Shed Chic
Written By Amy Maclin
print
single page
A handydad turns a retired milkshed into a nifty toddler hangout.
When Kurt and Jenna Susanke found a way to move to the former Illinois dairy farm where Kurt's grandparents had lived for more than 50 years, it seemed like good luck indeed. Their daughter, Jadyn, would grow up in the place where her dad had waged apple wars with his cousins. The less lucky part: The farmhouse needed a rafters-to-doorknobs renovation, which Kurt, who calls himself a "novice carpenter," aimed to take on himself.
He decided to start small — very small. His first project was to turn the farm's former milkshed into a playhouse, so Jadyn would have a construction-free place to retreat while he hammered away. Now the family's house is still filled with lumber, but the playhouse is outfitted for gracious living; Jadyn, 18 months, hosts tea parties there for her grandmother Sally.
Sally remembers when the blacktop road out front was just dust under her tractor and says that as a girl, she never served tea in the milkshed. "Play? We didn't know what playing was," she laughs. "We hauled milk out here!" Now the only thing that gets hauled in the shed is a bucket of stuffed animals.
