KidKraft Charleston Lodge Wooden Outdoor Swing Set/Playset

Must Have. Set up isn’t hard, everything is boxed and bagged in sets. It’s perfect for my 3 year old and 10 year old. And let’s be honest, also for my 45 year old husband lol. Basically whole family fun.

I just finished building it today, so I can't speak to some of the longevity concerns mentioned here, but overall our family loves the Charleston Lodge so I'm giving it a 5/5. We had zero missing or broken pieces, and a bunch of left over hardware, so no concerns there. The build was pretty straightforward, but here are some things to consider: First, if you're ordering this, you have at least one kid. What are they going to do while you're working on this? It took me mostly solo but with the intermittent help of my wife and a friend 2.5 days to build this. My kida, despite their excitement and best efforts, did not help the process. A low point in our morale was when they "re-organized" the pieces and hardware after my wife carefully laid them out in alphabetical/numerical order (the directions say to lay them out by step, c'mon this is real life who has time for that? Alphabetical worked just fine until The Great Scrambling occurred). If you can send the kids to Grandma's house for the weekend and surprise them with this after the build, do that. Next, do open all the boxes and inventory everything. They seem to be organized by what will fit in a package vs. box 1, then box 2, etc. Take the time to open every box and lay everything out before you get started. I did not have any wood split*, but I did a pilot hole for every screw. Do this. Unless you're a big fan of cruel and unusual punishment, have at least a speed load attachment for your drill, or better yet, a second drill so you can have one with the 1/8" drill and one with the weird square driver so you can move quicker. The slide went together just fine, just be ready to muscle some pieces into alignment. Some small specific pointers; install the clock before you out that panel in. You'll need to have an adult in the upstairs to hold the backing boards again the clock from the inside. My 5 year old wasn't strong enough to do it and bonus now we know it can support my wife upstairs. Also, like mentioned in other reviews, check the door hinge location, they will need to be narrower than you'd think to avoid conflicting with some bracing flanges. In real life, it's possibly cuter than the pictures show. If you're on the fence, just buy it, your kids will love it and you'll feel like a hero after you assemble it. Oh one last pointer, maybe build it during a cooler time of the year than August. 🥵