My family loves a day at the beach—the hot sun, the cool shade of an umbrella, the feeling of sand between their toes, and watching the sailboats along the horizon. Yet for all those other days, when the beach is just a daydream, here is a unique, easy-to-build sandbox to bring a bit of the beach into your back garden.
The sand area is approximately 4′ x 6′ on this design—enough for a small crew of sailors. The design is also deep, with lots of room for sand. There are wide comfortable seats on the sides that also keep the sand confined. I added a hinged lid made of plastic lattice to keep out nocturnal visitors, such as cats and raccoons, but allow rainwater in to moisten the sand.
When it comes to outdoor construction materials, there are lots of choices: composites, pressure-treated lumber and cedar. But instead I went with ordinary, inexpensive spruce construction lumber. I expect it will last six to eight years, and by then my kids will have lost their interest in sandboxes. I bought seven 8′-long 2x10s and two 10″-long 2x10s for the project.