Looking for advice for restoring a cubby house

emax

Hi all!

I have only a little reno experience (did my nursery flooring) so have some 'can do' but not so much 'know how' 🤣

We have a very old cubby house that my mum would prefer to keep. I'm wanting to make it safer and more appealing for my little one.

The outside boards provide you a 99% chance of getting splinters and the door has dropped a bit. We also have some broken boards and top arch missing.

The inside is less splintery but can definitely use some TLC. 

I know it'll need a sand down? And new paint. But I'm not sure what the best way to go or which products are the best to use. 

Any assistance would be great so I don't end up just aimlessly wandering Bunnings for the rest of my days!

EricL

Hello @emax,

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's wonderful to have you join us, and thank you for sharing your question about restoring a cubby house.

I suggest having a quick look at this discussion - Old cubby house renovation by @Jimi. Looking at the pictures, I would hazard a guess that you have the same type of cubby house. 

Sanding will be necessary and to expedite the process, I suggest investing in an Orbital Sander and a Detail Sander. The orbital will make short work of the flat spaces while the detail will let you get into the small nooks and corners of the cubby house. I suggest doing the inside of the cubby house as well.

I recommend removing the old flooring and replacing it with either EVA 50 x 50cm Interlock Foam Mats Solid Black Pk4 or Swing Slide Climb 1 x 1m x 20mm Shock Pad Rubber Paver. 

To prime the cubby house, I suggest using Dulux 4L PRECISION Stain & Mould Blocker and to top it off, I recommend using Dulux Weathershield in a colour of your choice.

Any of the old, damaged cedar covering must be replaced with similar timber. The replacement trim at the top can simply be copied from the one that is still there to restore its look. 

Let me call on our experienced members @LePallet and @Yorky88 for their recommendations.

If you have any other question we can help with, please let us know.

Eric