10 creative ways to repurpose your wooden swingset or playset once your kids are grown

Fun Stuff  |  5 years ago

It happens. Kids grow up and leave behind cherished childhood favorites like old playsets. And parents are left with wonderful memories and a big wooden play structure that has outlasted its purpose. What can you do to hang on to those memories and still get some use out of that playset? Repurpose it! We sometimes get emails or photos from customers showing fun ways they’ve repurposed their old CedarWorks, and a little Google or Pinterest research will uncover a lot more ideas. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Turn the fort part of a wooden swing set into a garden structure. Grow shade-loving plants underneath it, encourage vines to grow up the posts, and place potted plants on the deck of the structure. Check out this garden idea.

2. As one CedarWorks family did after their kids had grown, add a glass top to make a coffee table as a unique way the whole family can hold onto memories of when the kids were little and played on their playset everyday (see photo above). As the photo shows, the family kept the handles, a monkey ring, and the old CedarWorks nameplates on the table, and it's now a great conversation piece. We have also seen old CedarWorks playsets repurposed into tables for outdoor use.

3. Turn the wood from your playset into benches. We have seen a few examples of this including one CedarWorks customer who created benches to use in a school playground area.

4. Posts and lumber from an old playset can be transformed into a potting bench as RemodelaCasa did.

5. Blogger Bella Pamella kept hungry bunnies from eating the garden by using posts from an old wooden playset and some chicken wire to create a garden enclosure.

Similarly, you could also turn your playset structure into a raised garden as shown in the blog "How Sue Sees It".

6. Turn your old wooden play structure into a chicken coop

Wooden swing set chicken coop

Adventures in coop building

We also know someone who turned an outdoor playhouse into a home for their goats!

7. How about a nice arbor swing?

8. A sweet garden shed?

9. Your kids may be too old to want to swing or slide anymore, but if the fort or playhouse part of the swingset is still sturdy, you can turn it into a hangout or a reading nook for tweens and young teens. Clean it up, throw in some outdoor cushions, you can even put in lighting, and you’ve got a cozy space for the kids to feel like they have their own space without leaving the backyard. Check out Pinterest for lots of fun photos and decorating ideas.

10.Our personal favorite: a hangout for grown ups (hey, we deserve it, too!) with hammock swings, landscaping, and outdoor lights.