my fort “tutorial”

November 28, 2012

I posted this picture on Instagram last week and got a few requests for a tutorial.

The tutorial requests made me smile, because my forts are all wonky and crazy. Not the pinteresty tutorial kind. They look great on the inside, but just a big ole’ mess on the outside. I typically build forts in the playroom because there is a peg rail that goes all around the room. It makes for an easy place to tie ropes and light for hanging sheets. So, the first step in my fort building is to just tie a bunch of ropes or lights across the room. It is a small room, so this is pretty easy. In other rooms, I just tie to whatever is standing still. Here is an outside view of our fort:

The second step is to drape sheets, curtains, tableclothes, etc. over the ropes & lights. I use clothespins to hold it all together.

The view from laying down inside.

My mom built Lesley and I forts all over our house growing up. Our sheet forts had rooms and hallways. They were made from all the linens in the house and were just perfect. I hope my kids feel the same way. Well, at least the girls. The boys refused to get in this fort unless we put replaced the flower sheets with Star Wars sheets and the Barbies with Legos. FireCracker found my old Barbies at my parent’s house. My grandma made that frilly pink gown for Barbie!