Why it's called Cornhole is unknown (and ridiculous to me) but it doesn't change the fact that this simple backyard game is awesome.
If you've never heard of it, all it is, is a basic bean bag toss game. 2 teams, each with 2 players, stand behind 2 wooden boards and toss bean bags into the hole of the opposing team’s board.
Now to the point. Our friend Kerri is a lover of both East Carolina University (ECU) and Cornhole. She came to me with the idea of making our own game boards. You can buy these boards all over the internet for close to $200. Like any thrifty DIY gal, I decided we could totally do it for ALOT less.
After some research about the regulation dimensions of the boards (this is serious folks) we planned a weekend to dive in head first. Well, as luck would have it, just a little over a week ago, I was at the beach and Jason and I drove in close to 9pm. We were about to turn onto the street where the house is, and like a shining light, there on the side of the road, was a set of Cornhole boards! Now, there was a reason they were abandoned.
Again, this is a game where you throw bean bags. If it was a game where you threw something like rocks, this might be suitable. I imagine their board tore up their beanbags pretty badly.
So we scooped ‘em up and decided to give them a new life. This was a HUGE plus and cut out about half of the projected cost. All that had to be bought new was 2 top board (1/2 plywood), spray paint, and the decals. Now, on to the overhaul.
They must have used regular latex paint and a blindfold when they first painted these things. Either that, or they just dunked them into the can.
(Stella can't stand to be left out. Diva)
The lazy, I want to get to the fun part, side of me just wanted to paint over this disaster. But, given I had a few minutes before Kerri arrived, I decided to get a head start on the BORING sanding task.
When she arrived she got right to work... at this point my hands were killing me so I was happy to become the photographer.
After almost 2 hours (I told you the paint job was AWFUL), we had the sides at least smoothed down enough for them to take a nice even coat of spray paint.
Next up, trim the boards down a little bit and drill the holes. Kerri is a bit of a rookie at the DIY stuff so she lent Jason a hand. She decided that now she MUST have a chalk box. You know, who doesn't need a chalk box?
Then Jason removed the old boards and we were left with this- (and again, Stella had to squeeze her way in)
The new boards went on next (we got excited and started painting too soon!)
(there is an awful lot of pink in this picture isn't there)Finally, time for paint, each board got 2 good coats of black outdoor spray paint
I got to use my Cricut for this project as well. I cut out 2 phrases "No Quarter!" and "No Fear!" to go on each of the boards. After all our hard work spray painting, we wanted to ensure we didn't mess it up.
They got 3 very light coats of white spray paint to ensure no drips!
After a few minutes of drying, time for the big reveal!
Ok, maybe not yet. Showing you now would take the fun out of it :)
Then on went the decals. Nothing fancy, just a basic peel and transfer decal.
Done! Now you can see :)
She loves them! I love them! We all love them! The bean bags are on their way and I can image we will get plenty of use out of them this summer. This isn't the last you'll see of us sticking it to the very overpriced Cornhole man. Keep an eye out for a second DIY set (completely from scratch) in the next couple weeks. We have to have a Georgia set for our house of course :)
What are your favorite backyard/tailgate games?
Headed over to BNOTP for Met Monday. Come on over and see all the wonderful projects!
You can find me over at ASPTL for DIY Day!
