I guess I should start at the beginning, which in this case was well over a year ago.
A friend of Karl's bought her first home. Said home came with a play set in the backyard. Said friend is a single girl with no children. Said friend is also pretty awesome, and offered the play set to my husband for *free*, if he would remove it from her backyard.
Thus, my husband along with his father spend an entire day (they said they would be back in a couple of hours) removing this thing. When they finally arrived, the van was full of bits and pieces of wood, ranging in size from an eight foot 4X4 post to tiny bits and pieces (seriously, no more then 3" X 4" X .5" little rectangles). Already, I was skeptical. If I remember things correctly, it was also raining on this particular day, so all the various "components" were stashed throughout the backyard. J
ust until the weather improved.... A small pile near the compost bin... a bigger pile under the pine tree....
It. Was. Awesome.
Over the course of last fall/winter/spring some of the wood had begun to rot
, some of it may have been used for other projects. No one remembered what the assembled play set actually looked like (as you may have noticed, we are pretty awful at taking "before" pictures), and I may have begun to
nagg. suggest that we just take it all to the dump.
In March, some progress finally was made. A platform was erected, the slide was leaned against one side, the ladder against another. (Yup, leaned. As in not at all fastened. Just throwing that out there, in case you ever want to send your kids over to our place for a play date.) Oh, and wasn't it pretty?
THEN....
On Sunday morning we set off for the Home Depot, and returned with a couple of sheets of plywood and a quart (and a small sample container) of paint.
With no real plans to speak of (also a re-occurring theme), we got to work ...
We measured... and cut.... and painted....
....and then measured ...and cut and .... painted some more....
By Monday night we pretty much had a castle!
Today I came home for my lunch break and ate junk while painting more bricks. The abuse of my digestive system is totally worth it!
It still needs some finishing touches, but I could not wait to share it with you...
So yes, something *free*, a whole lot of patience, a little elbow grease (and about $75.00 worth of Home Depot goodies) later - w
e got ourselves a castle of our own!
You should come test it out :).
And yes, the slide is now bolted down, the ladder is attached.....
xo,
M
