A CAPALABA man has gone all out for his grandchildren, building a Hamptons inspired mini mansion fit for royalty in his backyard.
Denzil Brunner spent about $15,000 on the project and built almost every inch of the house with his bare hands over the course of a year.
You would not know it to look at his handy work, but Mr Brunner said his professional background was in accounting, not carpentry.
His grandchildren, three-year-old cousins Penny Brunner and Vienna Wenck, now have a play place every child dreams of ready for the winter school holidays.
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Mr Brunner said he only had a photo to go off while building the cubby house, making his most difficult jobs working out the correct dimensions and keeping the roof watertight.
He put the finishing touches on his masterpiece over about a six week period during coronavirus lockdown, having previously worked on it intermittently.
"I didn't have the dimensions, all I had was a photo," Mr Brunner said.
"We wanted it big enough so we could get in but small enough for the children.
"I had to learn a few things. My background is not building it is accounting.
"I enjoy the hands-on stuff and to be honest I have done a fair bit. I used to work for a boat builder."
Mr Brunner said he had built the mini mansion from the ground up, starting with the base, then moving onto the frames and sheeting.
"When deciding on scale, I got the kids to stand out there while I was doing the verandah and even the windows," he said.
"Every one of those decisions took quite a bit of thought."
The mini mansion features a chimney, mock fire place, television, loft and wooden verandah.
It has been built on a steel frame, allowing it to be picked-up by a crane and transported if required.
Mr Brunner said his granddaughters loved the mini mansion and he hoped they would continue to use it up until they reached their teen years.
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