The Little White Playhouse

Last year had so many blessings and first for us with our grandchildren. There is something so very special about watching your daughter become a Mother and parent her children. New traditions are made and a few old ones kept. Magical new memories, lots of laughter, cherishing the old memories, watching your grans grow, the anticipation of good times to come, seeing glimmers of yourself, your daughter and your husband in our grans, more laughter and a few tears of joy; filled our cups in this new season of life for us. New chapters are always so exciting, blank pages be to filled with beautiful memories. Mercy, grace, love, joy and most of all gratitude fill my heart.

I no longer make New Year's resolutions. I do, however, name a theme for the New Year. This year's themes are gratitude and wellness. I am striving to be grateful even through the storms of this life. I am determined to work on my physical health, grow closer to the Lord and to slow down to smell the roses, in the midst of my fast paced life. 

One of the firsts for me last summer was building a playhouse for my grans. I did it 100% on my own, no help from Bpa at all as he was too busy and tired out from work to help me. Took me awhile to figure it all and and I may or may not have put some of it together backwards, lol...tales of the dyslexic adhd Gigi! That is a whole other topic, ha! I ordered a DIY cedar playhouse kit from Amazon and it took me about 10 hours to get it all together and add all the custom details. I wanted it to mimic Gigi & Bpa's "Little White House", and so it does! The kids absolutely loved it, and in 5 minutes of seeing the joy on their little faces all the blood, sweat and back ache faded into smiles and laughter. That is the beauty of giving, bringing joy to others IS my joy! To my darling Rawlings, Baylor, Jessa & Genesis...Gigi loves you ALWAYS!

Without further ado here is "The Little White Playhouse."

It has a flag that I custom designed on zazzle.com with my custom fleur de lis flag weights to match ours flags and flag weight. Little wreathes over the windows and planters I painted black and added polka dots to for a Mackenzie Childs feel. 

I added this pretty heart wind-chime that I painted black. Jessa loved that feature. Baylor loved the doorbell. He loves things that make noise. He is still vacuum obsessed. I bought a real lightweight stick vacuum knowing he would love to vacuum Gigi's house with it...and he does!

I glued this little white ceramic squirrel in the windowsill  that Genesis gave me a while ago. The grans call squirrels "jump jumps," too cute! I had this wreath holder for many years from one of my trips to Colorado Springs Hobby Lobby (before our town had one). 

I added a pretty dishtowel and holder, a buffalo check valance some Hobby Lobby pumpkins (Gen is pumpkin obsessed), and this thankful sign. Found these farmhouse style chairs at Ross dress for less for $7.99 each! They were pink, so I painted them black.

I had a maker on Etsy make these vinyl letters of an adorable old childhood poem. I added the small hello fall and welcome friend picture from Hobby Lobby.

Baylor loved the phone. I tried to find a black or grey one, but no such luck so far. So off it came with a green and yellow one. Ugh problems of an OCD Gigi...IT MUST MATCH! Ha!

Added a rooster weathervane similar to the one on the roof in front of our BIG "Little White House. Added a G decal for our Monogram seen throughout our exterior and interior of our home ...yes some of my people do hail from the south (Kentucky to be exact)!

Matching welcome mat that we have around all the doors on The BIG Little White House! 

I customized this little farmhouse table and chairs for a Mackenzie Childs vibe. Added their art supplies and play dough to some customized metal canisters to match. The paint is holding up right now through the rainy season. We will be building a covered patio this hear for this porch we poured last year. It will be so nice and the kids and play outside year round without getting soaked or muddy. They all love the outside, their sweet Mama takes them out everyday rain or shine. Fresh air and vitamin D for the win! 

I custom painted this big wheels trike to match The Little White House and Baylor loved it! I kept the petals orange because I did not think it would hold up if I painted them. All in all I was thrilled with how everything turned out. Hoping for many fun filled years creating good memories with the grans!

Here is a link on Amazon to  Modern Outdoor Wooden Playhouse Kit

Here is a link to a video I made showing the details