A-Frame Kids Cabin
- Kristy Bettinger
- Jul 5, 2022
- 8 min read
Hello!! It is summertime!!☀️ We are loving every minute of summer break!
The kids are ready to be outside.. BUT
Our backyard has been neglected the past 2 summers, in 2020 I was pregnant and due in June for Lynlee, she arrived on June 8.. needless to say that first year there’s little time for projects/cleaning or anything other than raising kids! In 2021 Lynlee is now on go mode with no understanding of her limits so… you get what I’m saying.. another summer of fun, but not much time for work that needs done!
So this year, Lynlee is 2 and she is ready to play! We head out to the backyard to enjoy our summer! …. our playset has been through a lot of weather in 9 years.. the roof pieces have blown off many times in storms, a swing had broken in half, the beam that holds the swings was pretty flexible 😳, and the slide seemed like it could crack into pieces. We’ve re-stained it multiple times, almost every year… I’m just done with it!
9 years ago it looked like this:
I don’t have an actual picture of ours now… As soon as I said we need to tear down the play-set.. 2 boys took that as RIGHT NOW it’s done!… It was maybe 5-10 minutes later I came back to a pile of wood laying on the ground!!
You said we could tear it down right!? 😳
Yes! But I didn’t mean right this second.. lol! Nor did I specify when.. so they weren’t really wrong.
Anyway..Hayden & Luke cleaned it all up so I’m not complaining!
David and I had been searching for a new playhouse that is safer for Lynlee, and something the older boys can enjoy.
I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars again on those thin wood houses that I’d have to restain almost every year! They really aren’t me, and my pinterest kid fun board has a lot of neat ideas! 🤔
Luke loves cabins and he is still interested in playhouses so we can build something they will both love!
We won’t forget Hayden, there is still room behind the playhouse for another project coming later this summer.. the project for us adults and kids to enjoy! For now this is just the playhouse!
First, I show David my favorite idea from Pinterest.. it has the full tutorial and plans! He agrees that building it ourselves would make it last longer and we could be more creative.
The link to the tutorial/plans that we used:
I don’t plan on doing mine exactly like hers, although it is beautiful too! BUT we are going more for an A frame cabin look here!
Day 1 - We screen shot the supply list and stopped by Menards on the way home from our camping trip. That was simplest for us to haul all the lumber and supplies right in the hauler of our camper!
We were able to find everything we needed in 1 stop! .. it took us the longest to find treated lumber. We never went out of the main store of Menards before… wow I’ve been missing out on a ton here!
The supply list ended up right on! Awesome, just what we needed, not a lot extra! We did purchase a few extra fence pickets, tiles for the floor, and a few other things so we had room for mistakes.
Day 2- A couple evenings later we decided to start by building the base..
Not even an hour later.. The base is together with no problems! The base is 4’x4’, Please see tutorial posted in link above for framing plans.
Flip it over and attach the underlayment, the base is ready!
Next we frames the 2 sides that would become the roof.. David is happy so far things are going together smoothly!
One side down, one more to go for tonight!
I think we had 2 - 3 hours in work tonight. That is all we can do until we get the base placed and leveled, then we can move on! Only 2 days until the weekend.. so we plan to wait to have an entire day to get it under roof.
Day 3 - It’s time to see this beaut come together!
We move the base to the backyard to level it.. I want it to feel like it‘s a cabin in nature but also in a location Lynlee can play easily. I decided to clear out a space in my pond rock next to an evergreen tree and ground cover.
**If we had to do over, we would use something thicker for the flooring. After a few days the flooring is bowing in between the supports. It is fine for Lynlee (24 pounds) but bows with Hayden (75pounds)
We had to do a little digging on the side towards the greenery to get the base level. The back side was a good bit lower; we had rectangular landscape blocks about 2in thick that we placed across the backside. (you’ll be able to see that in a later photo)
AND now it’s level!
The brown rubber mulch behind it was the old playset, future plans for that area! 😃
The area off to the right is filled with pea gravel, the playset used to separate the pea gravel and the rubber mulch. Hayden always played in rocks so we built his own rock play area years ago. Luke has gotten many years of fun out of the pea gravel too.
BUT now the boys want a something they can build moto tracks on for their toys. And Lynlee girl just loves sand.. SO… that area is getting a little makeover to!
Anyway, back to the playhouse!
The next step is to attach the roofing sides we already framed.… that was a little tricky to get them lined up evenly..
We had the boards that rest on the base leveled perfectly.. but to get the top pitch to line up evenly we had to do some adjusting to the bottom board of each side wall. That was not a fault of the plan, mainly that boards aren’t perfect so you adjust to what looks best!
Now it’s tome to finish framing the front and back!
Luke and I clean up a walkway to the door. We are going to repurpose the pea gravel, using it to fill in the walkway to the house.
And you can see in the background, Luke has been busy gathering limbs for his fire later this evening..
AND Hayden… 😂😂…
He does work sometimes believe it or not... but there’s always time for his goofy fun! 🧚♂️
And onto framing the backside…
I will say when it came to framing front and back walls we did not use the cut list given in the turorial, the measurements were off a bit for us, mostly about 1/2 inch shorter than the plans. Maybe that was from our adjustment on the roof sides? Anyway, I would suggest measuring for the framing rather than going by the plans.
Next, we are onto cutting the fence pickets to place on the front and back sides.
We did not leave spaces between the fence pickets because they were wet, we knew they would dry out leaving small gaps.
While David was cutting fence pickets, I started laying the adhesive tile to the underlayment. Cutting around boards using a razor blade. We chose the gray adhesive tile to resemble a concrete flooring.
After all the fence pickets were on, it was was my turn to stain!
I used Sherwin Williams Stain mixed as Cedar. We had bought this gallon for another project, and had plenty left the cabin!
I did want more of a semi-transparent stain, but solid is what we had and in the end looks the best with the different woods used.
The inside will be stained the same as outside..Before I work on the inside, I am making sure I have all the outside stained so it can dry quick in the heat. We need the sides dry to get the roofing on..
Teamwork to get this done! While I am staining, David is building the door.
I kept the door inside the basement, propped on a paint can to paint the front and sides 2 coats. That will dry overnight, and then in the morning I’ll paint the inside 2 coats.
Door is painted with Sherwin Williams Exterior Flat in Iron Ore SW 7069. If buying paint I would recommend a satin finish for easier cleaning. We had a 3/4 gallon of the flat finish in Iron Ore left from painting the block on our basement, no need to buy new for the little door! I may end up clear coating it just so it will clean easier.
We found a piece of scrap 1”x6” that we could cut the length to fit in the window. I painted it with the same Iron Ore paint I used on the door.
Last step for today is getting the roof on! I chose the clear corrugated roofing and roof ridge. My thoughts were how nice to be able to see inside, and I just loved the look of some I had seen with the clear.
Roof Ridge is on.. and one side of the roof! It is almost 8:30PM..We started about 10AM today😅..
Lynlee is loving it!
We made it.. got the second side on just before dark! We’ll have to finish up the door, staining the inside, and window sill tomorrow!
A few more hours of work and the kids are ready to enjoy this thing!!
Door installed.. and I finished staining the inside.
Now to add the fun and decorate!!
Orginially, I was going to purchase a kids grill set to put inside. Then, I got to thinking, they have so many play kitchen sets inside, including a wooden grill set. We don’t need any more of the same toys!!
As much as I want them to have fun with it, I want to add learning activities too!
I came across these flower garden sets on Amazon:
The flowers have been a hit for Lynlee, as she tells us what color the flowers are, and patiently builds them!
I had a metal tin that said Farmer’s Market on the front; the flower set fits perfectly!
Stopped by the local Dollar General to find a white wire basket…. We have a ton of sidewalk chalk .. the house would be an excellent place to store the chalk being beside the patio! Also picked up a little Hello sign for decor!
I wanted a green wreath for the door to add a little color. I found one at Hobby Lobby, we had hooks and twine to hang it at home.
David wanted to add a light, he found a solar light on Amazon for above the door.
Luke is our camper/farmer, likes to know the weather everyday.. I found him a rain guage and thermometer on Amazon to have fun with!
That is all for now.. however, I want to add a small chair or stool. I am on the lookout for an old one to redo. I am also fixing up a basket for sandbox toys to go inside, and Luke wants to use the shelves that Lynlee can’t reach to grow plants. I’ll update once I finish up someday!!
The finished kids cabin! Notice how much the fence pickets dried out in only a few days!
The cabin was built about 3 weeks now, and has been through a few strong storms with no issues!! It doesn’t seem to he getting wet inside either.
Luke checks the rain gauge everyday, he was amazed when one night of the storms dropped 3.5 inches!
The rest of our backyard space needs some cleaning and care! For now the kids are having a blast in the cabin!!
Thank You for Reading! ❤️
Disclaimer: I am not a professional designer. These are my personal opinions and I am not giving professional advise or recommendations. Only use ideas on your own will. Thank you!
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