Building a playhouse is a dream project for many families and our friend Chris from Walla Walla, WA accomplished this for his daughter Romey.
Chris shares a bit of information about his home, neighborhood and their remodeling process that included building the playhouse.
The House
Located in a historic home district of Walla Walla, Washington and directly next to a neighborhood park we purchased our 95 year old home in 1999. At that time there was not much to be said for the landscaping in the dreary, L – shaped, grape stake fenced backyard; not to mention we had no covered parking.
Within the first year in our new residence we formulated the goal to add covered parking, outdoor tool storage, and a playhouse, for our now five year old daughter, that would compliment the architecture and design of our home.
Construction began in May of 2000 when we hired a local general contractor that specializes in the remodeling of older homes. A section of fencing was removed in the northeast corner of the yard and replaced by a concrete slab which would support a two car covered carport and tool storage area.
Staying true to the exterior design of our home, we wanted to match the siding of our home to the carport. We were elated to find in the rafters of our basement a stash of original teardrop siding that a previous homeowner had stored there when an original carriage house was disassembled from the same location we were building.
Our 83-year-old neighbor Ike tells us that the carriage house once was the home to a horse and buggy, but was later removed to accommodate space for an automobile. The contractor was able to utilize all of the original siding and match the gables of the carport to our house by applying cedar shingles and fish scale siding.
Since the completion of the carport, we have replaced the grape stake fencing with 1x6x6 cedar dog eared and flat-top boards which alternate in location to create a design that compliments the design of the cedar shingles in the gables of our house and carport. The replacement and relocation of the fencing opened up an area of the yard in which this May we were able to begin construction on a playhouse.
We found step by step playhouse instructions, design plans, and cut lists for the playhouse on Lowes.com. The completed 8’x8’x8.5’ playhouse sits behind two old pine trees located south of the carport. We were fortunate enough to locally find fish scale siding to match the gables of the playhouse to that of the house and carport gables.
Upon adding a mailbox to the playhouse, our quick-witted daughter requested the house number 612 which represents half of 1224 which is our street address.
Building the Playhouse
Now with the installation of an underground automated irrigation system we had installed last fall, the completed carport, fence, and playhouse we are all enjoying the transformation of our home and exterior surroundings. Happy homeowners in Walla Walla.
Framing begins on playhouse.
A couple of more measurements for finishing touches.
Final playhouse with flowers, planter box, house numbers and mailbox.
