Creating an Indoor Playhouse! (for Christmas!)
First, I want to start this post with a BIG THANK YOU! All of your wonderful comments really helped me make it through the last two weeks. Also that I felt totally understood, validated and loved ( if you are a busy mother you must go read these comments!)! Thank you! It has been an interesting week, I have been sicker than a dog with strep throat, which meant that we even had to cancel our plans for Thanksgiving…). But I think I am narrowing down the things that we can and cannot do at this time in our lives. AND getting more comfortable with those realities! So, I have to say it again THANK you! I may try to talk more about that in a few days (or realistically I shouldn’t set a date) but at the moment I am getting super excited for Christmas (aren’t you!) so I wanted to talk about it.
This year is the first year that Etta really gets the idea of Christmas. She is All about Christmas trees… (don’t ask if we already have ours up… cuz the answer would have to be yes- since mid November… but it has taken me two weeks to get any ornaments on it at all, so if I had waited, we might never had gotten to it before the big day!)
Anyway, I wanted to talk about a project that we started back in April and moved very slowly along with, and then in July when our big huge secret project got started, this one stopped entirely. Let me explain I bit first.
In our very unfinished family room, there is a walk in closet. It is approximately 5′ by 5′. Let’s be honest, that is sorta awesome, a walk in closet with no actual purpose?! Heck yea! It was full of shelves so when we moved in it became our “library”! But then if you remember, we remodeled our living room. We added built in bookcases, so I thought, “Why don’t we put books in our book cases”, I know, it’s never been done right? So, we moved about 2 tons of book back downstairs, which I still haven’t staged, since it ended up being too many books, but we had to finish the next project to finish that project… which explains that always unfinished project cycle in our house… Then, I stopped liking the black paint in the back of the shelves… but that is a different story.
Back to the closet. After moving out all the books, the closet still had some randoms like games and books on cd, which we worked out a new space for in our built in storage project here. But until then had stacks of c-r-a-p on every elevated surface of our family room for about 3 months… it seems that my tolerance for chaos during projects is too high.
But the other secret reason I had for clearing out this closet was all the awesome closet rooms I had been seeing… I wanted to make something more out of this space than just storage. And then I realized “Well, Texas is HOT in the summer and FREEZING in the winter, so why not make a playhouse!” Yea a playhouse! And since Justin and I are still kids at heart, we totally went crazy designing this space. Okay, well, I guess you must blame the design on me, but Justin loves to do the work, so it is his fault for being so good at making my plans come true, and letting them get out of control (thanks Honey!)
So our goal is to try and finish this by Christmas with no extra cash. (including a little kitchen) One of the major goals of this little project is to use what we have- scraps, left over from other projects! We have been getting very creative! And I think it is going to be awesome!
Here are the plans, keep in mind that these have changed quite a bit, but you kinda get the idea of what we want to try!
Two story play house plans! YEA!
I know it is all over the place… but I couldn’t stop myself from using every cute kid idea I have ever seen or wanted as a child, and I was building forts up until I was about 13, so I love me a good fort… I know I was a total geek! Oh well, at least I had fun!
Let the demo begin! (back in April… I didn’t realize how long ago we started this! FYI) Before we had our elliptical and recumbent bike up here. But, we sold the bike and moved the elliptical to our office. We used to be able to keep Etta out with this gate, but times and climbing abilities have changed. So it was a good thing to move out of our family space.
This is the door to the closet we are discussing.
A view of some of our books… I have a thing for books.
Realizing a little too late, that we don’t have quite enough room in the book cases, but I just shoved them in any way I could get them in there!
Here is one of the cutest little helpers you could ask for! Luckily the other little sweetheart was being a great napper!
The almost empty closet.
You can see the shelf support, down the corner of the shelves, I started by removing that. At first I just planned on removing the bottom two shelves, but once I was into it, I just went for it. Of course, Justin was at work, so I didn’t get any pictures of the demo or get in trouble for starting yet another project… ha ha!
Once everything was out, I drew all over the walls figuring out what I wanted. And where I wanted it… I used a red permanent marker…big mistake! I keeps bleeding through my paint, so I need to go buy a blocker paint.
The next step was getting some holes cut out for a window. But first we ran to the Habitat restore to find a little louvered shade that we can size to the window.
Okay, it is 10:30 and I am needing some rest! I am going to try to do little updates on this project as they happen, so we will see how that works!
What do you think of the plans?
Featured image source.
Cassity Kmetzsch started Remodelaholic after graduating from Utah State University with a degree in Interior Design. Remodelaholic is the place to share her love for knocking out walls, and building everything back up again to not only add function but beauty to her home. Together with her husband Justin, they have remodeled 6 homes and are working on a seventh. She is a mother of four amazing girls. Making a house a home is her favorite hobby.
That is the cutest idea for a playhouse ever! I have a ‘clubhouse’ under my basement steps that is quite possibly my favorite room in the house. But I LOVE that you cut into the drywall for a window and are making it two stories. Can’t wait to see the finished project. You’re a FUN MOM! 🙂
Can’t wait to see the progress. Your little girl is going to love it!
This is going to be amazing! Can I be one of your kids friends and come play?? What kid wouldn’t love it?
I know I can’t wait to play in there myself!
Fantastic! What kid doesn’t love forts and playhouses and their very own space?! I can’t wait to see the progress.
Sorry that you are feeling so sick. Hopefully this project can distract you a little?
Briliant idea!
When we were looking for our second apartment in Texas, one of the things that totally sold me was both bedrooms had very large walk in closets. The kids’ room one became their play/toy room. It was AWESOME! No toys to trip over in the living room, shut the door at night and they don’t have anything to keep them awake. Loved it! You’ll love yours even more when you’re done (since I was renting I couldn’t do much to make it cute!)
I honestly can’t put into words how much I love this idea! I’m seriously jealous! Can’t wait to see the rest!
Absolutely love this idea! I wish I had thought of it!
And, although it’s a tad late to help now, a useful tip for later. Back when I was painting murals I used plain ol’ chalk to draw out or mark off points on walls. It shows up (use either a white on dark walls or pink/blue on light walls) can be painted over easily or wiped off with a small sponge brush or finger depending on the size of the drawing.
I am So excited to see the finish!!!
Oh, and a can of “Kills” should cover that pen. (available at Lowes, HD, wherever)
What fun! Your girls must be so excited about it! Can’t wait to follow along with your project. Thanks for sharing.
Love it!!!! That is going to be the best closet.
Been reading your blog for awhile but have never commented. I really like that your adding more of yourself (from previous post). And I am also attempting to accept what I can and cannot do. As well as accept the good enough. It’s hard! Good luck with your project and happy holidays.
Thank you Lauren for commenting! I am excited about making some changed on the blog. Maybe a little nervous… but I feel like I’ve gotten away from the whole purpose of this blog, and I want to get back to that! I hope it makes it more fun!
Cassity
OK, how old is your daughter with the pacifier in her mouth?
In that picture she is like 20 months… uh yeah, when her baby sister came she got all binky crazy again.
Chris, why do you care how old the little girl with the pacifier is? Are you indicating that she’s too old for a pacifier? Why is that any of your business??? It’s people like you who have to try to make others feel bad. The little girl isn’t your daughter, so butt out.
I’m in no way connected to Cassity…just a reader of her blog. But I am someone who will tell it like it is. If you don’t have anything nice to say about her cutie pie daughter or her playroom, why comment at all?
I love this idea. Are there any pictures of the finished closet/playhouse?
Here is a post of the kitchen that we finished. We are planning on another post to show the whole thing done. This post will give you an idea of hwo the botton turned out. https://www.remodelaholic.com/2012/01/kids-cottage-play-kitchen/
It was really fun to build. Thanks for liking it!
I would love to see the finished project! I always wanted a playhouse for myself.
Laura, we do have plans to show finished images of the playhouse. We are excited with how it turned out. But, here are some of the other posts we did about it under the tag “indoor playhouse“
Wondering if you’ve put finished pictures up. I love it so far, can’t wait to see the rest.
This is super cute!!