Playhouse School Reveal

When I was little, my friends and I started a club. We needed a headquarters so we selected my friend’s treehouse. It was pretty beat up so we convinced her dad to help us fix it up. A little deck carpet and screens on the windows and it was good as new! The feeling of hanging out with my friends in a place just for us- it was felt special. I wanted the same for Don. Today I’m going to share his playhouse school reveal.

I think kids rarely get spaces JUST for them. Since I think the feeling of ownership of a space is important, I’ve been trying to give that to Don. I’ve also been letting him select most of the finishes. For this, I give him a 3-4 options that I like that’ll fit with what Don is into and then let him choose. It’s been fun finding a compromise with both of our styles!

playhouse school reveal

Before

In July, the playhouse was started. It’s been a major labor of love. We’ve built it from scratch, from the ground up. The intention is for this to be a special, magical place.

My husband and I have worked on it together. He does most of the big construction and I paint and do detail work. The first focus was on the exterior and getting the roof on.

Once that was complete, we figured we could finally put the final touches on the loft area. That’s what we’ve been working on ALL week. My husband and Don have had a cold, so progress has been slow. But after many hours, the school room in the loft is done. Let me know you how we got there.

Progress

On Monday, here’s how the loft looked. Walls had gone up, the ceiling beams were painted white, and the room had electricity- functional plugs and a light!

Then I got busy with painting the chalkboard wall green. Side note- did you know that chalkboard paint can be tinted any color?! Well it can! I had the tintable chalkboard paint color matched to the same color (Back to Nature from Behr) as the front door. The soft green is more in my pastel color scheme than the normal black or dark green chalkboard!

I also wallpapered the ceiling in the loft. Do you see that beautiful Serpentine wallpaper?! The gold accents are superb! The snakes goes with Don’s love of all things spooky. Plus the green is his favorite color. To be honest, wallpapering the ceiling was a bit of a pain. Each piece had to be cut down to fit each section of the ceiling. But it has a huge impact!

Then I got painting even more. The walls and ledge both went white. I wanted to paint as much as possible before the new flooring went in. It’s still pretty hot in Utah so that made this even more challenging. 

For the flooring, we opted for deck carpet since it’s affordable and soft for Don to play on. Before bringing it inside, we cut it down to size.

To install it, I glued it down in sections with construction adhesive.

Once the carpet was in and trimmed to fit, we added the wood slats to the front of the ledge. I was going for a modern slat wall. To make it, we used leftover 2×4 pieces from building the playhouse that we cut down to smaller rectangles. I painted them white and then glued them on the wall.

I used an extra piece as a spacer to get that pattern. Window trim also went in. Molding takes a space from just ok to layered with architectural interest. 

After

Here is the playhouse school reveal! Can you tell that Don just loves it?! Ps, if you’re wondering about Don’s bunny shoes, we bought them at Target last year. He saw them and fell in love and begged them for me. They were technically in the girls section, but I figured bunnies could be gender neutral so I snagged them!

wallpaper / sconce / deck carpet / chalkboard paint / green paint- Back to Nature / Dinosaur wall art / globe / green Dino 

On the slat wall ledge, I added some globes we had. This area is Don’s classroom where he wants to teach kids about dinosaurs and monsters (so cute)! I put some books up here about dinosaurs and Halloween.

I also gave him some chalk and he knows this green wall he had free reign over!

desk

The vintage desk Don and I found antiquing is up here too. It fits nicely in the middle of the room. If this was mine, I would’ve had SO much fun playing in here as a kid! I hope he does too.

I got him colorful chalk. I’ll keep you posted on if it actually erases. I didn’t “season” the wall (where you rub chalk all over the chalkboard before using) so I’ll be honest, I am a little concerned. But it’s supposed to be drawn on, so it’s fine!

rocking chair

When I was thrifting this week, I spotted this little rocking chair for $6. I grabbed it for up here. When I was little, I had a similar one and loved it. So this just felt right. He loves rocking on it. It’s old and creaks and that makes him happy- “the creak is spooky mom”! So I used it and a $1 thrifted basket to make a reading corner.

conclusion

This little space makes me so happy! I sat up here after finishing it and remembering how it began with some wood on gravel. And now it’s a great space for pretend time! I love the wallpapered ceiling, slat wall, and that pretty sconce. What’s your favorite part?

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

If you love it, pin it!