Play Fort on the Fly

My kids are keenly aware that their mother is a DIYer.

Yesterday, at 4 pm, my daughter asked, “Mom, do we have any wood?”

Me: “Yes. Why?”

Daughter: “I want you to build a fort in my room.”

OK, pause right there. My daughter’s room, as you can see here, is not big enough for a fort. That, and I didn’t have enough wood to build her one at 4 pm on a Monday.

Me: “I think we have some other materials we could use to make a fort.”

Daughter: [considering…]

What did I do? I found some curtains that I wasn’t using – they used to be in the guest room:

They didn’t really work in there, plus I’ve since re-done that room anyway. Bottom line: we weren’t using them. And she loved them because they were green – score!

I grabbed a tension rod and went up to her room.

I hung the curtains on the clothes rod in the closet and then hung the tension rod in the doorway. I draped the curtains over the curtain rod to create a tent effect:

Daughter was thrilled!

She loaded it up with some pillows and a sleeping bag. I added a small, 3 x 5 rug on the floor under her sleeping bag, just to soften it up a bit.

The inside needs a bit of work, as you can see.

Daughter: “Mom, do you have a chandelier? I need some light.”

And just like that, another project is born.

The moral of the story: You can create a cute play fort or play space with what you have on hand. Just be creative.

Or, you can enter to win a gift card to HomeGoods, CostPlus World Market, or Target, and really trick out your play fort! Enter here.

I’m off to figure out the whole chandelier thing now. Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping by.