Playhouse

Welp, the playhouse is pretty much done! Jaret is going to help me do some trim tomorrow but it is finally done!  I started this sucker last Tuesday expecting to whip it out due to my "past framing experience".  Yeah, obviously I didn't have that much prior training and doing it with a hammer and nails and skills saw sure does seem to add a heck of a lot more time to the process.  Instead of it taking me a few days it took five.  Oh how a nail gun would have been nice...I even borrowed one from a friend but couldn't bring myself to buy a whole box of nails for it for $50.  That's half my budget!  

I was super lucky and got most of the supplies for free!  Most of the lumber came either from extra trusses that were left over from building our house or walking around to different job sites and asking for unwanted scraps.  I even have some to spare!  The green playhouse stuff (slide, swings, bars, etc.) came from a neighbors broken playhouse who was getting rid of the stuff so we salvaged it.  Last of all, the siding and trim is also left over from our house. 

I build each wall individually and separately and even put the siding on before I pieced everything together.  I want to be able to move this with us when we leave in the fall.  

Though it wasn't perfect and our lawn has some crazy slopes, I was thrilled that all the pieces came together alright!  

This beam was also salvaged from the neighbors.  I used the top piece and part of the right piece for the finished product but had to buy and build a new "A Frame" to support one side of the swing set.  I will tell you now that getting that beam and the A Frame up by myself was a sweet experience I would never like to relive.  For any bystanders that could have been watching but thankfully weren't it would have been quite the show. 

So, here she is! I finished the play house on Saturday evening.   Aside from Jaret helping me carry the pieced to the back yard and prop them up and bolting the handle bars on for me, I am proud to say that I built everything all by myself!  

Aside from a gate with access to the ladder up top I decided not to include any finger smashing doors.  I'm happy with my decision but we may get creative with some material one of these days.

Ignore the dead grass.  That's a result of getting caught up in some Day Camp Hoopla for Cub Scouts and forgetting to water our new sod. Guilt.  I tried to save it but the green that's coming back is too thin.  I threw some seed on it and am hoping to see amazing results after I prove I can water my sprinkler systemless lawn! 

On Sunday, I decided to have a little water party with the girls.  I tried to show them how to run through the sprinklers but they were not having any of it.  I had to take both of their hands and walk them through a knee high fountain quite a few times.  It wasn't until we put the sprinkler under the swing set and let the girls feet get wet that they warmed up to the idea.  As you can see, Brooky is drenched in water.  That was done by accident.  Holland wanted a drink from the sprinkler so I showed her how to block one side and squirt some water into her mouth.  I didn't notice that the stream started spraying Brooklyn until we were done.  She didn't make one peep.  She's a little trooper.  We had a lot of fun!

Last but not least, I have to show my husbands big fish he caught on his independent biking/fishing trip.  Yay for fishing!  Good job Babe!