Many beautiful colors on the Hideaway Fort

We love the colors on this Hideaway Fort so much that we had to share the staining process with you. Here's Rudi, our master stainer, mixing the colors and then applying the stain to the modular pieces as they come over from the building bay:

It all starts with the client selecting the colors that they like. Using color pencils, Barbara distributes their colors on a sketch she has drawn of their structure. She may present 2 to 3 different color schemes. The client chooses the one that is perfect!


Once the color palette is set, Rudi mixes the colors, then starts staining:
























































Staining ends with parts on the drying racks and large pieces baking in the sun!

Boy Scouts make garden signs from donated redwood

When Mitch Sr. asked Barbara if she had any redwood scrapes to donate to his son's Boy Scout Troop, the answer was YES!





The troop was working on a community garden service project (for badges) at Stanton Elementary in Castro Valley, making 10 informative signs.

The teacher who runs the garden had a vision to turn a weedy hillside into an outdoor classroom, putting bricks in to honor all those who donated.
We received an excellent thank you note from Mitch Jr:

Hello Ms.Butler: my name is Mitch and I am a Boy Scout in Troop 726. I recently finished my Life Project in my road to Eagle. My project was to build 10 similar signs out of wood for the Stanton Elementary Garden. I could not have done this project without your generous donation of redwood supply for creating my signs. I believe that the Stanton Elementary Community will be very pleased with the signs I have made with your wood. In conclusion, THANK YOU for your wood for my project.Sincerely, Mitch, 14, Scout Troop 726

Re-staining the playhouse

11 years ago, Barbara made a beautiful Garden Playhouse for her niece, Melissa, and her adorable daughter, Lindsea, then only 2 years old.

Lindsea and her parents lived north of Seattle in a cute little town where it rained a lot! Over the years, the playhouse got a lot of use with play dates, birthday parties and just fun alone time in the back yard making cakes & mud pies, reading stories and playing princess.

Slowly the colors faded but no one really noticed. It was still their much-loved playhouse.

Then one day this summer, Barbara got a call - "send me some stains. Lindsea and I want to do a mother-daughter project this summer. We've decided to re-stain her playhouse!"

We gathered up the stain colors and shipped them to Melissa. Along with the stains, we sent clear tung-oil to apply as the final coat, plus brushes, sponges, plastic gloves, gojo wipes and detailed maintenance instructions.

It didn't take long! 1st sunny weekend day Lindsea (now just turned 13 years old) and her mom hit the backyard to re-do their playhouse.

First the walls in Castle Purple,
then the trims and shutters and carvings.


Followed by the roof and, voilà, the playhouse was beautiful again!








Lindsea, Jack (her Russell Terrior) and Melissa love the results.

And, they had a blast re-doing the playhouse, even changing some of the colors along the way.

Job well done!