How to Make a Riff on a Hobbit Hole

Somewhere half way through the summer I got it in my head that it would be lovely to have a little hobbit hole in our yard- but when I looked up hobbit holes they were (and rightly so if you ask me since they are gorgeous) thousands of dollars. So instead we made a hobbit hole of our own that we hope will overgrow with the ivy we planted. The little house has evolved quite a bit since we made it a month ago- but basically its 5 pallets- which they'll just give away in many stores (just go to a grocery store rather than a hardware store since you don't want a pallet that was transporting pesticides or some such thing). We got rubber paver stones (they were under 10 dollars) for the "floor." They are great since they immediately dry off and keep the wood on the floor from getting too wet and also they have natural notches in them so they can be broken of in 1/3 making them a perfect tight fit for an average width pallet. We got some outdoors pillows- which have since gotten wet dozens of times and are in a great shape, we planted ivy on one side and tried re-planting a cucumber on the other (that didn't work- we have to plant another ivy on the other side). We made a lip all around the top/roof pallet with some leftover wood, filled it up with soil and placed some sod on top (3 bucks for the sod). The kids have since decided that this should be a shop, so we busted several slats on the back pallet and made a little counter so they can sell us stuff and we can pay in acorns. We even cut up some thiner branches that have fallen during the violent storms of this summer to make little "coins." Last time Siena had a playdate here, the girls kept me busy with drilling and sanding, since they made some swinging signs for the front and they "painted" the interior with chalk (awesome repeatable project). The hole is right next to our garden so the kids can go get a few cherry tomatoes or green beans or strawberries for a snack:) Anyway, it maybe took 4h to make and 2h to collect everything we needed over several days- and it was time and money well spent. Kids love it - nestled behind some tall cedars, they can hide and pretend all day long in their hobbit hole/ice cream shop.