Cupcake Playhouse Tips

My husband and I were recently discussing our single-bedroom housing situation (which we are perfectly happy with), and concluded that my daughter has a little lack of personal space.  She has no bedroom and her crib is smack dab in the middle of the apartment.  I had seen many pvc pipe playhouse ideas online, and decided this would be the perfect project to help remedy our issue.  Plus, pvc can be taken apart for when we decide we need a break from it in our living room.

Presenting.....

her new playhouse!

I went to the local thrift shop and purchased several sheets for less than $2.00 each.  I actually think the sheet I used for the roof was a fancy bed skirt, because it came with all the ruffles (lucky right?).  I tried to pick fun colored light sheets, so they let light into the house.  

The pipes can be bought at any hardware store.  The fittings, however, I recommend purchasing online.  They can be surprisingly expensive.

If you ever decide to take on a project like this, you will learn that the pvc fittings for making the above structure do not exist.  I found several tutorials online for card table houses, but I wanted one that my daughter could stand up in; I wanted it spacious inside.

This is what my husband and I came up with:

As you can see we would have had to find a pvc fitting that had incredilbe 45 degree angels, elbows, and Ts (I actually have no idea of all the correct terms here).  So to remedy this situation, we created the roof separate from the body of the house, and then drilled a whole through the two fittings that rested on each other, and then inserted a bolt.  This way the house is structurally sound, and yet can still be taken apart.

I added a curtain to the door to help support the whole 'privacy' idea.

Then sewed on ribbons to keep walls and curtains in place.

And here is where I cheated.  The door and windows were kind of tricky.  I basically had no idea how to make them when I started out.  I did know, however, that I wanted there to be door and window frames, so I sewed each piece of 'wood' together separately, and then used heat-n'-bond to iron them onto the pre-sewn windows.  Soooo much easier than trying to sew them all on.

Sorriest looking cupcakes ever... pom poms?  They're almost as sad as that cardboard oven...

Oooo look!  She found the chocolate chips I strategically placed so that I could get a picture!

This was such a fun project!  Although, I will not lie, this giant cupcake was tough to sew without a pattern.  But I know it will definitely be used, so the trouble was very worth it.

If you have any questions let me know!  I'm no expert, but I did a lot of research first, so I might have a few more tips if you get the hankering to try one of these for yourself!

-Becka

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