The Sandbox Project

So about a year or two ago I was researching sandboxes....yes, my exciting life...I know!  I was considering building one but found one on Amazon for a great price.

This isn't the exact one I bought but it's awfully close.  Anyway, once it came, it was very easy to assemble, I had 2 issues with it that I wanted to add a bit of "MacGyver" to.

1. The bottom was open, which is fine for your typical suburban yard; but when you live in the mountains with snakes and other critters, it's not ideal.

2. The canopy was a lovely blue and white stripe.  Unfortunately, the spot I needed to put it in was right in front of my house (as the back is a big slope with the risk of being reamed in the head by a golf ball.  In addition, my little mountain community has rules and guidelines about color.

Solutions!

Both solutions were quite simple.  As far as the bottom went, I was able to staple landscape fabric to it, which would keep the critters out but also let it remain porous and not hold rain, etc. The top, well, that took a little trial and error.  I first bought other fabric to put on it that would be more in line with the restrictive muted color guidelines of my community, but that wasn't the effect that I wanted.

Then I bought one of those paint tarps with canvas on one side and plastic on the other...that worked for a while but I didn't feel it was exactly what I was going for.

Luckily I had bought some corrugated plastic (during a time I was trying to "MacGyver" a homemade slide to no avail).  It sat outside for a while waiting for alternative inspiration and then one day...BAM...solution was right in front of my eyes!

Find it at Home Depot

I used tin snips to cut the piece in half and then nailed it right on top of the tarp.  That gave me a rain proof roof that looked very nice.

Here is the final result:

 

Anyway, long story short, when putting a sandbox in that has an open bottom: landscape fabric on the bottom, corrugated plastic roofing on the top.

 

Easy Peasy!