House rules

It’s fun to create a groovy toy house from an old cardboard box and Resene testpots.

House rules - instruction sheet

Resene kids art with Mark Rayner - Project 26

Difficulty level: Challenging

You will need: Artists’ brushes (including a flat bristled brush), Cardboard box, Corrugated cardboard, Duct tape, Paintbrushes, Pencil, Resene test pots in the following colours: Resene Alabaster, Resene Bilbao, Resene Black, Resene Black Forest, Resene Longitude, Resene Old Brick, Resene Parsley, Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat, Ruler, Scissors

Top tip: Use Resene testpots, Resene Magnetic Magic and Resene Blackboard Paint to decorate and create a cool feature inside of your toy house as well.

Here's another idea: Make some furniture from small boxes and create a family of pipe cleaner people to live in your new toy house.

House rules

Another idea: furniture and people

Step one
Using the pencil and ruler draw the front of the house on a piece of corrugated cardboard, making sure it fits the front of the cardboard box. Use the scissors to cut this out, and then cut a second piece of corrugated cardboard to fit across the middle of the box (this will be the floor).

Step two
Using duct tape, fix the floor into position (about halfway down the box) and tape down one side of the house front to form a ‘hinge’, as shown. Fix the duct tape along the other joins and edges of the box for strength.

Step three
Apply one coat of Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat to the inside and outside of the house. Let this dry for one hour and apply two coats of Resene Longitude to the outside of the house, allowing two hours drying time for each coat.

Step four
Paint the door with Resene Parsley and the centre of each window with Resene Black. Once these are dry, paint the curtains and door panels with Resene Bilbao.

Step five
Using a flat bristled artists’ brush paint in the bricks with Resene Old Brick and paint the roof with two coats of Resene Black Forest. Allow to dry.