July 19th, 2013 No Comments

A backyard playhouse full of color and fun…from a kit made by a family business in ohio!

Take a peek at my girls backyard playhouse. I purchased this playhouse kit from the Little Cottage Company (a family owned business located in Ohio) for my kids and what a great find! My girls spend hours in this cottage, which is complete with 2 dutch doors (one for little ones and one for grown-ups), working windows with screens and even flower boxes. It took a friend and I about a day and a half to put the kit together and it was pretty easy to do. (the only thing really not included are roof shingles, but I used the extra ones we had left over from our house) The outside I painted gray with white trim to match our house but inside I painted the walls 3 different colors from Benjamin Moore in our color palette this week (see the paint color numbers in our color palette below). I added in a canopy from Ikea to make it a bit dreamy over the pillows for reading or napping and draped polka dot paper banners across the ceiling. I drew the red from that canopy into the mix with a gingham coverlet and ordered alphabet wall decals from designedbeginnings on Etsy that I could choose in 3 colors- red, pink and blue. I’m sure the inside will change over the years, right now it’s full of books, barbies, a play kitchen, an easel, sit and spins and hoola hoops- but our visitors of all ages love to go inside and dream or reminisce! – Lynn Butler Beling

playhouse inside .001

I painted the ceiling blue and opposite sides of the house pink and yellow for a bright, fun interior…inspired by summer cabanas.

playhouse banner detail .001

Blue and yellow polka dot paper banners hang from the ceiling.

playhouse rickrack detail .001

Since the canopy from Ikea had red rick rack I started to pull red into the palette.

playhouse pillows.001

Washable cotton and terry cloth pillows and cotton coverlets and rugs are key to keep everything clean.

playhouse adult door.001

The adult size dutch door on the side of the playhouse is helpful!

playhouse kids door.001

The exterior of the house is painted gray to match our real house but the children’s dutch door is painted pink for my little girls.

bunny rabbit at playhouse.001

Miniature boxwoods and an iron bunny are a few details for outside. (Miniature planters from Mecox Gardens)

playhouse window boxes.001

I let the girls pick out their own flowers for the window boxes each year. The working screened windows are key to keeping this playhouse cool in the summer.

playhouse heart window.001

This heart window comes with the kit, a cute detail.

yellow rose.001

I planted pink and yellow roses outside the cottage in keeping with the palette.

color palette - girls playhouse 2.001

If you’d like to use the same colors I’ve listed the Benjamin Moore paints above in our weekly color palette.