What do you do when it's over 100° out,

your granddaughter's birthday is in two weeks & you are completely insane? You remodel a dilapidated, log cabin "playhouse" into an enchanted doll house fit for a Princess.

This "playhouse" has sat in our backyard for several years. We got it from the neighbors when they moved, as it's made of solid wood & very heavy & they didn't want to take it w/ them. We had to rip out a fence section in order to move it from one yard to another. It's sole purpose has been as a giant toy box...to corral all the outside toys that 5 grands, of all ages, accumulate. Basketballs, footballs, baseballs, bats & huge bouncy balls....ride-on toys, soaker guns, plastic tea sets, pogo stick, slip n slide, sprinkler toys.....wagons, picnic basket, pull toys, dump trucks, etc etc etc. But it's all gonna get condensed into one huge bin that we'll store on the side of the shed & I'm converting the log cabin into a charming, pink doll cottage. Where Caralyn can have tea parties & play house & get away from her brothers. ;o)


Here's a before picture of the outside. The canopy you see is only temporary...we just put it up to provide some shade while we worked. We've replaced the roof & the floor, shingled the roof, painted it white on the outside & pink on the inside, wired in a porch light & inside light & rehung all the doors & windows, adding hardware. All that's left to do is paint the floor, paint some odds & ends decor, spiff up the "garden", lay stepping stones & decorate. Fun! Fun! Fun! At least, from here on out it will be, but it's been pure hard work up til now.


These aren't true before pictures of the inside, cause we had already emptied it of the 2 foot pile of toys. No lie! It was knee deep in toys! I put the shelf in there for them to keep it organized but of course the shelf was completely empty & the floor was a sea of toys. It reminded me of the show Hoarders. My grandkids are hoarders! LOL

The vines kinda scared me when I first saw them...reminded me of the Stephen King flick Creepshow, where the plants are taking over everything.

Wait until you see it! It is still totally empty but already so flipping cute that I can't stop thinking about it. These two are gonna have such fun in it!!!! (Rudy is a willing participant in all tea parties, games of patty cake & dress up LOL)

I'll share w/ y'all lots of pictures of the Enchanted Doll Cottage after it's all completed...I can't wait!