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Tuesday, February 14, 2012

A mousehouse playhouse

Hi all and Happy Valentines Day to you!  I mentioned a few week back that I had a playhouse reno to share and have finally got around to collating my pics so you can take a look. This project was the reason my grand plan of handmade christmas presents went out the window last year (really need to prioritise my projects...) and yet another reason why my hubby thinks I am (just a bit) crazy.
It was seeing Stella's gorgeous play kitchen that she and her hubby made for her 2 year old that finally got me inspired- I just loved it as did my two girls when I showed them Stella's photo's. I always wanted a Wendy house as a child so this project was really me fulfilling my dream of a little weatherboard cottage kitchen- in fact if I lived in a little cottage I would pretty much want to decorate it just like this!
Here are a few Before pics of the inside the playhouse. We got it 3 years ago from here - I painted the exterior soon after getting it (which took ages) so for the inside we just bought a little toy oven, put in a bench on both sides of the house, added a sink and taps and a shelf from Bunnings and a blackboard from Warehouse Stationery.  It has been the best thing over the last 3 years to have outside- they girls love it, as do their little pals that come round.
  
And here are the After pics...
First off my hubby made the three shelves to go right across the wall above the bench. Then I painted the whole interior white and the floor grey.
 
For the colour scheme I had the idea of using the colours in Orla Kiely's multi stem fabric print (one of my favourite prints). So I ordered a metre of the fabric from ebay.co.uk and made the skirt to go under the bench and hide the plastic storage bins under there. 
And then I found this gorgeous set of Duraware cups and plates (called tennis sets) on TradeMe which pretty much matched the colours in the fabric. Duraware is great as it is like a very strong melamine- everything for the playhouse has to be very durable having seen what happens to it in there over the last 3 years!
To choose the colours for the scallop bunting I took the cups into Bernina here in Tauranga and found this lovely 'linen-look' fabric they had just got in in every colour imaginable so it was really easy to match the cup colours to the fabric.  Then it was just a trip to my favourite op shop to find some more stuff and a few more Trademe purchases and it was done. The girls loved it and it got them re-enthused about playing in it which was great.  I should add that it looks nothing like this now- most days it looks like a mini tornado has been through it and most of the stuff ends up on the lawn but hey it was still a fun project!
Here are some details about some of the other things in the playhouse
'Learn the alphabet' wooden toy from second hand kids shop Zero to Five. Phone from Kahu's Nest- a second hand shop that's part of the Raglan Transfer Station.
The microwave was a gift and the yellow scales were from TradeMe. There's a little shop till that sits on the bench too but it's not aesthetically pleasing enough to be in the photo hehe. The microwave and the phone are drilled to the bench- if you have small children you'll know why- heavy phone pulled onto little toes not fun! 
Vintage sifter and measuring cup from TradeMe. The sifter is a Bonco one if you like the look of it.
Fairy Friends print I won in a giveaway from Charlotte and Austen. Shelf from an op-shop that I painted. Flowers in glass jar purely for photograph- they would last about 2 minutes in there! 
Pots from Op-shop, play food from The Warehouse. 

Hope you enjoy the pics and thanks again Stella for the inspiration:) 
Megan

48 comments:

  1. So gorgeous Megan! You really do have a knack for amazing playhouses :) Lisa xx

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  2. This is AMAZING! I want to live here! (My husband mentions it's probably not insulated well but I don't care, it's my dream! Don't tell me how to live, husband!)

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  3. Wow, gorgeous! Well done! Your girls are lucky people.

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  4. oooooh that is every child's DREAM playhouse!!!
    gorgeous work (again!)

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  5. I adored Stella's kitchen and Love your playhouse! Well done - my girls and I are envious!

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  6. Love it Megan! Lucky girls. My nana had one of those sifters, I've been looking out for one for years with no luck. Now I know the brand it might help me in my search! I love all the details and I can imagine many years of happy tea parties out there.

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  7. Oh my! That is simply stunning! I want to lose some height and move in! You always do such a fabulous job with everything you touch, Megan!

    Good grief, I love it! Everything.

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  8. Absolutely gorgeous Megan, every little girls dream!

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  9. Wow I am not sure who has been having the most fun... you or the girls!

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  10. Oh my goodness that is so beautiful. It's amazing what a difference paint makes to a space, and I love love love all of your cups and retro kitchen stuff.

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  11. Truly a work of art. Beautiful!

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  12. Wow what lucky little girls! Great job.

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  13. Oh my goodness Megan - what a gorgeous wendy house! I love it!!! Can I come over and play, ha ha. You have inspired me to make something similar for my little son to play in...happy valentines day!

    Becks x

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  14. oh megan it's utterly adorable! and the bunting, swoonsome x

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  15. Wow - that is just fantastic, just showed my 5 yr old - you have another fan now! Great job. Also love that sifter, much better than our boring plain one.
    Ps have just pinned a page of your busy book to pinterest - I hope you don't mind - you have such great ideas.

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  16. Amazing Megan - every little (and big!) girl's dream.

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  17. OMG I love it Megan... do you do forts too? xx

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  18. Ah, great big sigh. I am SO blissed out by this. Megan I think you seriously have some future in creating this kind of thing for people who love it but couldn't do it for themselves, or as a stylist. LOVE, LOVE. If I lived in Tga I'd invite myself over just to pat and sniff. LOVE

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  19. Megan you have out done yourself, this is GORGEOUS!!! Had to giggle at your honesty as to the state of the place now and the prettying up for the photo shoot. Well done on another stunning project.

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  20. Oh my god, it looks amazing. It is exactly want I want to make for my little girl. It looks better than my kitchen! It is so inspiring, thankyou for sharing, just wonderful. x

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  21. WOW!!!! I love it! My kids would love it! Makes me want to get one too! That is truely just gorgeous!

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  22. Wow, Stella and Amelie are 2 very lucky little girls! That is SO cool!

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  23. When can I move in, it's gorgeous. You've put so much work into the playhouse, lucky lucky children. I have a grown up version at the bottom of my garden destined to one day be my sewing space, still untouched as yet, but you've given me some really inspirational ideas. x

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  24. Oh wow, that is like the coolest house I have ever seen...When can I move in? I LOVE the decor! :) You have some lucky little ones at your place.

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  25. Super cute!! Love the fabric, will be telling my husband you imported... he raised his eyebrows at my faux wood dollhouse flooring from uk! hopefully I'll be able to show in the near future. It's a slow reno, totally dependant on sleep patterns around here. Great photo's too, very creative. Lucky little ladies :)

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  26. Megan you never fail to impress! I love this....pinning right now..maybe one day i can create something half as gorgeous..well done!!

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  27. Stella is inspiring just as you are. This is stunning. I dreamt that by Xmas this year I would give our girls a stunning wee play house -- something like yours. Alas, New York and Rarotonga are calling so if I am to reach my dream it will be op shopping and elbow grease all the way.
    You have very lucky children x

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  28. Oh WOW!!! This is so very inspiring Megan, I LOVE all the little details, and want one for my very own! Thank you for the mention, though you are not a lady that needs inspiration from me, you have so many wonderful ideas yourself! I am storing away these images for future inspiration... (that scollop bunting is absolutely stunning!)

    p.s. laughed at your comment about what it looks like now - Eleanor's play kitchen looked pretty for about as long as it took to get some photos taken, and has been a shambles ever since... Sigh...

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  29. That is amazing. I have a play house on my back lawn calling out for a revamp. I now know where my inspriation is coming from. Thanks. Cx

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  30. Megan, you really are the most talented lady. I'm going to print this off and add it to my print-off of your doll house post... hopefully one day when I have little girls they will come in handy! Gorgeous work x

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  31. Wow! When can you come to Wellington and do my house? I love the sifter and measuring cup and duraware and the phone and the...all of it. Just Wow!

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  32. Oh my, this cubby house you've transformed is amazing!! I mean it already looked great but now, WOW!! x

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  33. !!! I want to come play *sigh*

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  34. Really beautiful, well done :)

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  35. Oh honey I just about fell off my chair when I saw these photos!! Your playhouse is absolutely stunning!!! I'm going to go and find my husband right now and show him as we are just starting to paint the playhouse we built recently. I think he was only planning an exterior do-up but now my mind is racing about the interior! Thank you so much for the inspiration. Have a fabulous week!
    Leah
    xx

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  36. Oh my, you have done it again, but on human scale this time. W O W Thanks for your honesty too about culling out the ugly toys for the photos hahahahahaa!

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  37. This is rediculously fantastic. You have done such an amazing job transforming this play house. Love the colour scheme. Love love love the decor. The flowers are a gorgeous addition. So much inspiration here! x

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  38. Wow Megan! This is so fantastic... you've really done such a fantastic job with every little detail... I'm dreaming about a little playhouse for my girls now!! Thanks so much for the inspiration (although not sure if my hubby will agree!) xoxo

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  39. This is one amazing playhouse, you are very talented!
    I want to live there too!
    Oh well, I guess Simply EC got there first :)

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  40. This is AMAZING! I love all the darling little details. What a sweet little play place for your little darlings. I'm so happy to meet your blog.

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  41. Shrink me down so I can move in please!!! I would have just died for something like this when I was a kid. Even today I could still get enjoyment out of it!! Brilliant :D

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  42. found you via a Pinterest link... this is absolutely precious and just the inspiration that I need for my own playhouse reno... I have to get going on that... :)

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  43. What an absolutely gorgeous playhouse. It is devine. Any chance you could tell me the colour of the exterior paint? I'm going to use your design as inspiration for my little shed conversion. Cheers :)

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  44. I'm just about to decorate a playhouse we got for the kids (second hand) and your ideas are so AWESOME. I'm going to pin your pics for inspiration. Thanks! I'm planning to blog the transformation ;-) http://zealous-design.blogspot.co.nz

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  45. Wow!!!! I love this lovelly House ♡ ♡ ♡ i`ve seen in the new Gartenhaus GmbH Magazine. Very, very nice.
    Greetings from Switzerland
    Mirjam

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Thank you so much for your comments- I really appreciate them and love reading them. I always try and reply to specific questions (sometimes I even get time to reply to comments too!) but you need to make sure your profile is linked to your email address. Sorry but I have had to disable comments from anonymous users due to a crazy amount of spam! Megan