Heidi and I have been wanting a playset for the boys for more than a year.  The trouble was, that everytime I looked at the options and catalogues, I balked at the absolutely ridiculous prices and procrastinated.

The solution?  Design and build your own.

Things started well.  I headed to Home Depot with a plan in my head.  Did you know that you can fit anything up to a 4×8 sheet of plywood into a Honda Odyssey (I didn’t actually use plywood on this project – that was another time), as well as any lumber up to 10 feet in length?  Who needs a truck.  I was rolling …

Then things began to slide downhill.  You see, my plans changed.  They didn’t just change once, they changed a half a dozen times – usually in the middle of the night.  That’s the trouble with plans in the head.  I’m pretty sure I tore the entire thing down to nothing and re-built from the ground up twice, plus I did a 50% re-build at least twice more.  I have this thing with over-engineering.  The good news is that I didn’t use any additional lumber and I was thankful that I started from the beginning with screws.  There are no nails in the entire thing.  The three halfpipes in our backyard taught me that.  Well guess what?  I should now be able to sleep through the night tonight.  Who needs someone else to provide the plans and some hardware?

The best part of all?  It cost less than one third what I would have paid at the store.  Smile.  🙂