Swing Set Makeover

I know you’ve seen them.  You pass by that one on your street every day.  You may even have one of your very own in the back yard.  They are lonely, sad, faded, falling apart, and even a little creepy.

I’m referring to: deserted swing sets.

Parents spend fortunes on them, or even make one from scratch, and children love them for years, but eventually…they are left there to rot after the kids have grown.  It’s all rather sad, actually.

Well, don’t get those tissues out just yet.  This is a happy swing set story.  I think you’ll enjoy it.

Welcome to our Swing Set Makeover!

Here’s our swing set a couple years ago…

Okay, I guess it’s not THAT BAD, I’ve seen worse.  Still though…it needed help or it would begin to rot.  Wood rots from the outdoor elements like trees droppings and weather.  Our Michigan harsh Winters really do a number on everything outdoors including our deck.  You can view my recent deck makeover here: Deck Makeover

Here’s the swing set NOW.

I think I just heard crickets singing?

Check out the curtains & butterflies we added…

You may be wondering, why go through all of this trouble when the kiddos are almost ready to fly the nest?

Well, first of all, this was fairly easy to do (tutorial found below).  In addition, we have plenty of years left.  Our girls use the swing as a hang out, even as teens.  If we can get 4-5 more years out of it, that make this totally worth it.  My oldest daughter wants to take the swing with us when we move.  I will have to look into that 😉

This photo shows the stain close up, and some of the decorating.

It looks like a new swing set now!

We were going to keep the old swings and horizontal bar to swing on, but then I ran into these new swings at Home Depot, and thought it would be a great idea to not only update them, but put 3 swings since they never used the middle bar.

What a difference.

Those sandy patches on the grass under the swings speak for themselves.  This baby is popular!

My husband did most of the staining while I did the swing switching, and decorating.  I did end up getting on a ladder and painted the roof and shutters.

The entire process took 1 afternoon and we loved being out there on a nice day.

Now, what to do with the old swings?

See full tutorial below after you check out these cool cats.

All we need is a couple friends to stop over, and a pizza person to pull up.

I wanted to add that this really made our kiddos feel good.

How to transform your swing set:

1. Brush off any bugs, cobwebs, dirt, and paint that is chipping.

2. Paint on solid stain that somewhat matches the previous color.  We used 1 gallon of Thompson’s WaterSeal Waterproofing Stain in Acorn Brown.  (I receive free stain from Thompson’s WaterSeal to review for this post).  We put on 2 coats.

3. If you have areas that need a special color use an exterior paint.  We used an exterior paint with primer in it for the green parts.

4. Purchase fresh swings and switch them out making sure they attached securely.

5.  We didn’t need a new slide, but I know they sell them.

6. Decorate!  I tacked fabric from Good Will on the inside of the windows to make it look like curtains.  I also added dollar store tin butterflies with nails in various locations on the swing set.

7.  Don’t forget an American flag on the top and flowers in the window boxes if your swing has them.