Monday, May 26, 2008

Cheaper than sunscreen

Last year I built a frame that attaches over the playscape, so that we could shade the swings and a good portion of the fall zone. The idea was a success. But the tarp I used had to be re-shaped several times, after it stretched while holding lots of rain water.

Back then I bought a second tarp. Then I lost the second one. So we whittled away on the original design. By trimming and stretching the tarp, we made it through the entire summer with a shaded playscape for about $20.

The Boss Lady found the second tarp out in the garage last month. And we are now fully shaded again.


We made a few changes to the design this year. All the trimming has been done in advance. The Boss Lady hemmed all of the cut edges to help with unraveling, which was the final demise of design 1.3

Over all, the shade is smaller this year, but this is about the shape we ended up with last year. I also added a few brass grommets to the center line of the tarp, to combat the collection of water.

Canopy 2.0 is now online and ready to use, so come on over and have a shady swing.

1 comment:

The Father of Five said...

Nice... You see, I am trying to come up with a similar idea for our deck. It is a west face and from noon - 9pm it gets full and harsh sun. It makes eating on the deck... Less than fully enjoyable...

I have wanted to come up with some sort of sunscreen to help with that issue...