Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Little Tykes Playhouse Flip


This post combines a few things that I really love: free side of the road junk and spray paint. And of course, my kids! Now that we are onto our second summer in the house, we've gotten through some of the more pressing home fix ups and have a little bit of time for some fun stuff. This summer, we focused on making our yard more kid friendly.  We had our yard fenced in a few months back, and since that was a more expensive project, I've been looking for deals for the little extras I wanted to add to the yard. At the top of the list for this summer was some type of playhouse or structure, and a sandbox. With a little bit of luck I was able to cross all three off early in the summer, yay!

My first find definitely came with a stroke of luck!  My husband and I happened to be driving home late one night after a visit with friends, and just down the street from our house we spotted a great old Little Tykes house out on the side of the road! Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, I made Hubs pull over because this was a score, no way was I letting it sit until morning.  I'd been stalking a few on the Facebook swap pages, and they can go for upwards of $50, so free sounded pretty good to me, especially since I knew I wanted to give it a little face lift. So there we were, in the dark, on the side of the road disassembling this little house and cramming it all into our Jeep, because just like groceries, we wanted to make it all in one trip.  Luckily, the darkness kept us from seeing the substantial layer of grime (and spiders' webs) that covered the house. It got a nice sudsy bath the next day!  There were also a bunch of random, rusty screws sticking out of the doors and windows, which had to be removed (still trying to figure out their original purpose).

Our house even came with this sign...not *quite* move in ready though

Ordinary, bland Little Tykes house, after its bath

Once my freebie house had a good scrub down, I had to decide what color scheme to go with.  I considered a gray/navy/deep red, but that didn't quite fit with the woodsy setting under our hemlock tree. Instead, I went with a nice mossy green as the base color, tan shades for the shutters and roof, and a pumpkin pop for the door.  I used "Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint and Primer".  

The roof and door knob are easy to remove from the house, and the sides can be taken apart.  I believe you *should* be able to take the door and shutters off, but I was nervous about snapping one of the connections, so I didn't fuss with it too much. I've consulted with my personal adviser, Google, who confirmed that most people have a hard time getting the shutters/door to budge, but a few Hulk moms have claimed victory.  Personally, I just took a little time to tape the edges around the windows and door, as I was aiming for pretty good over perfect.  I also used a trash bag to cover up the areas that I was worried about over spraying, but found that I really didn't need it after my first window.  After a little practice I was able to get my spraying pretty accurate.  Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture of how I used the plastic bag to cover the windows, but it should be easy enough to figure out on your own. Of course, I recommend starting with the back window where you'll be less likely to be bothered by any mistakes.  You can easily unscrew the doorknob before painting the door if you'd like it to be a different color. 

The first piece I sprayed was the roof, mainly because it is the easiest to take apart.  The roof has two pieces, and you will also want to spray at least part of the underside.  The underneath edges can be seen from the outside, so mark off the point where you can see them, and spray at least that far on the underside.  I used one can total for the roof, although I did not spray the entire underside.

The roof can easily be removed and sprayed on its own

I decided to spray the sides while the house was still standing.  You could also lay each piece down and spray it on its own, but I didn't see any real benefit to that method.  I was a little worried about paint drips, but the drips I have are minimal. Just remember to spray from far enough away and you should be fine.  I also appreciated that I didn't have to do much bending by keeping the house standing, nor did I have to do much to protect the area.  Also, since I worked on this project during nap times and evenings, the house was still available for E to use while I worked on the project.  The paint is dry to the touch within 20 minutes, and able to be handled within an hour.  It is fully dry in 24 hours.
In progress spray painting
I gave each piece one coat of paint, and then did a few touch ups in some places.  In total, the project took about 4 nap times (7ish hours).  I used 4 cans for the siding/base color, 1 can for the shutters, half a can for the door, and 1 can for the roof (but could use a little more to cover more of the underside). I painted both sides of the windows and door, but left the inside walls unpainted.  The amount of spray paint you need could vary a little depending on the colors you choose and how good their coverage is over the original colors.  I did not use any top coat or extra primer.


London Fog (roof and door knob), Cinnamon (door), Nutmeg (shutters),
 and Moss Green (siding/walls) were our color choices.

As far as wearing goes, there are a few spots that a small amount of paint has scratched off, in the high traffic areas.  E grabs onto the window of the door in one spot to open and close, so there are a few scratches there.  Also, the areas where the edge of the window rubs against the wall to open and close has worn a bit. Other than that, we've had the house outside for almost two months now and it still looks great.  I plan on taking it in before winter and the really harsh weather arrive. 

Small areas on the edges have slight wearing after
 a month of opening and closing.


For finishing touch, we added street numbers and a potted marigold. I'm looking for a good replacement door knob too, and maybe a few other touches to add to the outside.  I'd love to find a nice free side of the road picnic table!

Happy with his house!

Overall, this was a pretty fun and satisfying project.  I have a better appreciation for graffiti artists now, because after a few hours of spraying my wrist definitely was aching! I love transforming my finds with a simple spray painting, and now I get too look at something that is more fresh and my style than the washed out and faded original colors.

Home Sweet Home
Have you done any side of the road redo projects this summer?


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Busy, Busy July

Yay for July! July is such a great month, the month that really makes me think "summer".  There's always plenty going on, right from the start with Fourth of July celebrations. Add in a sprinkling of trips to the beach, cookouts, bonfires, tending to the garden, afternoons at the playground or in the pool, and it just seems to speed by.  We also have the added fun of two pretty big July birthdays in our family.  Both my actual first born and practice first born (aka little sister), are July babies, so we really get to pack in some celebrating this month! Clearly there are lots of places where a July book theme could take me, but to me no summer is complete with some time at the beach.

Here are a few of the beach and ocean themed books we will be reading this month:

Beachy Book #shelfie


"Theo at the Beach" by Jaclyn Crupi:

Theo is an adorable little puppy who has lost his sense of smell.  He decides to take a trip to the beach, hoping that some of the seaside scents will awaken his sense of smell again!  As readers follow Theo on his adventure at the beach, they will find that the book includes a few rub and sniff scented illustrations. We have two Theo books in our library, and E is currently loving them! He loves sniffing each page to see if he can find a scent, and its pretty adorable to watch! The stories are cute, however I do wish a few more scent pages were included.  It is a fun book to read when talking about the senses, especially soon after a trip to the beach, when your child has a fresh memory of what sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings they had while at the beach!  If you love Theo, he also has a trip to the park book, as well as a trip to the grocery store!

Sadly, this is only a smelling book, no taste samples included


"Penguin on Vacation" by Salina Yoon:

Salina Yoon's Penguin books are some of our favorites, and following Penguin on all of his adventures is fun! This time, Penguin decides that he needs a break from the cold and snow of his home (who can blame him?), and sets off on a little vacation.  He hits the beach and makes a new friend who shows him how much fun the beach can be.  When Penguin is ready to leave, he is sad that his friend can't join him. But Penguin soon learns he isn't the only one who needs a vacation.

Don't we all, Penguin. Don't we all...

"Duck & Goose Go to the Beach" by Tad Hills

Yet another adorable Duck and Goose tale (tail?).  Duck and Goose are happy in their meadow, until one day when Duck decides they should go on an adventure, see something different.  Goose needs a bit of convincing, but reluctantly follows his friend.  Lots of exciting new sights await them, the biggest being the ocean.  Suddenly, Duck isn't feeling quite as adventurous, although Goose is quite excited!  Although they both end up enjoying part of their adventures, they agree that home in the meadow is where they are happiest.

Meeting the locals is always...interesting...


"Under the Sea" by Redd Byrd:

This simple, interactive book is fun for toddlers.  It features three spinning pieces with different sea creatures.  Each page has a few different questions about the animals and your little one can answer the question by turning the piece to show the correct creature under the question.  The cover of the book clearly says 2+, and I'd agree.  E just turned 2 at the beginning of the month, and we haven't really used the book in it's intended way yet.  There isn't really a story outside of the questions, but this book really is great for practice with identifying traits and asking questions.  The illustrations are bright and colorful, and easily lend themselves to more questions you can make up on your own. 

2 out of 3, not too bad...
Whatever fun summer experiences you and your children have this summer, I hope you are able to find a fun book or two that relates.  The best part of reading these beachy stories was asking E if he remembered our recent beach trip and seeing him smile and nod yes.  I can't  wait until he is smiling and talking about it too!