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Got our daughter a cubby house for her 1st birthday. We got something really big (2.4mx1.8m + 0.8m Verandah) because we don't have a separate play area / den in our house, so we actually want it to be something she (and other future kids) will use, even well into their teens ... having beanbag movie night in there or whatever.
While Bunnings has an amazing range of regular sized Cubby Houses, their largest was only 1.8m x 1.6m, so we went with https://www.cubbycentral.com.au/ who deal in large and custom cubbies. (Side plug: Their service support was amazing. They don't normally do the rounded windows, but they agreed to do them for us).
Here is a before shot of our cubby after it was installed in our garden:
(I had already added painters tape in this photo to begin painting)
What did I do:
- Painted the weather exterior of the cubby. We chose Dulux Weathershield for the white, Cabots Merbau colour stain for the brown and Dulux weather shield for the pink windows / doors. We initially used Cabots exterior paint for the yellow door and sides, but were very unhappy with how thin and streaky the paint was, and also the colour choice of yellow wasn't great.
- Attached Sicilation paper internally to prevent as much moisture from getting in as possible, though unfortunately, cause it was prebuilt, it is not attached between the studs and weatherboard.
- Plasterboarded the sides and roof to add some slight insulation (with the sicilation paper) and also just make it look much prettier. (The two centre roof beams you can see in the above photo, I added myself to support the plaster).
- Installed moulding around the edges of all the windows and door so that minimal air and dust and rain gets through (unfortunately, in a cubby, these aren't sealed as nicely as real ones in a house).
- Installed Laminate flooring for a much prettier floor.
- Painted internally using Dulux wall paint and Dulux Ceiling paint with anti-bacteria (All left over from my reno)
- Added a wallpaper from the range at Bunnings. Bought the pre-mix wallpaper paste ... soooo much easier than mixing it myself like I did last time.
Still to do:
- Seal the gaps between the two cafe window doors and two halfs of the front door using the Moroday door seal, just to stop water and dust blowing in through the gaps. https://www.bunnings.com.au/moroday-black-mds3-compact-door-seal_p0127879
- Oil the serving bench out the cafe windows with a Hardwax oil (waiting for the weather to clear up so I can do it outside).
Here's a bunch of progress photos
Installing Sicilation paper, and the central wood beams in the centre of the roof, and around the skylight to support plasterboard.
Plasterboarded up the entire cubby. Let's just say no one is going to hire me as a plasterer anytime soon, but my daughter will love it!
Pro-tip: I needed to cover the gaps between the ceiling and wall, but didn't want to use cornice, A) because I didn't want to have to deal with cornice cement and B) I wasn't sure how I was going to deal with the awkward non-90 degree angles on the sides, plus the small gap between the skylight and the wall. So instead I use 42x18mm moulding for most of it, and a square moulding under the skylight area. Worked a treat! And thanks (AGAIN! from my other posts) to the track saw, I was able to shave off the correct angle off the moulding to fully fill the gap on the left and right wall.
This was the horrible streaky yellow I was talking about. Ugly colour, plus didn't like the paint itself. Shouldn't have bought it and saved myself the money (The streakiness was after 2 coats).
Here's the after shots:
Hope this provides some Cubby Inspo 
Regards
Itai
You've done some amazing work there @Itai! I trust you are very proud of your efforts.
I actually saw your second last image first and was thinking about what a lovely room transformation you had done, then realised it was a cubby.
I can't say I've ever seen someone go to this amount of effort sprucing up a cubby. Your daughter is exceptionally lucky to have you as a parent.
Congratulations on a magnificent job.
Mitchell
