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Make an Eight-Dollar Playhouse

20 January 2010 10,396 views 14 Comments

by heather

I saw a cardboard playhouse kit at my local big-box store, and I admit I was tempted to just buy it for convenience's sake. The price was high enough to make me think again (and again... the price was pretty high!), so I was really excited when I stumbled across this DIY cardboard playhouse project over at Urban Craft. This crafty mama (and fellow Oregonian!) constructed this version of a playhouse using foam core board, construction paper, felt, and faux flowers, and it was less than ten bucks! She didn't give details on how she made it, but I bet you could figure it out! And yes, you can get foam core at many dollar stores! [click here for cardboard playhouse project]

Project Estimate:

Foam core board, $8
Construction paper, on hand
Faux flowers (optional), on hand or $1
Acrylic paint, on hand
Tape (clear packing?), on hand

Total: $8

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14 Comments »

Jessica H said:

Urban Craft has tons of adorable stuff!

# 20 January 2010 at 7:40 am

little t jane said:

so cute and crafty, totally brilliant. urban craft rocks!

# 20 January 2010 at 11:43 am

Care said:

Love it! UrbanCraft rules!!

# 20 January 2010 at 11:46 am

urban craft said:

Thanks you guys. I just hate spending more money than I have too. Plus, kids trash stuff so much. I couldn’t resist making one.

# 20 January 2010 at 1:27 pm

All Things Family Blog Carnival – 1st Edition said:

[...] presents Make an Eight-Dollar Playhouse posted at Dollar Store Crafts and how to Make Felted Sweater Mittens posted at Croq Zine – [...]

# 26 January 2010 at 7:12 am

Becca said:

I made one of these when I was a nanny, saw the idea in the Land of Nodd catalogue. 30ish$ I think it was! :-O I went looking for cardboard, but noone had any. At one of the BULK stores they had cardboard sheets they GAVE me for free. Just 6 pieces, 4 walls and 2 for the roof and we had awesome house for FREE! The girls kept if for MONTHNS!

# 17 February 2010 at 5:16 pm

Abigail said:

Would it be spammy of me to mention my tutorial for milk-carton play furniture? It would be a cheap way to furnish this awesome house!
I teach kindergarten – we may just end up with one of these in our classroom :D

# 20 February 2010 at 9:17 pm

irina said:

Would you please send me directions on how to make this playhouse?

# 19 March 2010 at 5:13 pm

heather (author) said:

I don’t have measurements for the house, unfortunately. If I were making it, I would probably start with full sheets of foam board for the sides of the house (cut out doors & windows as desired before assembling), and attach them with duct tape or clear packing tape. You could use two sheets of foam board as the pitched roof and attach them together with tape first (tape them together side-by-side on only one side, then place them tape side down on top of the house. Because you tape it only on one side, you should be able to allow the roof to fold to make the pitched roof. Then tape it in place.) Urban Craft used poster board (I think) for the triangular areas at the top of the walls/under the roof. You would probably want to measure the triangular space and then cut out a piece of poster board in accordance with what you measured. Another option would be to leave the triangle space open.

I hope that helps a bit! Sorry there wasn’t a template or better instructions!

# 19 March 2010 at 9:49 pm

urban craft said:

Heather’s pretty much bang on with the construction. There’s really no format or directions for the building. Just imagine it as a larger version of a mini box house that you had to construct in grade school. If you had that project in school.

# 21 March 2010 at 8:37 pm

heather (author) said:

Thanks for weighing in, urban! :)

# 21 March 2010 at 9:20 pm

If I had time I’d be making this right now… « The Handmade Experiment said:

[...] Dollar Store Crafts‘ eight dollar playhouse would be just the thing for my girls this summer. I’m totally making one of these! [...]

# 30 April 2010 at 5:32 pm

Find out about 5 Amazing DIY Playhouses | Family Style said:

[...] Eight-Dollar Playhouse via here [...]

# 4 August 2011 at 12:06 pm

{DIY} fun for the kids – playhouses said:

[...] playhouse | Dollar store playhouse Filed Under: March 2012 About KellieI'm Kellie and I live at 74 Lime Lane where I collect [...]