A fun place for the kids to play!

If you have ever visited the my blog before you know that I lean towards doing stuff as frugally as possible. No, I am not cheap – I just like to use my resources the best way I can. Since I also like to be creative and make stuff that helps because I can imagine what something could be – even if it’s a pile of pallets and a bunch of scrap lumber that was destined for the wood pile.

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. Let me start from the beginning…when my daughter was little we were given a plastic playhouse. It was cute, and light enough to be moved around the yard. Since it was a hand-me-down (of which I don’t know how many kids had enjoyed it before her) a couple things were broken and the once sunny yellow exterior had faded. She didn’t care, she loved having a little hideaway. That is until she hit a growth spurt and the once cute little house was left to itself because she couldn’t play comfortably in it anymore. Kinda sad…

Anyway we were able to find that little house a new home – across the street and our yard became playhouse-less. Which I heard about often from a little girl that just wanted a little place of her own. So the next spring my thinking cap was on to what to make and where to put. I wanted something that was more stable with a proper home (cause I don’t want to move it) and something that later can be made into something else. So I came up with the plan for the pallet playhouse.

How to:

This playhouse is made out of 5 pallets. 2 for the floor 2 for the back wall and 1 for the front. I also used 1x4s 2x4s and of 1x6s along with pipe hangers, 8ft pvc pipe and a couple yards of outdoor fabric.

Two pallets were secured together to make the floor, then I secured another 2 pallets – upright – to the back. I did brace it with a 1×4 for a little extra strength. I then made a small “balcony” (floor is painted purple) out of 2x4sand topped it with 1x4s for the floor. For the front pallet, I removed one of the pallet rails – to make a little “window” – added a couple 1x6s scrap pieces over the hole so nothing would fall down it. They made up the base of the “window”. I then fashioned a rail around the balcony area out of 1x4s. Then added 2x4s to the front pallet (painted purple) for extra strength and visual interest. After I was done building we painted – pink and purple, of course – and I made the canopy.

The canopy uses 2 of my hoop house pvc poles. In the summer they are not in use – at least not all of them. This is a great way to use them in the off season. The canopy was made of exterior fabric with simple straight stitch down each side wide enough for a pole to go thru. I had a little leftover fabric and I added little curtains to the windows and used pinking shears to cut a little table runner out for her table.

The good thing is, is when my daughter outgrows it we can remove the front pallet and it will become a platform for a couple chairs.

I hope you enjoy – have a great weekend!

–Dawn