That time we built a playhouse.

I don't much mind fixing up houses.  In fact, I greatly enjoy the process - even though in this particular house in our particular season of life, things are taking a rather long time.

Rehabilitating yards, however, is not my favorite thing in the world. 

In our first house, there was no yard when we moved in.  Literally, just a pile of dirt. After a failed attempt at re-sodding the yard, and then a lot of seeding, patience and TLC, the yard was thick and well cared for by the time we put it on the market to sell.

Of course, when we bought this house, we were pretty much back at square one.  No grass.  The yard was 50% dirt, 40% weeds and only 10% grass.

2012

We've been slowly caring for it and bringing it back, fixing and pruning and seeding and waiting.  Longing for a yard that our children can actually run and play in.

Weed city, 2013

2013

We took out the ugly, tiny concrete slab that used to serve as a patio and replaced it with something better.  Slowly, slowly, grass has replaced the dirt and weeds.  We're getting closer all the time.  

2014

2014

But one thing I've said that I wanted from the beginning was a playhouse.  A really awesome playhouse.  And Casey?  He delivered.  

In a really big way.

I know.  I'm in love.

It measures 8 feet by 10 feet and stands about 7 feet tall.  The best part is, it brilliantly utilizes the first and second levels of our yard, making the totally unreasonable second level that measures about 6 feet wide and runs the length of our yard not so completely unreasonable.  FINALLY!  (You'll see what I mean below.)

It took him more than a few runs to Home Depot over the course of about three days (mostly, plus a little additional roof work several weeks later when he got home from a trip).

The first step, and probably the hardest part, was building this frame.  It was so heavy all by itself that we had to ask a neighbor to come and help us move it into place. 

The front of the playhouse sits level with the house, the back drops into this stupid and so far unusable lower area.

Next, Casey laid what would become the floor.

After that was completed, he started on the walls, building each separately.  We had already determined that there would only be three, with the fourth wall open instead of a door.

The next piece was simple: frame the three walls and bolt them in place.

And can I just tell you?  We were a HUGE help in this process. 

This is the kind of project that I would have helped with, once upon a time before my job was more about keeping people out of the way.

The roof framing went up, and the roof went on.

And then it was all about the aesthetics. Starting with paint,  

electricity,

exterior paint, and my favorite: this amazing fence.  AMAZING.

You can kind of see in this photo that there is a slide that connects down to that lower level.  Eventually, either this summer or next, we'll put in a nice big sandbox, too.  But that's a dream for another day.

Casey also built this cute little climbing wall to help them get back up.  Actually, that was my idea - gotta take credit where I can get it in this project!

The kids were pretty thrilled.  I mean, who could blame them?! 

I added a cute rug from IKEA, and painted that table white with a chalkboard top.  After that, well... it's pretty much done!

And if you're wondering, the plans were not ours.  I saw them (and set my heart on them) years ago.  If you are interested, you too can build a super awesome playhouse here.

Casey and I may or may not have spent the past several nights sipping hot cocoa in this baby.  Without the children. 

We can't wait for summer!

Serious kudos to my awesome husband.  You're an awesome playhouse builder, but an even better Daddy.