Fit for a princess
Dad’s dilapidated old storeroom now provides the perfect setting for his little girl’s play activities.
An old shed with peeling white paint near the braai area in Johan and Gayle Nel’s front garden was a real eyesore. “I use it as a storeroom for planks and blocks for all my woodworking projects,” says Johan.
However, Gayle and her mom Marguerite Pullen had other ideas for this unsightly shed. They decided it would make the perfect playhouse for little Estella. Johan agreed on one condition: his timber could stay where it was. But they were free to give the exterior and surrounding yard a magical makeover where Estella could play to her heart’s content and they could keep a watchful eye on her.
Gayle chose a shade of blue-green for the exterior walls of the shed and a dusty pink for the door. Once the little house had been painted, the Nels recycled all sorts of bits and pieces (an old chair, a tyre and a wroughtiron table) to add the finishing touches.
“We’re thrilled with the end result,” says Johan. “Although Estella is still little, she loves playing here.” When the time comes to work on the interior, Johan says he’ll use some of his wood to build furniture such as a craft table and chairs and shelves for toys.
An added bonus is that the Nels’ front garden is now so much more appealing. “The tyre on the wall with the greenery in it, the pot plants on the wrought-iron shelf and the bunting have transformed this corner of the garden,” says Johan happily.