A SURF INSPIRED PLAY-HOUSE FOR BOYS

With Christmas right around the corner, an outdoor playhouse would make the perfect gift for any toddler in your life. When I think of playhouses, I fondly remember a good portion of my childhood – playing “house” and renovating like a miniature HGTV flipper in the making.

When we decided the boys needed one of their own, we searched high and low for a playhouse that would fit the vibe of our own home. One that wasn’t too colorful or country. One that felt like an extension of our house. We soon realized we would need to take matters into our own hands and do a little DIY to make it just they way we envisioned it.

“the beach shack”

This summer was incredibly busy for us with the new baby and August + September passed by with a half-built, half-painted playhouse sitting on the patio, but we’re finally finished!

KidKraft Modern Outdoor Playhouse

Inspired by the Surfrider Malibu hotel in California, we decided to paint the exterior and interior of the playhouse bright white and trimmed it out in black. Since we used white, it took a solid 3 coats in most areas to make sure it fully covered the wood. When we finished the first coat, I looked at the house and wanted to quit because it looked awful. But we kept on trekking and by the time the 3rd coat was applied, we were happy.

I really loved bringing the small details to the inside with the mini replica of this “pray for surf” art and a moody photograph of the Surfrider itself since it was our muse, after-all! I got the prints done at Walgreens from some jpegs I found online and put them in these dollar store frames – cheaply made, so I won’t be upset if one gets broken.

We transformed one of the window openings into a Beachside Grill. I had sewn some striped curtains that were added on and attached an outdoor solar lantern over the window, creating the perfect little table space. My husband was such a trooper, extending our pavers from our patio out so we had a perma-place for the boys’ new digs.

I also added a small macrame piece that I came across at the end of the season at Hobby Lobby and found a great place to hang their chopping board ($3 from Target’s Dollar Spot) to add to their “prep” space. We also went ahead and attached modern house numbers that actually matched the ones on our real home. Although, Aden had decided it would be fun to use the numbers of each boys’ birthdays to create their very own address instead.

I may have gone just a little overboard with the design process and finishing touches, like the plants and rug, but what we didn’t realize was how much fun we would have as a family creating this little play space together and watching Aden and Hudson enjoy it after dinner most nights. They’ve been bringing small bins of play food out to grill for us and really love having us over for a burger at their “restaurant”. We had so much fun building this little playhouse and I’m hoping it brings years of fun for all of our kids.

In the meantime, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to move right in!

I was given product from KidKraft in exchange for this post. As always, all opinions are 100% honest and completely my own.