Weekend Project - Cubby House

[redwing]

I have a few photos from another weekend project so have decided to post this also, most is from memory, so forgive any omissions.

Pa1nters Cubby House in the previous weekend project post is well worth the look if you are interested <link below>

Weekend Project - Shade Sails

The wife decided that the kids needed a cubby house in which to play (and store their miniature tables, chairs, kitchen, tea set etc).

Pre-Built cubby houses are expensive baby houses and we only had to look at a couple to decide it was too expensive an option for us. Though they looked great!

Pre-Built and DIY Kits… where do you start?

$1,000.00
$1,500.00
$2,000.00
$2,500.00

There are also some great DIY kits out there; again price is a factor though

This project took a few trips to Bunnings as we worked without a plan and guestimated what we needed on the first visit (plywood, posts, nails, . The Bulk items were okay; we just required more of the smaller materials.

The cubby was built to be under cover and the patio cuts down on the heat, its also moveable to a section of the patio that allows us to get larger items past if required.

Tools:• Saw
• Hammer
• Nails
• “Hard as Nails”
• G-Clamps
• Measuring Tape
• Mitre Square (I had one in the shed)
• Pencil
• Drill & Bits
• Paint Brushes


We started with the floor and walls

As well as the Walls (and time for the G-Clamps, or a reasonable sized brick) it was time to put together the Roof

 

[redwing]

Time to work out the Windows

Next we added some the wall sheets

Add a splash of Paint. Pink was a must have for the interior and left over paint in the shed was suitable for the exterior, using a fence painting roller made the big jobs nice and easy.

We added in some curtains, old left over lino and the girls got to decorate their house.

Builders we are not


Put some chairs and tables in and it's time for a “cubby warming” tea and scones (imaginary) for all

As a bonus the girls school was happy to receive the off cuts and waste wood for skills (hammering nails into wood etc).

We selected a pretty balustrade, and have fixed it to the balcony (sorry no photo).

All in all we had some fun working it out and putting it together

 

[RumpledElf]

I should put pictures of mine up (as per other thread too) if we ever get around to finishing it The Child is under orders to pay for the materials herself if she's serious. Considering the bolts she needs are about $2 (x8) and she needs about 2 extra weatherboards at $15 each and maybe half a dozen 1400 long floorboards at $2 a metre this is well within reach of a 9yo with an extensive selection of paid jobs to do around the house. Everything else we're using is recycled.

The tricky question is - how do you keep a 2yo out of a cubby house? Retractable rope ladder? Moat full of crocodiles? Big "no toddlers allowed" sign?

 

[marg4000]

Door with a handle too high for the toddler to reach??
Marg

 

[wylie]

Why do you want to keep the two year old OUT of the cubby house .

 

[RumpledElf]

Its 3 metres off the ground ... why would you want a two year old up THAT high?

 

[wylie]

Its 3 metres off the ground ... why would you want a two year old up THAT high?

Ahhhhh.... that explains it then .

 

[marg4000]

Its 3 metres off the ground ... why would you want a two year old up THAT high?

In that case I'll go with the retractable rope ladder.
Marg

 

[turk]

Any trouble getting DA?

Cheers

Pete

 

[redwing]

Any trouble getting DA?

Cheers

Pete

It's "just" under the council size requirements

If time's get tough though it will make a nice granny flat

 

[wylie]

When our kids were little, hubby built a cubby house, almost on the ground, maybe two steps up, that looked like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. It was made from old pallets, rustic old wood, iron roof etc with a little balcony and it was fantastic. Our back yard was only small and we had planted it out like a rain forest, so this was real fantasy land for the boys.

People who bought our house had a smarty pants solicitor (her brother) who chose to pick out bits of the building report that were (in his opinion) not up to scratch. One thing they picked was some stumps that needed (?) replacing and the other thing was that the building inspector stated that the cubby house was not up to building code .

They wanted a couple of grand off the purchase price. We were tempted to tell 'em where to shove it, but really wanted the house we had contracted to buy and knew if our sale fell over we would miss the purchase, so we allowed them $2K off the price.

Our solicitor was gob-smacked and annoyed that their solicitor was such a rude, arrogant man and told us that as the cubby house was not "attached" to the ground, it was a chattel and we were within our rights to take it with us.

We pulled it down, left a gaping hole in the yard which looked straight into the ugly back of the garden shed next door, with its pots and crap stored behind it . Our deck looked straight at the ugly new "view" .

New owners were actually pregnant with first boy child and I have a laugh now when I think that their little plan back fired. They lost a fantastic cubby house, got to look at an ugly, messy shed, and all for her brother trying to be a bit too smart for his own good.

It is not something we would normally have done because it was against our nature, except that this solicitor pushed us to our limit.

 

[RumpledElf]

I have a cubby at my old house, up on metal legs about 2 or 3 foot off the ground. The legs are the only new thing -the rest is recycled iron and reclaimed floorboards.

The tenants in there are an old couple (living in a big house with a very family-friendly layout and a monster sized backyard). The man of the house has decided the cubby is a good spot to sit in with a chair and watch the world go by