Cubby House Renovation - Welcome To The Good Day Cafe
For Christmas this year we really wanted to gift the girls a cubby house - which feels like a gift for us as much as them...After searching for over a month and constantly missing out, we resigned ourselves to building one from scratch. We designed it, priced it up… but the next morning, I spotted one on Marketplace in our suburb! Finally, we got our hands on a cubby—talk about a Christmas miracle!
As soon as we had it an idea sparked to turn it into a cafe... so naturally I started scrolling for inspiration and before I knew it I had a 5 page PDF document and as my vision became clearer, Al just saw our "Christmas break" disappearing in front of him
We wanted it to blend into the garden, so we painted the exterior and roof black with a spray gun. Then I asked Al to cut out a servery window... but that also turned into him Building a deck… and then a bridge…
To finish off the outside, Al replaced the front rails with offcuts of the timber cladding from our house.
I never thought I would be someone who paints over timber white... but here we are... and I’m going to be honest, my inner dialogue was screaming, you are stripping the charm out of this cubby. But once i started there was no turning back. I applied two coats of Prep-Plus then using a thick fence paintbrush, I slapped on the final coat.
Next, Al added shelves and a table made from formply he had salvaged from a job site many moons ago.
Then, it was onto the floors. I ambitiously decided on a red and white checkerboard pattern, which meant hours of taping and painting. It took so much longer than i could have anticipated, but I was deep into an audiobook at the time. One chapter talked about finding tasks that get you into a flow state, and honestly, I was there—methodically taping squares felt strangely meditative. When it came to painting, I embraced the mantra 'done is better than perfect,' so don't look too closely at the lines!
At this point, I honestly felt like we were actually opening a café—and the Christmas deadline was creeping closer and closer. Al calls me "Last Minute Imo," It’s probably not a great trait but I feel like i do my best work with an unrealistic deadline.
I created a cut list for Al to craft 'produce' for the café out of scrap timber, which I then painted. I got carried away desiging signage and packaging. By this stage, Al had figured out that every time I caught his eye, I’d have another project for him—including building a miniature coffee machine.
This was the kind of project where you could just keep adding, and honestly, I still have a list of things I’d love to do. But it was Christmas Eve, and The Good Day Café had to open in the morning.
As you can see, opening day was a huge success. Working on this project with Al, we realised that our love language is definitely acts of service. By giving our time to create something special for the girls, not only are we showing them our love, but also filling our own creative cups.
G’day! We’re Al + Imo
We’re a husband and wife duo, building our dream life one DIY project at a time.
We firmly believe what you learn should be shared which is why we created our Journal. A place where you can learn new skills and be inspired by other creatives.
