did i mention that we love freecycle??!!??
in the interest of full disclosure, the swingset did not come like this. in fact, when my brother-in-law showed up to help me load our newfound 'treasure' into the truck i'd rented to haul it away, i anticipated his eye rolls before he ever arrived. and i was not disappointed. the swing set was old and very rusty. the sliding board had broken away from the body of the swing set, and the steps weren't safely secured for toddler ascents. did i mention that the chains on the swings needed replacing? badly.
and yet, i could see potential. i knew in my gut that for under a hundred bucks (truck rental included), i could bring this baby back to life. and 2 days later, with the help of a wire brush, some industrial-strength rustoleum spray paint products, plastic-coated chain at a mere 47 cents a foot, and a hubby who encourages my half-baked projects, we have:
-a swing set saved from the landfill
-a 3 1/2 year old who is over the moon
and
-a piece of play equipment that we could never have afforded at retail
woohoo!
6 comments:
*sigh*
to have a husband who encourages half-baked ideas.
THAT is even better than the swingset!
you are so right! hey, if we lived closer, R could hang with S and try to rub off on him ;)
THAT is awesome and amazing! Nobody ever offers things like that on our Freecycle! Or, I guess, if they did, we wouldn't have a yard to put it in...
So were the seats/slide not in bad shape? I've found it difficult cleaning up old plastic hand-me-down toys. How'd you do it?
VERY impressive!!
yes, very impressive! ya'll rock!
in answer to your question, allison- all of the plastic components were in really decent shape. i didn't do anything to them. the metal frame and bolts/screws, on the other hand, were a MESS. robert had to use a bolt-cutter to remove all of the screws, b/c they were so rusty that they 'stripped' as soon as you tried to remove them with a screwdriver. and the frame of the swing set looked like it was from *our* childhood- both in its hideous color-scheme, and in the degree of rusty decay that it had undergone.
you're right- we are very fortunate at the caliber of many of the items that get offered on our freecycle group. i am constantly amazed and always very grateful!
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