The Big Girl Playhouse-Part Two

A mystical structure is being formed while you are walking around like nothing is happening, drinking your latte, (light on the syrup), and reading the paper. Perhaps you have read Part One of this fanciful Playhouse.
Perhaps Not. Mayhaps you should.

This is where I left you in Part One. The posts were in the ground, the stringers were up and the beams were set across the top of the posts.
Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

What you see here, pardners, are the rafters that will hold up the roof. We built them on the ground, assembly-line style, using pressure treated wood.

We placed each rafter 24” apart, screwing them into the beams with exterior screws.
I am apparently very happy about this.

We designed the roof to be a little modern, a little cool, a little awesome. You will see the roof shape later, my dears.
Just know that you will love it.
Notice that we have two ladders on the job site and yet, I decide to stand on a rickety old fence? I have issues….

Kids, don’t try this at home. Also, don’t let your hubby take pictures of you when there is obviously way too much sweat going on.

Next came the ‘purlins’. With a ‘pole barn’ structure, the purlins lay on top of the rafters and provide the backing you need to nail in your roof.
They also add strength to the entire structure, cinching it together.
Oh, and also they are invaluable for hitting your head on. If you are into that sort of thing.

We roofed the top of the Big Girl Playhouse with corrugated Onduro-which is basically indestructible.
The roofing material smelled like licorice. It was weird.

And then there was this weird monkey that kept hanging from the rafters, saying stuff like, ‘Look at how strong I am. Aren’t I cool?’.
That was weird also.
Next up-windows and siding. Brace yourself chicks. This could get interesting.
If you would like to catch up, read The Big Girl Playhouse, Part One.

The Garden

I’ve told you that Biceps and I have been building a Big Girl Playhouse for some close friends.
What I haven’t told you is that they have a drop dead gorgeous garden-worthy of being featured in Home and Garden magazine.

This little beauty soothed my aching spirit during the awful-four-foot-hole digging process.

Each time that I hit myself with a hammer or accidentally drill through my flesh (which is often), I sit here and regroup and think of quieter times.

I bring my mind to a peaceful place, listening to the trickle of water and the swaying of branches. I obtain inner harmony…..
That is until I hit myself with a hammer again.

And when that happens, I come back again and sit a moment longer, watching the Koi and tiny frogs doing their thing.
They have no idea a gigantic shed is being built just a few feet away. I try to tell them all about it and how many bruises I’ve encountered. I am pretty sure they sympathize with me.

As a ‘job-site’ goes, this one is pretty top notch. With each new flesh wound, I remind myself that this view is a lot better than a gray cubicle lit by fluorescent bulbs. Although sometimes I do daydream about a cubicle far, far away from saws and sledgehammers and splinters.
Until Biceps snaps me back to attention, requesting help with hoisting up the next rafter. I force myself to leave my zen in the garden, grab my tool belt and head back.
A Big Girl Playhouse doesn’t build itself, you know.

The Big Girl Playhouse

There’s this crazy couple that we know that wanted a bigger storage shed.
Husband of said couple requested something large enough so that he wouldn’t hit his head on it.
He also had a budget.
Wife of said couple wanted a dreamy, glass-encased, whimsical, outdoor, greenhouse-inspired ‘space’.
She had no budget.

The planning process was an interesting one.
I was just excited after many meetings and dinners with said couple, to finally put our design into action.

After clearing the land, we used a torture device called an ‘Auger’ to dig (8) four foot deep holes for our support posts.
I hated the Auger by the end of the day. I even kicked it once. Then I drug it behind my van to teach it a lesson all the way back to the rental place. Alright, so really I towed it back to the rental place. But don’t think I didn’t dream about dragging it back. ‘Cuz I did.
We leveled, and measured and leveled some more, before setting the gigantic 12’ posts into the earth and backfilling them with earth.
I was very bruised and tired by this point.

We attached pressure treated stringers around the top and bottom of the structure, cinching in all the free-flowing posts. I kept telling the posts to ‘Get in line!’, but they didn’t listen for the most part. Stubborn posts. We added 8’ header/beams across the top. These were also 4×6 pressure treated posts.

Attaching the last beam to the top stringer was our goal today for quittin’ time.

I was thinking about last night’s leftovers waiting for me in the fridge as soon as I got home.
And a nice shower.
And maybe a glass of wine.
And Cowboy.

And although I felt victorious about meeting our goal today, I think I was more excited about going home to my leftovers and a glass of wine.
Leftovers…yum.
Next step: rafters and raisin’ the roof. Woot woot.