Babies+Kids

Wooden Playhouse Makeover-Our Dreamy Playhouse On a Budget!

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I love mini-anything. Dollhouses, playhouses, tiny homes. I love them all. When I was a kid, I always begged my parents for a playhouse. They had built a cabin in Utah, and I begged them to build a miniature version of the cabin.

I never got my wooden playhouse as a kid, BUT as an adult, I have so many kids that I can make my, I mean, uh, their dreams come true 😉 So we did a wooden playhouse makeover on a budget and it turned out super cute!

the wooden playhouse hack done!!

When my oldest daughter was around six, we built this little yellow cottage in the backyard when my first husband and I lived in Las Vegas. However, it is a pricey playhouse, and it is larger than my budget.

They are a dream The Little Cottage Company Gingerbread DIY Houses–. He was making good money, and we could afford it. We ended up moving to Florida and had to leave it behind, unfortunately.

When I moved to my new home as a single Mom, I figured I could have an affordable wooden playhouse indoors for my toddler. We have the perfect-sized wooden playhouse for the playroom that fits indoors.

Wooden Playhouse-Budget

On a budget, I bought, painted, and built a wooden playhouse myself for under $250. I chose to put it indoors because we live a bit in the country on old farmland and the heat and bugs are just horrible.

If you know Texas, it is either blaring hot or iced over.

The best wooden playhouses for toddlers
This is our wooden outdoor playhouse. The door and window boxes is why I chose this affordable wooden playhouse.

Affordable Wooden Playhouses: The best and most adorable wooden playhouses are HERE!

Prepping Your Wooden Playhouse

My mistake was not putting my little wooden playhouse together BEFORE I did the wooden playhouse makeover and painted!

I am bad at putting things together, but it only took me an hour to fully assemble the playhouse.

I did it on my own, personal win!

It was during the deep depths of COVID lockdown, so I had to do it myself. The only part I had help with was from my fifteen-year-old to hold the roof slab in place.

Otherwise, super simple

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Paint Your Wooden Playhouse

 

I highly recommend buying a cheap paint sprayer for this project. I had already built the playhouse, so it was too late, and getting in every nook and cranny was difficult. If you look closely, the paint is a little wonky, but that is ok.  The inside roof is not painted because I got tired of hand-painting the playhouse and rolling. My silly lesson should save you a ton of time.

Here is a cost-efficient paint sprayer, or you can rent one for a day at Lowes or Home Depot. Even if you roll and brush paint before putting it together is still much more effective.

My playhouse is Cedarwood. I thought I would have to primer the wood first, but I bought paint that had primer in it, and it helped with not having to do too many paint coats. I needed to go over the wood twice in some spots, but surprisingly, the paint did not soak in the cedar.

Wooden Playhouse Paint Color Ideas

If you scour Pinterest, you can come up with a million wooden playhouse paint ideas. But I say, do whatever colors your child loves. Customize it to match their personality and have them help pick the colors.

I have updated this post and it has been two years since I painted our wooden playhouse. The paint I purchased to paint has not chipped, scuffed, or peeled at all. I highly recommend the paint with the built-in primer.

I used a Bright White Behr Paint with Primer for the base of our playhouse makeover.

Behr Pink Elephant with Primer for the window boxes and little door, which I took off to paint.

For the roof I used, Behr Orchid Haze, I would not have minded using pink on the roof too.

This is one of the most affordable and one of the best wooden playhouses for toddlers. My toddler plays for hours in her house. We decorate it every holiday too.

I decided it is best so she can play in the wooden playhouse year-round indoors.  I ended up putting the playhouse in the kid’s playroom. This playhouse we hacked was small enough to do so.

While I work from home, the baby plays in the playhouse and serves me fake ice cream out of the window. I love, love the colors I picked. The playhouse colors can be changed for a boy or gender-neutral.

I took the door off thankfully and painted it separately. So I did do that right! I got a gallon of each, and it was worth getting that much for touch-ups, and the white I used almost all of them.

The front façade of the wooden playhouse was probably the most difficult to do. Hand painting the window boxes will be your best bet, and the windows on most wood playhouses do not pop out; you will have to hand paint with a small sponge brush or regular paintbrush.

I recommend getting all sizes of rollers, sponge brushes to get in the slats, and regular paintbrushes in a couple of different sizes.

painting the wooden playhouse. I now know to paint the playhouse before assembled.

Lots of painting in tiny crevices!

You can see in this photo how you will need a smaller sponge and bristle brushes around the windows and window boxes. The window boxes will likely need to be hand-painted too.

Wooden Playhouse Accessories

The pink rug is only $25 from Walmart and is the perfect shade of pink, it even has a bit of a sparkle to it.

Everything you need for a playhouse makeover in one spot!

I got the little bouquets at Michael’s Craft Store. They come in a little bundle; Michaels sells them often. I just twisted the wired stems up, so they held into place in the window box. I switch them out every once in a while when I find them on clearance or cheap.

We decorate our wooden playhouse for every holiday. We string lights, add stuffed animals, buy new accessories to keep it fresh!

After! It is so stinking cute!

Our Wooden Playhouse Makeover. Perfect for a playroom or outdoors.
We decorate our wooden playhouse for each holiday. You can find playhouse accessories in just about any store, including the $1 store!

My First Playhouse is almost exactly like mine, and it is a great size for indoors and a great playhouse for toddlers.  I found very similar wooden playhouses to hack on budget.

However, I noticed since Covid and the wooden playhouses sell out super quickly. Now, there is a shortage of lumber and cedar. If you can snag one, I say it is one of the best toys you can buy your kids.

We also painted a beautiful budget rainbow wall for a background for our little playhouse. Check it out!

Happy Playhouse Hunting!! Your kids will love it!

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