Woman transforms $199 Kmart cubby house into ‘ultimate’ hack

One impressive hack featuring a $199 children’s cubby house is being touted as the “ultimate” Kmart hack by the department store.

An impressive bit of DIY on a children’s cubby house is being touted as the “ultimate” Kmart hack.

Sarah Wimberley’s children were growing out of the $199 cubby house from Kmart and she wanted to extend the use of it.

So, she built it up another storey and added a slide.

“Originally I though about making it wider but there was so much wasted space above it,” she told news.com.au.

“That’s when I had the crazy idea to go up. My husband wasn’t keen at first, it’s a pretty big statement to build a house inside your house.

Sarah Wimberley redesigned her children's cubby. Picture: Instagram/@house.vs.sarah

“But I won him over with the craziness of it in the end. After all if you can’t build crazy things for kids then when can you?”

The project cost her $800 in total, taking advantage of leftover paint and timber from previous projects, as well as opting for flooring that was on clearance.

Sarah said she worked in stages on the cubby house, first building two platforms that would form its main structure.

“These had to be strong and safe so we screwed them into the wall studs and added support legs at the front,” Sarah said.

“After that I added the cubby facade which I bulked out with a frame to attach it to the main platform. I laid laminate flooring on the top level and added a balustrade to prevent any kids from falling (jumping!) off.”

She picked up a power tool for the first time two years ago. Picture: Instagram/@house.vs.sarah

It took her six weekends to complete it. Picture: Instagram/@house.vs.sarah

She made the door and gates from scraps, adding that the hardest part of the build was knowing when to stop.

Sarah painted then wallpapered the cubby house before adding some style with some accents.

It took around six weekends to build, with Sarah just putting in the work when she had time.

The design was so impressive that even Kmart’s Instagram page shared some images of the early craft work.

“Could this be the ultimate #kmarthack with our Wooden Cubby House, $199?!

Social media users were impressed with the DIY project.

“Where was this when I was growing up,” one person asked on a social media user post of the cubby.

Others were inspired by the makeover.

“We could totally paint this pink and gold and glitter lol,” tagging a friend.

Another simply said: “This is amazing!!!”

Sarah was over the moon when she realised her work had been added to the Kmart Instagram page.

“One thing I love about Kmart shoppers is their ability to think outside the box and use products in different ways, so I was excited when Kmart shared the project with their audience,” she said.

“I was waiting for any negative comments to come through, but they never did. The overwhelming response has been incredibly kind and supportive.”

It was based off of a $199 cubby from Kmart. Picture: Kmart

Two years ago, Sarah picked up her first power tool and never looked back, saying that before that point she had been scared of them.

“I learnt in baby steps, one tool at a time by completing little projects around the house,” she said. “There’s a huge movement of women picking up power tools that I absolutely love.

“We’re transitioning from Homemakers to Home Makers. Learning to build things as we create the homes we love. It’s empowering, therapeutic and brings me so much joy.”

She said there are always DIY projects to work on, adding her list is always growing, but her next major projects are building a home office and doing a makeover of her daughter’s room into a “modern farmhouse” style.