Tuesday, July 9, 2013

House Numbers (2013-019)

I gave the playhouse its own house numbers with a "1/2" suffix to be cute ... and to give myself more work I guess.  Sometimes I have a tendency to make life harder for myself and I try to be careful not to do that.  But this time I really wanted to have that "1/2." on the end.  The problem was I could not find a source for 2 inch or 2 and a half inch tall address numbers in the font that I needed.  So I had to fabricated the "1/2" myself with aluminum bar stock.




Tuesday, July 2, 2013

More South Side Stones (2013-018)

I wasn't happy with how the new fence boards were fitting along the south side foundation, so I removed them and got more stones to run the whole length of the house.  I was thinking of adding steps to the double doors on the west side, but that would reduce the clearance between our house and the playhouse (also it would cost more money), so I decided to skip the steps for those doors.


Sunday, June 30, 2013

South Side Face Lift (2013-017)

I need to finally add some steps.  Otherwise it's a 12 inch step up into the playhouse.  So bought a small quantity of yard stones to make a step for the south side door.  I like the "stack stone" look of very thin edged stones.  The stones that I bought are not as thin as what I like, but they are a lot more affordable than the real stuff.  I also replaced the old warped fence boards that cover a gap between a portion of the foundation and the concrete patio.  These new boards are redwood and I stained and sealed them, so they should last a lot longer than the old boards did.


Saturday, June 8, 2013

Recessed Lights! (2013-016)

I love recessed lighting, so I made custom recessed lighting for under the loft.  Since I am only running an extension cord to the playhouse, I did not install hard wired recessed lights.  Also, I only have about 5 and a half inches of clearance within the loft joists, which is too small for hard wired recessed lights.  So instead I used LED cabinet lighting, which is usually meant for surface mounting, but I figured out a way to recess them using paper coffee cups.  The cups help hold the lights in place and give a nice clean finish to the holes I had to cut into the drywall material.  I made sure to get LED lights, which run a lot cooler than halogen lights that need more ventilation.






Sunday, May 19, 2013

Base Boards (2013-015)

I finally got the base boards installed around all the edges of the flooring.  It feels good to get rid of the shims and exposed underlayment around the edges.  Later I will need to caulk over a lot of gaps around the base boards and paint over my finishing nail heads.




Sunday, May 5, 2013

Flooring is Done!!! (2013-013)

The flooring is done from top to bottom!  I must say that it looks mighty nice when it's new and shiny.  Now the challenge is to keep it looking good.  So I now everyone must take off their shoes before entering!




Saturday, May 4, 2013

First Level Flooring Part 2 (2013-012)

I started installing the laminate flooring on the first level.  I'm really glad I was able to figure out how to install it without removing the ladder!  Fortunately, the Home Depot guy I talked to knew about pull saws, which was the perfect tool for trimming the bottom ends of the ladder without removing it!  Then there was enough flexibility in the ladder brackets that allowed me to lift the ladder up slightly so I could slip the underlayment and flooring underneath.


Monday, April 29, 2013

First Level Flooring (2013-011)

Today I started installing underlayment for the first floor.  I used more expensive underlayment, which is red. In addition to keeping out moisture and cushioning the "floating" floor panels, this underlayment is supposed to reduce noise as people walk on the floor.  We'll see if that's true.


Sunday, April 28, 2013

Loft Flooring Part 2 - (2013-010)

The laminate flooring is in the loft!  Later I will need to install base boards around the perimeter.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Loft Flooring (2013-009)

Today I installed underlayment on the loft level in preparation for the flooring.


Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Walls All Painted Revised (2013-008)

Since I wasn't pleased with the blue on the top and bottom, I dared to use the green.  But I chose to use it on the top floor instead of the bottom as I originally planned, and I like the results!  Since half of the second floor wall is a window, I only had to paint the bottom half bright green, so it is not too overwhelming to look at.  Now the different colors on the top and bottom "floors" add some visual dimension when looking at the east wall and the play house doesn't feel so small.


Here's a picture of the orange west wall.



Saturday, March 23, 2013

Walls All Painted (2013-007)

With Renee's help again, I got the walls all painted.  The north and south walls are yellow.  The west wall is orange, and the east wall is blue on both the top and bottom "floors ."  My original plan was to paint the bottom "floor" green, but Renee picked a very bright shade of green that makes me concerned it will be tiring to look at.  Also, the kids' door is already green, so that will be a lot of green on the first floor.  I already bought the green paint, but I am hesitant to use it.  I chose to play it safe and painted the bottom west wall blue too.  But now the play house feels smaller with blue on the top and bottom east walls.


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Walls All Primed (2013-006)

I learned a lot about drywall taping and using joint compound.  Some of my seams are a little wavy, but that's okay.  Then with Renee's help, I  finally got the walls all primed and ready for paint!



Sunday, January 13, 2013

Drywall All Up (2013-003)

I actually finished cutting and installing all the drywall on Monday (Jan 7), but I didn't take pictures until today.  Next I need to tape and put joint compound over the seams and screw heads, which will be another learning experience!





Saturday, January 5, 2013

Playhouse Dry Wall (2013-002)

I started putting in the drywall on Wednesday.  The first piece I put in was the ceiling surface under the loft level.  I needed Ele's and Renee's extra hands to help me get that first drywall panel in place.



Then by Friday night, I got about half of the drywall up.  I had to stay up way late at night to get it done, and it was darn cold!  Here is half of the south wall sheet rock screwed in ...



Here is half of the north wall sheet rock ...



... the other half of the north wall.



Me in the freezing cold!...





Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Playhouse Insulation (2013-001)

Happy 2013!  Last year didn't go so well as far as this blog is concerned for getting me to post 100 sketches for 2012.  Oh well.  I gotta get the playhouse done, so here are some pics of the finished insulation.