DIY Indoor-Outdoor Bowling Lane
In my neck of the woods, it has been cold and snowy — which is beautiful but also makes me look forward to spring and being outside! Our guest today has a great DIY project that you and the family can use indoors now, and then move outdoors once it warms up outside: an adorable indoor-outdoor bowling lane!
DIY Cornhole Set (made easy using a pallet!)
DIY Yard Dice (for all sorts of games!)
or more like these:
and pssst… make your backyard awesome with these ideas, too:
And now, give Ashley an amazing Remodelaholic welcome — she’s creative and resourceful and you’ll love her projects!
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How to Build a Kids’ DIY Indoor-Outdoor Bowling Lane
by Ashley from Handmade with Ashley
Hello, my name is Ashley Grenon and I’m the author of the blog, Handmade with Ashley where I document my crafty adventures. I love making things. Woodworking is one of my favorite hobbies, but I also enjoy crocheting, sculpting with polymer clay and casting with resin. I have a little boy, and I really enjoy making things for him. One of my favorite projects I worked on is a geometric themed art table I built for him. He is also my inspiration for the project I’m sharing with you today: a kids bowling lane!
One day husband and I were discussing how fun it will be to take our little boy bowling when he is old enough to enjoy it. From that conversation I got the idea of building a miniature bowling lane.
What you will need
The following items are some of the tools and supplies you will need to build the kids bowling lane:
Bowling Pins
- White Spray Paint
- Spray Paint Gun
- Washi Tape
- Mod Podge
- Triple Thick Gloss Glaze
- 10 – Large Wood Bowling Pins (available here, too)
Bowling Lane
- Lumber
- 1 – 46″ long 1×12 board
- 2 – 46″ long 1×2 boards
- 2 – 9.75″ long 1×2 boards
- 1 – 9.75″ long 1×4 board
- 2 – 23″ long 1×4 boards
- Kreg Jig (for joining boards)
- Sander
- Dremel (for sanding the rounded guard edges)
- JigSaw (for rounding guard edges)
- Wood Filler
- Handsaw (or circular saw)
- Paint
- Silhouette (for creating stencils for lane markers)
Cost
I made use of scrap lumber in garage to build the bowling lane. For the project, I needed to purchase the bowling pins, a wooden ball, washi tape and spray paint. The project cost me about $30-35 to make.
Time
This project can be completed in a day.
Decorating the Bowling Pins
I purchased 10 unfinished wooden bowling pins (there’s a similar set available here, too). The pins looked pretty bland and in need of a serious makeover.
I took the following steps to update the bowling pins look:
- Spray paint the pins white
- Wrap a piece of washi tape around the neck of the pin
- Coat the pin with a layer of triple thick gloss glaze
The gloss glaze adds a really nice touch to the pins.
Building the Bowling Lane
To build the bowling lane I took the following steps.
Step 1: Round the ends of the lane guards
Grab a cup and trace a curve onto one end of each 23″ long 1×4 board. Use a jigsaw to cut along the curve. These two boards act as the lane guards. The curved edges make for a really nice finish.
Step 2: Attach the 1×2 boards to the 1×12 board
Attach the 1×2 boards to the sides of the 1×12 board with glue and nails creating the base for the bowling lane.
Nailing the 1×2 boards to the 1×12 board
Step 3: Attach the lane guards to the bowling lane base
I used a Kreg Jig to create pocket holes for joining the pieces of the lane guard together. If you use the Kreg Jig you will want pocket holes in the following locations:
- At the un-curved end of each 23″ long 1×4 board
- On each end of the 9.75″ long 1×4 board
- At the bottom of the 9.75″ long 1×4 board and the 23? long 1×4 boards
Once the 3 1×4 boards were joined, I then attached the lane guard to the 1×12 board.
Step 4: Apply wood filler and sand
Fill any gaps with a bit of wood filler. Once the filler has dried take time to sand the surface.
Step 4: Paint a base coat
Now it’s time for the really fun part: decorating the bowling lane! I covered the surface of the 1×12 board with painters tape and newspaper. Once that was in place I spray painted the bowling lane with Krylon Satin Sea Glass spray paint.
Step 5: Add a washi tape border
To tie in some of the colors from the bowling lane pins to the color of the bowling lane, I wrapped the perimeter of the lane base with striped washi tape.
Step 6: Add bowling pin placement markers and arrows
For a nice final touch, I created stencils for lane arrows and markers for the bowling pin locations with the Silhouette editor. I used Contact paper to create the stencil. I followed the Shanty sister’s tutorial on creating a stencil with contact paper to get the perfect cut setting on my Silhouette. To complement the Sea Glass paint, I painted the lane markers with neon orange paint.
The Silhouette cut files are available here for download:
Step 7: Seal the bowling lane
Once everything has dried, seal the project with varnish. I used a satin varnish.
Kids Bowling Lane
The bowling lane was a really fun project. It has been a hit for my little guy, and the adults enjoy it too. To increase difficultly, use a smaller ball and have the bowler toss the ball from several feet away.
If you build the bowling lane, please leave a comment below or tag me on Instagram as @handmadewithashley or Twitter as @handmadewithash. I’d love to see your pictures!
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Ashley, thank you so much for sharing with us! Such a cute project and I can tell your little guy loves it!!
Remodelaholics, be sure to go check out Ashley’s site to see more of her builds and projects — you won’t want to miss her awesome kids’ art table! And if you’re a bit of a geek, be sure to check out her geeky projects, too, like this Star Wars tie fighter bookshelf.
Lorene has been behind the scenes here at Remodelaholic for more than a decade! She believes that planning projects and actually completing them are two different hobbies, but that doesn't stop her from planning at least a dozen projects at any given time. She spends her free time creating memories with her husband and 5 kids, traveling as far as she can afford, and partaking of books in any form available.
This is such a cute idea! I would love to have a bowling lane like this in my house.
Thank you Lillian! 🙂
Hello, this is really cute! I’d like to build one just like this. Would you be so kind as to please share your cut files for the pin location and bowling lane with me? Thanks
The link for the pins is not available. Can you tell me where you got them?