The last bittersweet days of summer…
…are still incredibly hot!
It was pushing 100 degrees as we sat at our lemonade stand. Which, I suppose, is good weather to have a
lemonade stand in… either way, it was a much more preferable event than my
trial and errors of making the stand itself!
So I wanted to share my experience with you with the hope that you might
have an easier go of it.
It all started when I read to our little guy about a
lemonade stand in one of his books. We talked about it a bit and he (okay, we) got really excited about the
idea! We talked about how it would work
and flavorings we would make, and when he asked, I told him I would see if we
could make it work.
First, I asked our landlord if it was even okay, then set to
planning. I’m not going to lie; my first
plan failed miserably. It wouldn’t even stand
up. So I’d like to tell you what not to
do and then what worked for us.
So, if you read my post about our fort (here)
you’ll recall we have a ton of fresh, strong branches from a recent tree
trimming and I thought they might make a cute, rustic sort of lemonade stand,
too. Josh insisted that lashing the
round logs was the best way to secure them, but he showed me the right way to
do that this time. I’ll pass along that
bit of knowledge in a bit, but first I’ll explain my failed design: four upright posts, two braces on each side
and a couple angled supports. In the
end, I had to back track and take several pieces off to make it a sort of
A-frame. Another gem Josh taught through this experience is that triangles are sturdier than squares/rectangles. MUCH sturdier, though it still
sits at a bit of an angle on our uneven ground.
But, it worked fine and I still like how it looks.
So here’s the bit about lashing that I found very helpful and hope to use again in the future: I started laying the
branches (each about 6 feet long with a 3 inch diameter) out the front on our
patio (propping them up on paint cans made for some extra elbow room) and lashing the cross beams to the uprights. So, we started with a clove hitch. The best way I can describe that is to wrap
your twine around one branch twice so they cross with a long tail. Where the twine crosses, slip the tail under
both sides and pull tight. Easy peasy.
For the long beams across the front, we did square lashings,
meaning I would go up and over the branch on top, down under the branch on
bottom, then over the top on again on the other side. Basically going around instead of cross. Hopefully the photo can explain what I can’t
with words. I followed this pattern
about five times over.
To add strength, I was advised to keep the twine as neat and
snug as possible. I’m afraid I didn’t
achieve either to the degree I would have liked, but each one was better than
its predecessor. When the five times
over-under-over-under pattern is complete, it can be tightened even more by
doing the opposite: over the bottom, under the top. About five times around again. This takes up
much less twine each round because you’re only circling around the first batch
to tighten them in together. Again, I’ll
have to refer you to the photo.
Once you’ve tightened the lashing, complete with another
clove hitch and there you have it! I did
a slightly different pattern for the shorter braces going front to back. The only difference is that after the
starting clove hitch, I did a cross over back and forth so that they will
support the board, still finishing with the tightening portion and ending in
another clove hitch. Then lash the tops together in the same way and you’re
done with the frame!
I did add some kitty-corner braces in the front upper
corners to give even more stability. We
laid a board across the top and decorated a little with table cloth, pendants,
and sign (instructions to come for this one!
SO easy and fun!)
This was by far the hardest part of the adventure. Especially since we had to backtrack a bit
there, but now that I’ve made that mistake you can save yourself the headache
of it! In the end, the materials I used
were:
·
6’ long branches x 5
·
2’ long branches x 4 (2 for the front to back
beams that held the counter, 2 for the corner supports)
·
12” board (ours was only an inch thick and 4’
long, but this could vary for you so long as it fits between your frame braces)
·
Lots of twine!
I used about half a skein.
·
A little scrap fabric if you choose to decorate
Total cost: $12 –but this was only because we had to buy
that silly board and twine new. Do you
have something already laying around your house that would work? Maybe you could make it for even less! I was looking at lemonade stands online and
all I found were well over $100. Very
well constructed all and would probably last forever, but I didn’t feel like we
needed that.
And, what I think the best part about this project was, the
kiddos were able to help and learn along with me. They helped pick the straightest, strongest
branches, haul them to the patio, set up, and pick up all the stray strings and
branches. We had so many people comment
on how much they liked the uniqueness and style of our stand as they came to
visit and many random visitors took photos!
Of course, it was probably just for these two cuties sitting behind the
counter! =)
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