The Playhouse Repainted!

Remember last week when I shared Oliver's new (to us) playhouse? It needed a fresh coat of paint and a good scrub, but other than that it was in great shape.

Over the weekend we went to work on it - we were too excited for Oliver to wait! I thought it would take one nap time, about 2-3 hours total, to scrub and spray the whole thing. So of course it actually took about 7 hours over 2 days in 3 different sessions to get the whole thing done because I always underestimate this stuff. It wasn't bad, but I just didn't accurately account for all the required drying time - the drying time after washing it and drying time between paint coats on all the different sides.

I should have taken more pictures of the process, but I became overly focused on just getting the work done. We took the play house apart and I scrubbed every single inch of it with warm soapy water and a big scrub brush. Some parts with extra crevices and mildew buildup needed a second scrub. The roof and cabinet doors cleaned up so well, I decided not to paint them. 

Spray painting was the easy part. I picked out 3 colors - a light aqua/seafoam for the main walls (that were pink), turquoise for the cream accent wall that opens up, and yellow for accents - the door, chairs and flower pots. I was a little lazy and decided to paint the table and kitchen set the same colors as the walls instead of taking it apart, but I liked the idea of simplifying the interior. 

Laying down each side was the most effective way to get all the different angles and the best coverage. I tried painting the walls while they were standing up, but I missed too many spots. I used contractor bags underneath to protect the grass - they are a nice large size, they don't stick to the wet playhouse paint and will eventually end up in the trash anyway. Each playhouse side needed two coats of paint - I used 6 cans of of the light aqua/seafoam for the 3 main walls, 2 cans of turquoise for the accent wall and 1 can of yellow for the accents. If we had painted the roof I think we would have needed another 2 can, maybe 3.

Once everything was dry and had 24 hours to cure, we put the play house back together. 

It was a happy accident that the accent wall turquoise matches our adult-sized turquoise adirondack chairs perfectly. It's so nice when things like that happen. 

I love the way the finished playhouse looks. It looks new again! We are so excited to have it and Oliver absolutely loves playing in it.