How To Create A Beautiful Play House for Kids

How To Create A Wonderful Children’s Den By Upcycling – Ashley Quinn

https://www.instagram.com/ashley_quinn85/

The lovely Ashley Quinn kindly wrote a guest blog post for Jaques of London, in line with our Anti Screen Revolution. Ashley is a Design & Technology Teacher based in Scotland. She used her teaching expertise to create a beautiful outdoor play area for her kids during lockdown and decided to share with you how she created it. Ashley’s Wendy House is absolutely stunning and a real testimonial to her creativity and design skills. Read on to find out more about how Ashley created her lovely play area!

“Recently my neighbour offered me an old Wendy house that need a little TLC! The Wendy House had originally belonged to her son and his children, but he no longer needed it. The Wendy House was set to become firewood if his Mum had not rescued it. I am overjoyed that she managed to save it. My neighbour sent me some photographs of the Wendy House. It most definitely required a lot of work to get it looking beautiful again. Most people would have declined her offer, but I could see AMAZING potential.

After accepting her generous offer, the Wendy House was delivered to me flat packed, disassembled and ready for renovation. My challenge had begun!

First and foremost, I needed to reassemble the Wendy House to get a better idea of what I was dealing with. Fortunately, my amazing Uncles’ came to help me. Thirty minutes later, the Wendy House was assembled.

When it was assembled, it was easier to see what work needed to be done. The windows were broken, the facings were rottinng and it was leaking water. However, we LOVED it. My kids loved playing in it from the first moment.

My next step was to replace the Perspex windows, which would massively help with water proofing. In addition, I made a little window box which I planned to place underneath the front window.

Next I started to paint the Wendy House. I used A LOT of paint. I chose to use Ronseal Garden Paint as it is known for being weatherproof. As I have a son and a daughter I chose colours that both of them would like. I chose white and pale blue as I felt these colours were gender neutral.

Once painted, I added some faux flowers to the window box and an adorable little wreath on the door. I purchased the wreath from The Range for £4.99.

Finally, we moved the Wendy House onto our decking where it now sits in pride of place. I love that I have managed to resurrect what was to be firewood into something that will be cherished for years to come.”

We think that Ashley’s Wendy House is beautiful and a fantastic way to recycle unwanted items. Outdoor play is so important for childhood development. We have a fantastic range of outdoor toys and games as well as lovely wooden toys which could be a fantastic addition to your kid’s outdoor play areas.

Share with us on Instagram your outdoor play areas using #jaquesoflondon.