Our Crazed Life

The Playhouse is complete!!

Kind of cute, don't you think?

The playhouse started as an idea, or most likely

a dream I have had since childhood!

I would have done anything for a playhouse. And it just so happened that I have two little girls who will benefit from my creativity!

First, I spent weeks researching playhouse plans. Did we want to build it ourselves? Come up with our own plans? Buy one that was already made? I got some pointers from another blogger and designer, whose husband had built a playhouse for their daughter.

Finally I found some $15 plans on ebay. But of course I wanted to modify them a bit and make the house more feminine. Matt thought he could build it, but with working so many hours, he thought the best way to go was to hire a carpenter.

That led us to Bob the Builder. Bob has Jesus hair and wears the same clothes every day. I think Bob is homeless. And I think Bob is an alcoholic. He also answers ''whatever'' after I tell him something that I need done. He never writes anything down, so I am unsure how he will remember the adjustments I want made. But Bob is a master carpenter and, let's face it, he is cheap and eager for work.

After a couple of weeks, Bob finishes. And despite a few issues such as nails sticking out or not sanding an area, he did a pretty good job. He made the roof scalloped like I had requested, and did the cute spindles on the porch railing.

Bob also built a bed frame with two rolling drawers underneath for storage. I bought a crib mattress at Target to fit the frame, then added sheets and pillows, including a body pillow from Target. I found the vintage pink chenille bedspread for $30 on ebay. I had my talented, 88-year-old Grandmother, cut it to size to make a cover for the bed. Pretty cute!

She used the rest to make chair cushions for the little chairs and to make a skirt that goes around the kitchen counter that Bob built. I used a stainless steel bowl for the ''sink'' and went to a plumbing supply store to find the faucet and knobs. As luck would have it, an employee told me I could search the discard pile to find a faucet and have it for free! I like free!

Grandma also made the polka dot curtains and tiebacks. And look at the darling tablecloth and napkins on the table? Yep, that is Grandma, too. She also made tea towels and oven mitts.

We hired a high school art teacher to do the painting. He stamped pink hearts all in the inside. He was a bargain, but took so long to paint I was getting quite impatient! He is very talented, though, and built the window boxes and shutters himself.

Inside, I found the chalkboard on the back of the dutch door on clearance at Home Goods. It said ''Ethan'' at the top. I painted over that and wrote ''Cafe.'' The white phone is so the girls can take their cafe orders!

Two of the three windows are working windows. The girls like to take their Little Tikes cars and drive up to the windows and play restaurant.

And yes, it does have wood flooring! Matt had leftover wood from some of his investment houses, so we got that for free, too!

We did add an air conditioner window unit because it gets so hot in the summer here that it is suffocating in this little house.

The cute little pink message board I got for $1.50 at Goodwill. I just replaced the corkboard. I love how it has hearts to match the inside of the house. Notice the broom and dust pan Addie hung there. A homeowner has to be tidy!

Outside, I found the vintage mailbox on ebay for a few bucks. I also found the pink bell on there, too. And I bargained for the pink star at a country gift store in nearby Boulder City. I bought the wooden bench on clearance at JoAnn's and had it painted. We found the porch light at Home Depot and painted that, too. The favorite feature of the house is the battery-powered doorbell we installed. They love ringing it and seeing who answers. They make me ring it if I am invited for tea!

I can't decide who is most excited about this little house _ the girls or me. I find myself going in there alone at night and cleaning up or just sitting on the bed.

My hope is that they will love this little house for years to come.

So if you're ever in the neighborhood, do stop by for some tea! The girls would be delighted.