Simple Playhouse: Front Wall with Door

Frame the wall flat on the ground — plates, six studs, window box, door header — with 2" screws and glue, checking square by diagonals. Note the bottom plate breaks at the door opening; nobody trips over a threshold in a playhouse either.

Trace the window and door openings onto the plywood from the framed wall, and cut the DOOR opening carefully — that cutout is your door blank. Then glue and nail the skin to the framing with 1-1/4" brads.

Run the 1x3 top and bottom trim and 1x2 side, door, and window trim, keeping outside edges flush. Measure each piece against the wall you actually built rather than pre-cutting the list — furring-strip framing wanders a touch, and trim's whole job is covering that gracefully.

1-1/4" brads and glue throughout.

Cut the arch into the door's 1x4 header piece with the jigsaw, then pocket-screw the door frame together — sides, middle rail, bottom, arched header. Glue and nail the saved plywood cutout to the back of the frame with 1" brads (hand-nail if your gun won't go that short). Do not skip the glue; the skin is the door's rigidity.

Hang the door on its hinges with an even gap, and check it swings free through the whole arc — kids will test it roughly a thousand times the first week.

Sand every edge and corner to kid-grade smooth, then paint. This wall joins the deck, back wall, gable ends, and roof from the rest of the Simple Playhouse series — build order: deck, walls, roof.