The Fun-Shed

We've pretty much finished our shed/playhouse project and we are having so much fun hanging out in it!  To check out all of the inspiration sheds, check out this post here.  When we bought the house (about a year ago) this shed (below) was on the property sitting on a concrete slab.  It leaked and a some sort of animal family lived in it:

Dave and his dad knocked it down and replaced it with 6' x 8' Hartland shed from Lowe's:

We haven't painted the outside of the shed yet to match out house but if you'll remember, we haven't even painted our actual house fully yet, so those pics will come this summer.  (Can  you tell interiors come first with me? ;) ;) 

We wanted to create a fun place for us and the kids to hang out.  It's part playhouse- part relaxing place for us to hide from the bugs...  I wanted it to be pretty enough for me to enjoy being in, but still appeal to little boys.  (Will I ever have a girl??!! ;)   Anyway, here's what it looked like inside before:

And here it is now:

We strung up our globe (a 23rd birthday gift to Dave from me) between the rafters and I love looking at it when we're laying down on the bench. 

For a little nod to our own kitchen, we decided we'd do white shelves above a black counter.  We don't really have any kitchen-y toys yet so we're using pretty fruit juice cans and an old olive oil contrainer.  I love their vintage-feel. 

We've displayed things we've collected over the years along with the things Christian finds on walks.  It seems sticks are one of his favorite. I've "let go" of what happens on these shelves (meaning I totally helped get everything up there but he whatever happens, happens)  and it's really refreshing to have a space out of my control.   He says he needs to put them up here so Ashby (our dog) won't get them:

 I think it'll be fun to use actual leftover food containers (like empty mini cereal containers) to add "food" over time.   I also thought it would be fun for Christian to play "bartender" when we have parties/ bbqs. (ok- yes, I know how bad that sounds but I'm not talking only alcoholic drinks here :)  We'll put the different drinks we have to offer up on the shelves - ie coke, bottled water, orange soda,  etc- for people to see their options and then they can tell the kids what they want so they can fish it out of the coolers for them. 

Christian has been "cooking" a lot and also sampling the honeysuckle that grows just outside:

{honeysuckle leftovers on chair}

The beautiful old adirondak chair was given to me by my friend Rebecca of Acanthus and Acorn and Christian just loves it! 

{I adore the crackly old vintage kitty on the floor}

The bass that hangs is the first bass I ever "caught."  I was 4 years old and my dad had it mounted.  It reminds of of the fishing trips I used to take with my dad when I was little - playing Barbie's and caring more about the surrounding waterlilies rather than the fish.  It has been moving from house to house with me with no place to go, and finally, it's found a home.  (ps- I'm not sure I've even caught a bass since...  my dad's an awesome bass fisherman and has even been on those fishing shows...  this apple falls far from the tree.)  The botanical prints are different plants (and weeds!) we have around our yard.  Christian & I picked them and photocopied them with the printer.  I labeled them and added some personal stories/ thoughts on any that have special meaning.  To see the how-to details, click here. 

My "spot" is the bench Dave built.  We used a cheapie outdoor chaise lounge cushion for the seat wrapped in an old natural-colored ikea curtain.  (very washable and we have multiples!)  The dog pillow (we've had for years) looks exactly like our dog Ashby and I propped an old water-damaged flea market painting on the ledge.  We painted the floors black and added a grapic outdoor rug.  The old wire basket under the bench given to me by a friend is great for coralling suncreen, baby wipes and other necessaries:

Do you spy the "real" tenant in the playhouse?  Just under the painting... "Spidey" earns his keep by eating mosquitoes.  This playhouse is not for the squeamish!

Justin enjoys the bench too but not as much as the plates...

Do you remember those old fisher price tea seats?  My mom had saved mine:

Here's a photo Christian wanted me to take of the "oatmeal" he made for me:

{yum!}

Christian has a great time playing in here...

...But I think Dave & I might  actually like the playhouse more than him.  We love seeing him have so much fun and being so excited, so in that sense, it's just as much of a gift to ourselves as to the kids.  It's funny how that works.

Anyway, hope you're having a great week & enjoyed the tour!!

xoxo,

lauren

Rug: "Matrix" rug from overstock.com

No VOC Paint: (a favorite) "Beach Pearl" by FreshAir Choice @ Home Depot

Globe: Rand McNally