The Oil Cloth Clubhouse

The what what? Yes, the oil cloth clubhouse. I had a bolt of unused oil cloth, Niko had a playground, and Niko's mom had a staple gun.

After telling her I would make this thing for going on two months, I returned from a weekend away to find she had gone at it herself. How cute is this?

Check out the details and I'll tell you how she did it after the jump. What do you think, might you do something like this?


So the oilcloth clubhouse is the simplest thing ever. If you have a playground with a slide like this, you probably have unused space under the slide. We simply measured (kinda) around the "walls" and cut pieces of oilcloth, then used a staple gun to attach the walls. I tried a bunch of methods, including grommets, eye hooks, etc. but the staple gun was the best, as well as the easiest.


On the front Niko's mom created a "window" by doing a strip across the top, and one across the bottom.


On one side we created a "door" by hanging three panels of oil cloth just from the top, so the girl's could sweep them aside to enter and exit.

(Little bro wants in on the action, but the rule is "no boys allowed.")

My favorite little touch was how she added a bed of flowers and edging to the front!


Then we used some oil cloth scraps to make a "picnic blanket" and "placemats" for pretend parties.


Maybe it's slightly ghetto, but the girls LOVE it. What do you think, might you try something like this?