Armed with a rudimentary grasp on how to measure twice, cut once and a husband with access to a large shop, the sandbox went from idea to reality.
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| Hi Lowe's! Hi intimidating wood pile! |
We bought four planks of 6" x 8' x 2" wood, two large sheets of plywood, screws and four planks of 4" x 8' x 1" wood and set to work. We didn't have a good saw to cut wood, but my husband, who builds custom chassis for fun, has lots of metal-working tools. So we used those on the wood. Which made the shop smell like burning wood, which, had it not been summer, might have been nice.
I wanted the box to be large enough for our kids to grow into and also allow room for their friends to play with them. So, 6' x 8'. I also wanted to have an umbrella in the corner so they could have some shade and a small table for snacks, drinks, etc.
This is what came of that:
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| Not bad! |
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| So big we had to use a forklift to put it on the car! |
I took pictures of the sandbox after I painted it, but my phone deleted them. The blue is the color on my front door, and the green is a wonderful shade that reminds me of spring grass. Really, really bright spring grass.
It took us a while to get sand, but we just finished it all this week. The kids LOVE it.
Total project cost about $100 -- $80 for wood and supplies (we didn't end up needing the plywood. We used a $6 tarp on the bottom to hold the sand in so it didn't leak out and another tarp to cover the top so cats don't use it as a litter box) and $20 for the sand. We bought one ton of mason's sand at Dolese and it's been great. There are a few rocks, but it's mostly fine. My son thinks finding the rocks is treasure hunting, so win!
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| Umbrella: $7 at Big Lots. It's a shade-providing savior. Love! |
