When I was a child, I dreamed of a clubhouse like the one in the movie Little Rascals. A little shed-type building to call my own and invite all my friends over to play in. Now I get to watch my own kids enjoy a clubhouse of their very own, and I have to say, it’s pretty awesome! I originally saw a red barn playhouse for sale on Facebook Marketplace, and knew it would be perfect for the boys ! I reached out right away, but alas, I was about 20th in line of inquiries. But then I got really lucky, because the seller told me he had another playhouse for sale he had not listed yet, if I wanted to come check it out. The photo he sent was hard to really make out how large it was and what condition it was, but I had a good feeling about it, so we all loaded into the truck and drove down to see it. It was already loaded on a trailer, ready to transport! I fell in love and could envision a white house with black trim to match our own home (which we are painting next year). For an extra fee, the seller drove it all the way to our home 45 minutes away and put it exactly where we wanted it in our backyard. The boys were SO excited !
My husband started painting and repairing it right away. Then I had to leave for Illinois a few days later for my grandmother’s funeral and the playhouse project was put on hold. Just my older son and I went to Illinois because my husband had to stay back to take care of the animals. My 10 year old stayed in Illinois with his grandma an additional week until my husband went to pick him up, so I had time to work on it again once I was back home. I decided I wanted to surprise him with a grand reveal and worked every day on it until he came home. His reaction was pretty wonderful!
Don’t mind all the junk in our driveway and yard at the time I took this video. My husband and 10 year old had just got home to Virginia from Illinois and this was his first look at the finished clubhouse.
First my husband cleaned out the playhouse and took off any rotting pieces of wood. There were wood flower boxes on the sides of the house but were completely rotten. Then he primed the entire house inside and out with Kilz primer. My 10 year old helped paint, which was a good father-son bonding time. The white for the inside and outside of the house is Behr paint in Swiss Coffee with a satin finish, which we have used in the past and really love. The floor and trim is a flat black. I still need to go through and touch up the paint around the windows, but the kids don’t care that the paint isn’t perfect.
BEFORE
AFTER
The Exterior
The little white fences are from Lowes and just $6.28 a piece. I got the hexagon stones from Lowes as well. I did my best laying the stepping stones flat in the ground. That was not easy with this big pregnant belly of mine! I planted some sunflowers and moved a pot with a hostas plant over to their play area.
The Interior
The blue curtains are from Amazon and are only $8.99 for a package of two. I got two packages so each window had one curtain. The curtain rods are from Lowes and $3.98 each.
DIY chalkboard
I created a chalkboard similar to the way we made a huge one back in Montana at our old house in the homeschool room. I used black chalkboard paint (which was left here by the previous homeowners) to paint a large square on the wall. TIP: If you open your black chalkboard paint and it looks blue, don’t be alarmed ! It does dry to black.
I wanted a cheap thin frame and remember seeing these really cool chalkboards in an antique shop that used old yard sticks as the frame. I didn’t have time or the $$ to find old yardsticks, so I took 4 Lowes yardsticks ($1.98 each) and sanded the blue “Lowes” logos and text and barcodes off. I started off hand-sanding and quickly realized I would be there for hours sanding. I took our circular hand sander and it only took me a few minutes to gently sand off what I didn’t want on all 4 yardsticks. I sanded some of the edges, too, to make it look more old and worn.
Next I put on a thin coat of Minwax Early American stain. It turned out exactly what I had in mind! Isn’t that wonderful when that happens? I let those dry and did a few coats of the black chalkboard paint on the wall. Then using small tack nails, I nailed the yardsticks directly to the wall to frame the chalkboard once it was fully dry. I let that sit and cure for a few days before using it.
I love that this playhouse is tall enough for us to stand up in, but I do wish it was just a tad larger. I know my 10 year old won’t be spending too many years playing in here but my toddler and baby due next month will have many years to play here still. I think it turned out really good and my husband appreciates that most things we used in here we already had. The only things we bought were: the primer and paint, the wood stain, yardsticks, two fences, sunflowers, Smokey The Bear sign, materials for the “long live boyhood” sign, the bucket to hold the chalk, the curtains and curtain rods, and the metal wall hanger that holds the coloring books.
We still have a few things we need to work on, but we need to work on our chicken coop first. We have too many projects going on at once, which is usual for us. I just didn’t want to wait to share! I love how it has all turned out so far. I will add those photos eventually to this post once we do completely finish the playhouse. We plan to add windows, awnings over the windows, and a Dutch-style door. We also have a few shingles to add to the roof. I also would love for my husband to build a sandbox next to the playhouse with an awning over it for shade. A little picnic table and umbrella would also be a sweet addition to their little clubhouse!
So what do you think? Any ideas on what I can add or things you would have done differently to a clubhouse for boys? It can be a little tricky to create a playhouse that is not girly. I think I did a pretty decent job keeping it more “boyish”.
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