The Cubby House
It all started when my parents decided to get a plastic cubby house (i.e. a play house) for my daughter. My dad dutifully put it together and then we realised one big gust of wind and whoosh...goodbye cubby. And one more year of growth and their beloved granddaughter would outgrow it! So we undid dad's handwork and sent it back to the store. From there the hunt for a more solid cubby began.
At first, I thought let's just get a wooden cubby. Then I quickly realised that not all wooden cubbys were made equal. Many searches later I decided that it would be better to put all the birthday money and other gifted money towards one very solid cubby house. I narrowed down a couple of companies but then an online Facebook auction happened for a cubby from Country Cubbies. I jumped at the chance of picking one up relatively cheaper and was the proud winner of the auction. With the money 'saved' at auction, I requested some alterations to the cubby such as modified windows, barn door, awnings, and a little deck for kids to stand on the shop side. Overall I was really impressed by the staff at Country Cubbies. There was a hitch when the goods arrived when I realised that the awnings and freestanding deck were not as requested. However, Country Cubbies realised there had been miscommunication to their construction staff about my specific requests and so it was all sorted at no cost to me and shipped out as promptly as possible. I painted the cubby exterior whilst still in panels on the ground which I am very glad to have done. The panels did need a light sanding prior to painting. I chose a lovely blue colour at first which turned out crazy bright when the sun hit and so I went with hubby's suggestion of a grey. After much staring at paint charts I decided on Evening Sky by Valspar in an Exterior Satin finish. I love love this paint- both the colour and the brand. So impressed with the pigment quality and thickness of the paint too. (See my paint review on Product Review). The white is Daylight White by Wattyl. Secret Rose by Valspar has been used on the planter boxes and mailbox. I was asked for a pink cubby house but just couldn't bear the thought of seeing a pink candy box from the kitchen window each time I washed the dishes! So the girls will just have to live with my choice of colours! :-) Assembling the cubby house was a 2-3 person job. My husband and I put together most of the panels but I wasn't strong enough to lift the roof panels so this is where his friend came into the picture. The cubby house sits on an existing deck and the verandah is supported by several bricks at the front. |
We moved the kiddy kitchen from the main house into the cubby and began to source little tables and bits and bobs to fill the cubby with. After many many months of playing in the cubby house I thought it was about time I sorted out the interior of the cubby. As much as I like rustic- it felt way too much like a log cabin on the inside and the girls and I wanted something cuter and also something other than chipboard flooring underfoot. So the interior underwent a renovation of sorts.
Firstly, everything went out and I began by giving the interior a lick of paint. I decided I wanted a safe paint that didn't require any time 'de-gassing'. When I found a no VOC paint I knew I had found the one given that the kids would be in here as soon as the paint dried. I ordered the Ecolour primer and paint in Daylight White. I wanted a bright pure white paint and fell in love with this white when I did the exterior. I ended up doing 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of satin paint for the interior. One mistake I made was that I did not sand the walls prior to painting- I should have as it would have been easier to paint and probably used less paint too! Lesson learnt- always sand!!! Once the walls had dried really well, we put the floor down. To keep it easy to clean, I decided on vinyl flooring. Bunnings sells one that does not require glue or staples to keep in down. I chose a Tasmanian Oak wood effect vinyl to keep the cottage look going. The updated cubby house now sports a fairly coordinated interior decor complete with polka dot curtains (that my mum stitched). There are a few pieces of kiddy furniture that need a lick of paint but I think I will wait till the summer when I am feeling inspired once more to paint away.
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