Outdoor Playset Reveal

I’m revealing the playset today! It’s actually been finished for a couple months, I’ve just had a hard time sharing it because there’s a lot of emotions related to the playset for me. So I kind of needed to sit on it for while, if that makes sense.

A Special Gift

The playset was actually a generous and special gift to the boys from my mom and stepdad. My parents, but mostly my stepdad, always wanted to get the boys a playset. Before my stepdad passed away on May 6th, he was able to see the area we created for the playset, but he wasn’t able to see the completed playset. I was in the middle of making over the playset, in pieces in our garage, when he died, and then I spent many of my nights after his death in the garage finishing it up. I’m sure would’ve loved the finished playset and watching the boys play on it. It just breaks my heart that he wasn’t able to see it. The boys know it was a very special gift from Grandpa Ken and Grandma Bonnie. Owen and I often talk about Grandpa Ken when Owen is swinging on the playset. So the playset is one of many ways we’re keeping Ken’s memory alive.

Prepping the Area

You may recall from Instagram Stories that we had our lawncare guy help us level off this part of yard because it slopes. Once that was done, Brad installed landscaping timbers all around. And then Brad and I moved around 15,000 pounds of pea gravel from the driveway into the playset area. I’ll share all about creating that area in another blog post.

Outdoor Playset Reveal

As a reminder, this is what the playset, the Charleston Lodge by KidKraft, looked like when it arrived in multiple boxes. It’s made of cedar so it was a bright orange-brown color. The windows were green, the gables were yellow, and the door was stained dark brown.

And here’s how it looks now!

I wanted the playset to blend with our house, so I used leftover gray solid stain from my deck staining project from last year for the majority of the playset. I spray painted the windows and gables white to match the trim on our house. The playset came with a lot of interior brackets that I had to spray paint gray. I wasn’t a huge fan of the flags and clock, so I left those off of it.

I’ll write another post detailing the staining and spray painting process.

The roof is the same color as the stain on our deck flooring, but in a solid stain. I’m not going to lie– I don’t love it. I wanted to do a darker gray on the roof, but I thought that might heat up too much in the sun. It’s fine though, I’ll just stain it a darker gray in a few years when it will need to be re-stained. I also don’t love how I stained the brackets to match the roof. To be honest, I didn’t know where they went on the playset. Brad just handed the pieces to me and said these are part of the roof, so I stained them accordingly. I’ll solid stain them white to match the brackets on our house when this stain starts to wear off.

I solid stained the door navy blue to help offset the green and yellow accents.

We added this cute doorbell. It doesn’t work so my children are forced to say “ding dong” when they push it.

The downstairs part of the playhouse features a kitchen area with a cooktop and sink. I didn’t solid stain the countertops because I knew they’d see a lot of wear and tear, so I sealed them. I did the same with the floor upstairs. You can see the true color of the playset and how the entire thing would’ve been that color. It’s… vibrant.

The playset also came with a bench that’s inside the playhouse. The boys like to eat their snacks and lunches while sitting on the bench at the counter. It’s pretty adorable.

The backside of the playset features a mini rock climbing wall to get upstairs. We added the grip bars.

Owen insisted that we keep the landscaping timber scraps for him to build with. My father-in-law and Owen built the fence for the “backyard”.

You can also see in the photo below how the playset matches our siding.

The playset came with two standard swings and the glider swing (the flames make it go faster). We bought the toddler swing separately. Emmett swings on all three.

Here’s how it looks from our deck. I’m planning to landscape along the side of timbers closest to the lake. And I’d like to add some sort of trees, bushes, or ornamental grass between the playset and our fence to give us and our neighbors some more privacy. So drop your suggestion for tall but not thick tree/bush/grass in the comments.

Patreon

In other exciting news, I’ve decided to create a Patreon. With the decline of Amazon affiliate commissions, decreases in ad revenue, and the encouragement from some supportive readers, I’ve opted to dive into the Patreon space. This way I don’t have to start shoving affiliate links and other swipe ups down your throat 24/7 on Instagram Stories.

Since I’m getting started on Patreon, I’m taking baby steps with one tier. I may share sneak peeks, exclusive content, and other goodies in the future. My long-term vision is for it to be like our own secret society of sorts. But for now, this is an opportunity to support my work directly. I’d greatly appreciate it!

And to thank you, for those interested, I’m offering hens (succulents) for purchase to my Patrons. Plus, I’ll share a hens and chicks care document on Patreon. And I’ll create a thread where people can ask any questions that aren’t covered in the document. Remember, once you get the hens they should keep multiplying so you only have to buy them once.

While I’d love to give away tons of hens, I have a limited quantity so it’s going to be first come, first serve. And I’d also love to give them away for free, but it would cost me a small fortune to ship that many boxes.

But you don’t have to be interested in the hens to become a Patron. Thanks so much for all your support! I truly appreciate it.

Click here to head over to my Patreon page!