| Project by Peter Alkema | posted 01-14-2012 09:22 PM | 11840 views | 5 times favorited | 23 comments |  |
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The above picture was two years ago and below is the final product – just in time for our twin’s 4th birthday party!
This project is very close to my heart as it was a gift from my wife and I to our first set of twins for their second birthday. I built it in two months and it provides the perfect setting for our children to play their own version of house.
It is roughly 3,5m wide x 3,5m deep and features two large windows along the sides, a centre door and three windows in the front with a balcony looking onto the garden. There are two skylights in the pitched roof and the internal construction allows for future modifications such as interior stairs and a landing area. The wooden roof is waterproofed with bitchumen and the exterior wall cladding is tung and groove. The base is raised above the ground which is mounted on hardwood stakes and there are stairs leading up to the balcony in the front.
Sincee the second birthday in March 2010 I have completed the door, skylights and 3 of the 7 windows. My mum is making curtains and by their 4th birthday this March our goal is to finish the remaining windows, repaint and redo the flooring.
Lots more photos at: Wendy House album on Facebook
ok so a quick update on this project, we moved house and of course i couldn’t take the wendy house with us. Some while later a friend from the same street sent me this picture and I guess the new owners had other plans for that corner of the garden … oh well … from timber to project and back to timber i guess ….
-- Just published my first book - Woodworking for Everyone - www.woodworkingforeveryone.net
23 comments so far
darryl
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1795 posts in 5343 days
#1 posted 01-14-2012 09:33 PM
very cool Peter! I bet your girls love it.
I built my girls a play house and it’s one of my favorite projects simply from seeing how much they love it.
I love the porch on the front of yours. That’s something I’ve considered adding and I think your project proves it’s the right thing to do.
Peter Alkema
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57 posts in 3344 days
#2 posted 01-14-2012 09:45 PM
making the windows….
http://youtu.be/ryiF4aIWRzE
adding the windows….
-- Just published my first book - Woodworking for Everyone - www.woodworkingforeveryone.net
Peter Alkema
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57 posts in 3344 days
#3 posted 01-14-2012 09:47 PM
all lit up for Christmas…
-- Just published my first book - Woodworking for Everyone - www.woodworkingforeveryone.net
Brandon
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#4 posted 01-14-2012 09:52 PM
Nice Peter. I’m sure they’ll have many years of fond memories in that play house. Plus, when they’re all grown up, you can use it for lumber storage or something. :-)
-- "hold fast to that which is good"
NormG
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#5 posted 01-14-2012 10:02 PM
What a wonderful gift. What are you planning for the next set of twins
-- Norman - I never never make a mistake, I just change the design.
a1Jim
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#6 posted 01-14-2012 10:26 PM
Outstanding cottage Peter ,I see you have a big help in one of the photo’s he’s a handsome fellow.
-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos
Peter Alkema
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57 posts in 3344 days
#7 posted 01-14-2012 10:33 PM
thanks Jim here they both are….
-- Just published my first book - Woodworking for Everyone - www.woodworkingforeveryone.net
Tokolosi
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#8 posted 01-14-2012 11:46 PM
Knap gedaan! Baie mooi. Ek is seker jou dogters is mal daaroor!
-- “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” ~ JRR Tolkien
Rob Mammen
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#9 posted 01-15-2012 12:28 AM
There isn’t a little girl alive that would not like to have a cottage like this. you do excellent work.
-- Rob, You have failed if you have not tried.
Richard
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11310 posts in 4049 days
#10 posted 01-15-2012 07:28 AM
Nice Project! Very well done!
-- Richard (Ontario, CANADA)
HalDougherty
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#11 posted 01-15-2012 01:28 PM
You’ve created a treasure for your family… I can’t wait to see what you build for their 16’th birthday. Or the cradles you make for your first grandchildren. Spoil them, they won’t stay little very long.
-- Hal, Tennessee http://www.first285.com
BentheViking
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#12 posted 01-15-2012 03:07 PM
nice project…must have needed a lot of wrapping paper
-- It's made of wood. Real sturdy.--Chubbs Peterson
StumpyNubs
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#13 posted 01-15-2012 04:07 PM
“What did you make in the workshop today?”
“A cutting board. What did you make?”
“Oh, just a house…”
-Jim; aka “Stumpy Nubs”
(The greatest woodworking show mankind has ever known is now online!)
-- Subscribe to "Stumpy Nubs Woodworking Journal"- One of the crafts' most unique publications: http://www.stumpynubs.com/
DamnYankee
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#14 posted 01-15-2012 04:07 PM
Very nice. Better not show it to my girls or I’ll be building one just like it
-- Shameless - Winner of two Stumpy Nubs Awards
jetnum
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#15 posted 01-15-2012 04:59 PM
Very cool, Peter!
-- “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
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