The kids (especially my oldest) LOVE  LOVE swings. In all our previous homes they have had swings to play on but when we came here they didn’t. So, that quickly was put on the to do list of future projects. This last couple days the swings went up….

Happy swinging kids. (and my silly son who cant resist making faces at the camera)

We purchased some hardware and the big beams but the rest of the supplies were from stuff that we already had around.

The carpenter loves to connect wood with joints instead of just hardware. He has become really quite good at eyeballing it and then using his chisel to take out the wood needed. He cut out the joints for the beams, fit them together (with a generous amount of Liquid Nails for good measure) and braced the structure with scrap wood to temporarily stabilize it

The top beam was jointed and then the fun part… putting it up. This was quite entertained but we survived. There of course are no pictures of that process because I much more focused on making sure I didn’t injure myself or others. The other end is in the wall of the existing playhouse and secured.

The top joint. There is no way that thing is coming apart.

Next step was securing the footings with concrete and foot brackets. Then, The Carpenter worked on the swings. Two holes are drilled through the top beam and the rope looped through. We had this great rope left from a previous project and it was the perfect amount for the three swings.

The swing seats are made from some random paper stone we had around. We both figured it was a great material for outdoor wear. Paper stone is a crazy material. It cuts more like metal, it is very heavy but it looks like wood. The Carpenter’s original plan was to put little butt grooves in each seat but the paper stone dulled his Lancelot blade in one run and didn’t do much. Sheesh! Like I said, crazy material. So, no butt grooves but the edges are routed into a nice curve. They are secured with a knot through a hole.

Next, It was time to let the concrete cure for the night. (the boy was sad about this step)

This morning the kids were watching their morning cartoons when my hubby walked in and said “If you get dressed you can go try out the swings.” They jumped off and were outside in no time.

The kids love it. You can see that my girls are happy and my boy… well he is just a happy silly goober.  One seat has the rope hanging in the picture because it needed some adjustment. Then it was cut off. You can also see a blue pole on the left. The part extending out the back was also trimmed off.  I thought it would be fun for them to have a pole to twirl or hang from.

Man are they spoiled.

-The Frabjus Lady