I had never built anything like this before, but I have plenty of fond memories of our own playhouse that my dad built for us back in the early 1980s. It had a pitched roof with real asphalt shingles, cute little windows, a front porch and white vinyl siding. My two older sisters and I spent hours out there.

I’m not as skilled as my dad when it comes to carpentry or con­struction, so my design was notably simpler – an eight-foot square wooden floor made of pressure treated 2×4s and 3/4″ plywood sit­ting on top of 10 (mostly level) patio stones, with a 6′ × 8′ structure on top of it made with 3/8″ plywood walls, and a lean-to style tin roof.

I was ready to work by late May and wanted to have it done before summer vacation started. But then it rained. And it rained. And it rained some more.

The wet weather and my own busy work schedule pushed my start date back a few weeks, but when the skies (and my calendar) finally cleared, I got to work.

Using the rudimentary carpentry skills I had cobbled together from building fences on the family farm (and a very brief sum­mer job I had with a local contractor when I was 14), I quickly laid down the floor and got to work on assembling the walls. I only have a small 18-gauge brad nailer in my workshop so I needed to screw every stud into place, which took forever.

Then it was time to attach the roof, which for me was the most technically challenging part of the entire build. I watched about six different YouTube tutorials on how to build a shed roof and decided the birds-mouth method looked like the best (and easiest).

I was also surprised to learn none of my local hardware stores had any tin roof sheets in stock and I’d have to wait another two weeks for them to arrive. But my dad came to the rescue by deliver­ing the four sheets I needed.

Honestly, I was a bit nervous about how sturdy the building was, but those worries were quickly put to rest once I climbed onto the roof to attach the tin and it barely shook.

No doubt an experienced builder could have gotten to this stage of the build in a matter of a day or two, but for me time was run­ning out before my self-imposed summer deadline. I installed four reclaimed windows in just a few hours (and I only broke one pane of glass!) and I stained the building green and brown to blend in with the surrounding trees.

Finally, by early July, just a few days past my deadline, I surprised our girls by telling them the “tool shed” I’d been working on over the past few weeks was actually their own private playhouse. They were thrilled, and hurriedly set about decorating the interior and hanging up fairy lights.

Then Olivia, the oldest, turned to me and said, “But it still needs a door, Daddy.”

Oh, right. That’ll be a project for later this fall.