How To Paint A Little Tikes Playhouse Using A Paint Sprayer

What kid doesn’t love a playhouse? I never had one when I was growing up….soooo deprived. Our neighbors gave us this playhouse about 10 years ago. It was a hand-me-down from their grandson. Our oldest granddaughter, Tenley,  was two or three at the time, so we were thrilled to get it. That was about ten years ago.

When we set the playhouse up in our yard, the telephone didn’t work, and the “cooktop” was a mess. At that time, Little Tikes had replacement parts for the playhouse. I ordered the two parts, and the little playhouse was as good as new.

Ten years down the road and one extreme paint makeover for the Little Tikes Playhouse and it is better than new. Our youngest granddaughter, Sofi, is four, and she loves the little house.

This is how the house looked last Fall (October 2015).

It was covered in mold, and you can see the condition of the “cooktop” in this photo.

The JTS (aka Junktion Technical Specialist, aka hubby) took the playhouse apart and used the power washer to clean it up.

I painted the roof first. I selected gray for the roof and a soft cape cod looking blue for the “siding.” The blue is an oops paint I bought at a local home improvement store.

Glidden Gripper Primer tinted gray is my go-to primer. I decided the gray primer would be the perfect color for the roof, so I went with….primer.

I used my favorite DIY tool for this makeover….the HomeRight Super Finish Max Paint Sprayer. I sure wasn’t going to brush this thing by hand. Look at all those angles and grooves, no way. Took no time at all to spray the roof. I painted the bottom side of the roof first, then turned it over and sprayed the top when it was good and dry.

What happened next…the weather. I painted the roof at the end of October then the weather turned awful. I didn’t finish the playhouse makeover until this month (June 2016). During the winter, Sofi asked if we could paint the house, and I had to keep saying no. She also wanted it to be a castle when we put it back up, but that’s another story!

This photo was taken outside our workshop doors, where I usually spray paint things. You can see the playhouse leaning against the tree in the background. That’s where is stayed for 6 months. Needless to say, the JTS had to power wash it again before I could paint it. All this time the roof was taking up space in our workshop because I didn’t want it to get all dirty before I sealed it. I was going to apply the sealer after the whole house was done.

Moving on to June and I’m finally painting again. I worked on the inside of the house, first spraying it with white primer. After the primer dried, I applied the cape cod blue color. At this point, I decided we would put the house together and then paint the outside.

The JTS and I set the house up and I applied the blue paint. As shown in an earlier photo, I primed the inside of the house before applying the blue paint. I decided the coat of primer was overkill since the blue paint contained primer. I did not prime the outside of the playhouse. 

The paint sprayer is such a time saver. I painted the outside with a couple of coats of paint in about 10 minutes. When the paint was dry, I applied the Minwax Polyacrylic sealer. Yes, you can use sealer in the paint sprayer.

You may have noticed that I painted the house with the shutters attached. We couldn’t get the shutters off when we took the house down. I was afraid to pull on them too hard, thinking they might break. After we got the house back up, I did a Google search and found a forum (somewhere, can’t remember where) that said to pull up on the bottom of the shutter while pushing down on the base of the house.

Our son was visiting, and after reading how to remove the shutters, I was determined to get them off. I didn’t like the shutters being the same color as the house, and they were too difficult to brush paint with them attached.

Between the three of us, we got them off. Yay! I sprayed the shutters with Simple Green and scrubbed and scrubbed till I got the blue paint off. They were the perfect color to start with. That was a lot of work that could have been avoided. Remove the shutters before painting….you’re welcome. They snap right back on.

I found a pretty red spray paint in my stash and painted the doorknob and doorbell. I wrapped Frog Tape and a plastic bag around the telephone part and just painted the outside doorbell red.

See, isn’t that cute? The interior is so clean and fresh now.

Sofi is happy as can be and has forgotten all about the castle thing. Thank goodness.

I love this project. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back and having a piece of chocolate. As you can tell, Sofi is happy too. The colors are so much better than the original color scheme.

I placed a couple of my junk stash planters under the windows and Sofi waters the flowers when she’s here. The rest of the time, I get to do it.

We had a few concrete pavers left over from another project so that is the floor of the playhouse. The playhouse has been painted and up for a month, and the paint hasn’t peeled, chipped, or bubbled. I’m happy. Where the shutters swing out at the top…they rub the house, and the paint did peel in a small area on each of the windows frames.

I can live with that. It’s really not very noticeable. The telephone and doorbell still work, but the cooktop was trashed. I called Little Tikes customer service, and they no longer make the replacement cooktop. I’ve searched eBay and Amazon without any luck. If anyone can help with this, please email me. I’ve found stickers that might work, but I still hope to find a cooktop just like the original.

It was cheaper to paint the house than buy a new one. When researching for the makeover, I noticed that moms and dads paint all sorts of Little Tikes products. Who knew? We have a small Little Tykes slide I bought at a yard sale that might be my next project.

Are you ready to tackle a Little Tikes Playhouse extreme paint makeover? I have a few tips and tricks to help you tackle the project. I learn through doing so that the job will be much easier next time.

As always thanks for being here, Kathy

Kathy Owen

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Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines. Kathy’s newest website is HappyHomeDIY.com