moment of my time to get this project done.  Half an hour before church I was priming a panel.  All through nap time I slapped paint on as fast as I could.  Most of this took place on our front lawn which is significantly larger than the side garden where the playhouse now resides.  Our neighbours watched on with great interest as I toiled away.  We had several of them come and inspect the finished article throughout Monday & all seemed utterly smitten. 
Come Sunday evening every panel was finished & whilst I put the girls to bed my husband (who has been extremely understanding about having a pink house plonked on his patio) began assembling it.


I am so pleased with how our house turned out.  We have named it Bethany House after its former owner.  Also because we discovered one meaning for Bethany is "with red hair" which my eldest daughter has so it really seemed to fit.

On Monday morning at 8:30am my girls went into their Bethany house they had been talking about having breakfast in there the night before but they instantly fell to playing.  An hour later I decided they really ought to be hungry so took them their breakfast which they had not once asked for.  They played so nicely all morning in their play house that by lunchtime I had made 4 curtains and a cushion.  In the afternoon the girls helped me plant geraniums in pots outside the Bethany house.  We went out briefly to buy food and all they talked about was their play house.  When we got home they were back in their playhouse before the shopping was out of the car.  Needless to say getting them in for bed was tricky too.  On Tuesday we had a play date and our housewarming party.  We served french fancies and a great time was had by all.  On Wednesday the little house became a shop for the morning and later a cookery school.  And so it continued for the rest of the week the novelty has most certainly not worn off & both girls seem genuinely proud of their little house on the patio which they know they helped make happen.

2 comments:

  1. Bethany House is SO BEAUTIFUL! I want one for myself :) You've done a fantastic job xxx

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  2. Thank you Fiona we are all really smitten with it, I was quite tempted to move in myself! The girls are still playing in it ALL the time :)

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