Why Don't You Swing On By?

Good day friends! 

Before sitting down to write this post, I was actually having second thoughts. Is this topic interesting enough? Would anyone actually care? It's not a mind-blowing transformation with epic before and after shots like the thousand of other design and DIY blogs out there. Should I even write? 

In the world of Instagram, Reels, Snapchat, and TikTok, blog posts today feel like they have to be professional style magazine quality to stick out and seem "worth the read". Massive home makeovers that can't be anything short of an HGTV episode. So it's easy for small crafts and DIY's to seem unimportant, even if they were a lot of work and took a lot of time. 

But then I stopped. 

My husband just refinished, repainted, and rebuilt a BEAUTIFUL swingset for our children to enjoy and grow up with. THAT is currently the most exciting project in our life, THAT is extremely impressive to me, and THAT should be the only reason I need to open my computer and write a fun little blog post.

So let's get into how we took an almost decade-old battered swingset and turned it into this beauty!

When we first moved in, we noticed the giant swing set right away because it was only a few houses down from ours. After getting to know the neighbors and finding out their kids were high school age and older, Eric asked me one day, "Do you think if I brought it up, they would be willing to give us their swing set since the kids don't use it anymore?". He was only partially joking, but for real, what harm could come from asking? 

Time went by, and we kind of forgot about it. That and we had a baby, so our minds were a little occupied, but one day while on a walk we ran into those neighbors and got to talking. After a few minutes we somehow ended up on the topic of backyards, and without ANY prompting from us, they said, "Well do you want a swing set? We have one!". I kid you not. 

We laughed and told them how we've had our eye on it for months. So one weekend we invited our friends over, the guys deconstructed, walked the pieces across two lawns, and dropped it into its new home. 

I wish I took a picture of its original state, but although in decent condition, it definitely had seen some wear and tear. That's why Eric's first goal was to give it a proper bath and strip away some of the original finish with a power washer. 

Once the job was inspected and approved by our resident swing set professional *cough* Harrison *cough*. Eric used a power sander and wood stain and finish stripper to remove any remaining color.

Once the wood was back to its original state, it was time to paint! All Eric needed was three consecutive dry days for everything to cure. This doesn't sound like a lot to ask for, but Springtime in Ohio can be pretty damp. Lucky for us though, it can serve up some incredible rainbows too. 

When the skies finally cleared, it was time to paint. We didn't use actual paint, but a full coverage wood stain. Our color choices were Red Mahogany for the main structure, and black for the roof. I thought this would give the treehouse portion a bit of sophistication...and match the new black roof we had put on the house. To make the job go even faster, Eric moved everything out on the lawn and used a paint sprayer. It took just a couple coats and a few hours for the whole job to be complete. 

After MUCH anticipation, it was time for the grand reveal! I don't know what we thought Harrison would do, but he wasn't quite sure what to think at first. I think Mom and Dad were way more hyped up than he was. 

After we showed him around and guided him up the ladder, he quickly figured things out and was up at the crow's nest in no time. And only a few days later he mastered climbing up the slide, all three swings, and how to maneuver the monkey bars (with our help of course). 

We used to spend hours swinging outside at our old house, so it's wonderful to have a place for Harrison to play again in our own backyard. You could tell how much our neighbors family adored this swingset, and by refinishing the entire piece, we hope this old girl can provide our kids a place to climb, swing, and let their imaginations run wild for years to come. 

Check out all of our home improvements, by visiting the OUR NEST page.