My oldest daughter (she's 8 and a half right now) came up to me about 2 weeks ago as I was browsing the net, pointed to an online ad for swingsets, and asked if we could get one for the backyard. I've been meaning to build one for years, really, but the fact that the image displayed had some 4-5 year-olds playing on it made me realize that no one is getting any younger, and if I didn't do something soon, as in this summer, she'd never play on one in the yard.

Even though we have multiple projects going on right now, including a newly redesigned bathroom for the aforementioned daughter, my wife and I discussed it, and figured we could work it in somehow. So... the research began!

Our requirements:

• Wooden
• High-quality & safe
• Fort/club-house
• Monkey bars, a tube slide, a rock wall, 3 individual swing locations, and a 4th swing hookup for rings or trapeze. Rope Net optional
• Affordable

We decided not to go with the regular metal-style swingset (something like this) because they get boring, quickly, and I've never liked the idea of sharp edges on my kids' playthings - especially the slides. Besides, why go with just a swingset, when we could go with a play set, including a fort, rock wall, etc.?

I plucked a couple of "20% off and free installation!!!" coupons out of our regular "packet o' coupons to local businesses you've never visited" collection, and set off one Saturday while the kids were at Karate to visit the stores. I'd already seen some wooden kits for sale on-line at reasonable prices (I roughly set our budget at $1800 or so), like the ones offered at Gorilla, but thought that a local dealer might have some better offerings.

Suffice it to say, though, that I was shocked at the prices. I won't mention the dealers by name here, but how they can justify selling kits for $3800 or so (equivilent to the $1800 online prices) is beyond me. I liked some of their parts, and actually ended up buying some, but what we could have gotten in our price range was just silly.

One of my friends at work (thanks Bernie!!) had also mentioned to me that local hardware stores sell DIY kits, so on the same trip that I went to the specialty stores, I stopped into a Home Depot and picked up a catalog. When I got home and had a chance to look at it more closely, I definitely became more interested in this option. I also liked the fact that the site for the OEM is well-laid out and friendly, although was surprised that the Home Depot-specific items aren't selectable from the main page, and you have to visit the Timberbilt (Home Depot's brand for this) page to see their offerings. Further confusing was the fact that the catalog I picked up was an old one, and the kit we liked wasn't listed. I ended up getting a new brochure at a different Home Depot with more up-to-date listings.

Anyway, after looking over our options, I decided to go with the Build-it-yourself option. Lumber and tools weren't concerns, and I prefer doing this sort of thing myself anyway, for both safety and customization reasons.

I'll put up our parts list, the customizations we made, and the plans soon.