PLAYTIME COTTAGE PART | 7 OUNGSTERS never tire of a playhouse, especially when it is equipped with elec- tric lights and furnished with tables and chairs, bunks for overnight sleeping and even a puppet stage. And because this little house, with its front porch and picture window, looks like a real grown-up house, they'll love it even more. The mate- rials for the basic house cost about $75. Additional costs for finishing the interior depend on how much you do. Start the actual construction by fram- ing the floor, using 2 x 4s for joists. The floor is supported on concrete-block piers laid on the ground. Leave the porch un- floored until later, but lay the floor of the house proper, using 1 x 6 tongue-and- groove lumber, Build each wall framework separately and then tip the sections into place. Brace each section temporarily until all four walls are erected and nailed together at the corners. Next, cut the roof rafters and nail them to the top wall plates. The porch- roof framing is supported by three 2 x 4 columns which are notched at the top to lap a 2 x 4 horizontal member to which the porch-roof rafters are nailed. The porch flooring can be laid now, notching it around the supporting columns. Windows are standard utility sash set into frames made of 1-in. pine. Buy the sash first, then build the frames around them. Fit the sill members at a slant to drain water, The door opening is framed in the same manner as the windows. All windows are hinged at the top to swing outward. The roof sheathing is applied next. Nail either 1 x 6 or 1 x 8 boards to the20" X 60” BUNK RIDGE, 2.x 4 19 FT tons 34” QUARTER: ROUND TRIM, | I [JOISTS 30” ON cenrers | i 11x 12" x 60" DROP LEAF 1X3 QUTER TRIM ZHANG DOOR WITH FOUR HINGES, THEN REMOVE AND SAW IN HALF TO. |} FORM DUTCH-TYPE DOOR HARDWARE LOCATION |} | INSULATINC ‘SIDING TR,” I [hero"-o4 | i 1 2X 4 Si i =o TT Ul NAL SLUFRONT ELEVATIONSZ 9Es 210- Ss ae Z| — Xe a => Z HTroof rafters and trim them off flush with the gable ends. Shingle the roof with regular 210- 1b. asphalt shingles ap- plied over a base of 30- Ib. roofing felt. The joints of the felt should be lapped about 6 in. A Dutch door will add endless fun possi- bilities. The pull-apart drawing on page 178 shows how this door is made. Construction is completed by applying a insulating siding to the a ad - exterior after which 1 x 3 trim is added around the windows and the door and along the gable ends of the house. The diagram be- low shows how the house is wired for two lights, a switch and a duplex receptacle. The latter is convenient for plugging in a lamp to light the puppet stage or operating an electric heater on chilly days. The two light fixtures are made from ¥4-in plywood disks, 16 in. in ia., as shown in the detail. Painted white, these disks act as rv: flectors, and are held in place by a standard receptacle. Two indi- rect lamps will pro- vide ample light. (To be continued) Using insulating siding saves both money and installation time because it forms the outer weather-resistant surface and the exterior wall at one time 16" DIA. DISK Yar" PLYWOOD, PAINT UNDERSIDE WHITE B WiRiNG DIAGRAMYou've been shown how the cottage. is built, now to furnish it. Details show how: to make a chair, table, bunk bed, even a stage for a marionette or puppet show | ALL THE FURNISHINGS for the play- +4 time cottage are easy to make, Where two or more chairs are to be made, time can be saved by sawing several sets of duplicate parts, such as the legs, at one time. The drawing at the top of the next page gives the sizes of the seven parts that comprise each chair. Plywood, % and 36 in. thick, is recommended, the . thickness being used for the legs. The details show how the latter can be laid out economically by nesting the leg patterns on the plywood The chair back is held in place with four screws Kiddie-size bunks will increase the vability” of the cottage. These are de- led in the drawing at the bottom of page 171 and are designed to swing upward and flat against the wall where they are hooked out of the way. The frame of each bunk is made of 2 x 2s, half-lapped and bolted at the corners and then rounded. Common furniture webbing is used to cover the frames. The individual strips are interlaced and stretched tautly across the frame and brought around and tacked to the inside. Each bunk is hinged to the wall, one above the other, with two 5-in. T-hinges, and suspended with two lengths of porch- swing chain attached to serew eyes in both the bunk and wall. Blocks of 2 x 4, installed PLAYTIME COTTAGE Part ifBACK LEG, 54” PLYWOOD. FRONT LEG, 4%” PLYWOOD QTR. RIND. FRONT BACKDROP ROD, %4"" ALUM, -—_—_—* DRAW-DRAPE “ee NOTH «&———-29%" ———>| 34” HOLES, 3” DEEP. FOR BACKDROP ROD REAR BACKDROP ROD 36" ALUMINUM ROD, 72” LONG. Vax 1K" HINGES FOR zx GATE LEG id 15" ROD FITS IN HEM on FRONT BACKDROP GATE LEG 2 REQD. ii 34" FIR PLYWOOD. REAR BACKOROPbetween the rear-wall studs and behind the hardboard interior lining, provide solid support for the wall screw eye: ‘The table, which is fitted across the front window, is a 5-ft. length of 1 x 12 hinged to fold down and is supported by two swing- ing brackets, or gate legs. Resembling a shelf, the table serves as a double-duty stage for producing Punch-and-Judy shows which are viewed through the window from the porch, With the table swung up, the rear backdrop in its low position and the front backdrop in its high position, you have a marionette stage which is used in the manner shown in the illustration at the right. By dropping the table and reversing the position of the front and rear backdrops, you have a stage for hand puppets as pic- tured on the opening page. Here, in actual use, the rear backdrop would’ be fully closed. A regular traverse rod is used for the stage curtains. A straight length of 3%-in. aluminum rod supports the front backdrop and rests in two stancard casing brackets, a pair of brackets being located at the two positions indicated. The rod for the rear backdrop is bent to the shape shown and is supported by inserting it in holes drilled in the wall studs alongside the window. Two sets of holes are provided for this rod. The backdrops can be made from most any cloth material. These are cut to the sizes given and hemmed to slij over the aluminum curtain rods. * * Backdrops are interchangeable to convert “stage” from hond-puppet use to marionette presentations Double-deck bunks, laced with strips of furniture webbing, are hinged to fold out of way against wall iThese reproduction plans were digitally restored and enlarged by SHOP-TECH. You will find them superior to the originals and fine details can be viewed and printed out much clearer than the originals. If you purchased these plans from any other seller than SHOP-TECH, they have been copied and resold. THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PURCHASE SHOP-TECH