(It's been a while since I've done a Flour Sack Friday - I think it's time for another, eh?!)
I have had my eye on a waldorf playstand for a couple of years now. I love how simple yet versatile they are. And how nicely they blend into the furnishings of a home compared to their plastic and colorful playhouse competition.
But if you've ever priced one of these beauties out, you would know that they come complete with a high price tag. I mean, the surprisingly high kind - upwards of $500! (It is just wood and cloth, isn't it???)
Needless to say, a waldorf playstand just hasn't been in in the budget. That is until this summer when I found two matching stands at a school rummage sale for just $15 total! I snagged them up right away with idyllic visions of my children waking up Christmas morning to their beautiful new playstand.
Right.
But then I realized that I did not have the canopy, nor the play clips and lovely silk cloths. Drats! I scoured the internet and found several wooden canopies that would fit my stands, but they were still $80 - closer to $100 with shipping. Still more than I wanted to pay for just the canopy. So that's when Dan began to take a sympathetic look into my plight and determined that he could make one!
Although he has somewhat limited experience in carpentry, he drew up some plans that involved pieces of wood, screws, and dowels. I was quite impressed with his end result! I also love that we could customize the size of the canopy to be taller than a pre-made one so our ten-year-old could still comfortably fit inside with her sisters and brother. He also added a shelf to each of the stands. Each stand only came with one shelf but I wanted two. In addition to adding storage, the extra shelf really helped the stands to feel altogether more sturdy.
I found some clearanced Halloween fabric at the fabric store, and ended up getting four yards to drape over the canopy.
The only thing we ordered online were the play clips. We couldn't think of a better solution that were as safe and flexible for the littlest of our fingers. I already had one that I found at a yard sale for a quarter and we ordered four more.
Total Cost of our Playstand:
Stands $15
Wood for canopy and extra shelf $40
Fabric $21
Play Clips $25
TOTAL $101
Now, I know we hit the jackpot by finding the stands at a yard sale. However after studying them a bit, Dan is quite certain that even someone with limited carpentry skills could fashion a pair very inexpensively.
All in all, the finished playstand was quite the Christmas hit this year!
