Katie's Birthday Present

Katie will turn seven in June.  When she first came home, she had no idea how to play.  Like, as in, would look at a toy if you gave it to her and just smile.  She had no idea what to do with them.  She didn't know how to pretend to do anything.  Now she loves to cook things up in her kitchen, have a tea party, push some dolls around in a stroller, and do lots of other pretend play.  What does a girl who has a newfound love for playing need?  A playhouse!

I know, I know.  It looks like a shed.  Um, it is.  Use your imagination.

I have big plans for this little beauty!  We're going to make the door into a dutch door, add some windows to the house, some window boxes with flowers, and add a little porch.

It's 8x10, and right now it's divided into two rooms.

I'm not sure if we'll leave it as two rooms or just open it up and make it one big room.

I've been pinning like a madwoman on Pinterest.  Some of my favorite ideas are these:

I love this little porch with no roof.

We will paint the door this color to match our house.  And it's a dutch door!

I want to hang some solar lights on either side of the front door.

I love these little kitchens.  We have a Pottery Barn Kids kitchen that our friends gave us, and we'll move that out.  I want to hang some open shelves above it.

I've already started scouring Goodwill and can't wait for some yard sales to start up so I can find lots of goodies for it.  

I'm going to make one of these drying racks from a wooden tray table.  I think it's the cutest thing!

I plan to make a few of these big pillows to sit on and hang out.

I love these painted floors!  I think I'll paint the entire inside of the house white, then stripe the floor with some of the paint we've got from when we painted her room.  It's seaglass, and I love the color.  I would also love to build a little "built in" bookcase between two of the studs.  Thank goodness Chris is handy!

I promise you that I'm more excited about this project than my husband, and I will probably like the finished project more than Katie!  I think that she and Jack will have a lot of fun with it though, and probably the big boys too!