Today I have a very fun project to share with you that my husband and dad put together for me. One day when I was scanning the blog world I came across a picture over at Less than Perfect Life of Bliss where she had created basketball backboards as headboards for their sons room. I loved this idea and wanted to create something similar for Gavin’s room for Christmas. We are always trying to think of ways to create new things from the random things we have already collected. So my husband and I began brainstorming what we could use for the backboard and decided that the old ammo boxes we had sitting in the garage would be perfect. We found the ammo boxes on craigslist for a steal of a deal and were thrilled with the final outcome. And so was Gavin! He loved it!
The first step was to dismantle some of the boxes and get enough pieces for the backboard.
We then had to match different pieces of the ammo boxes together to create a uniform flat surface. This proved quite challenging since the wood is over 50 years old. It was a like a big puzzle, so it took some work to make them all fit together and several of the pieces were very warped from the wear and tear over the years.
Once all the boards were lined up, we screwed all the boards down to the plywood. Using the plywood helped create a firm and flat surface.
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We then applied a polyurethane coat and a light sand to finish the backboard. We ordered a rim from amazon that we then screwed into the backboard. Since the backboard and rim were quite heavy we made sure to find two studs in Gavin’s room and used six screws to hang the hoop. And I have to say that even Kevin could hang on the hoop and its not going to go anyway.
Needless to say Gavin was quite excited about his new hoop on Christmas morning! And even more excited when it got hung in his room. So excited he couldn’t wait until Kevin was done hanging it to start shooting.
And that’s it! A very cool vintage basketball hoop made from old ammo boxes.
Lindsey
