Tuesday, August 23, 2011

How to Make a Play Tent

You know in that movie "The Holiday" when Cameron Diaz goes to Jude Law's home and his daughters show her their tent?  It's an amazing tent and ever since I saw that movie I've been wanting to make something like that for my kids.  I looked all over the internet for ideas and how-to's but they were all too complicated, or too small for what I wanted.  So I came up with this on my own.  It's not quite as pretty as the one in the movie, but I do have a son, and it's in our playroom so I wanted it to be a little less girly.  By the way, I spent less than $5 on this project. 

It's the perfect spot for reading.

Sorry for the crappy picture quality (I took this with my broken lens that won't autofocus anymore), but here's what it looks like.  The weight of the tent is supported by a dowel rod.  I attached it to the ceiling using white hooks and then tying it to the rod with twine.

I found my stash of old fabric and went to town draping it over the rod.  No sewing for this project!  I ended up ripping some of it into longer strips so that it would come all the way to the floor.  The section in front I tied on to the front of the rod in a knot to make the doorway.

The fabric in the back is also tied on in order to make the back wall of fabric.  In this photo you can kinda see how the ceiling of the tent is draped.  I got that star light while we were on vacation and it just so happened to match the colors of all of my scrap fabric!   I also put a blue light bulb in it to add to the ambiance.  It looks great at night.

You can see the hooks and twine here.  You'll need to use a wall anchor to make sure it can hold the weight, these hooks came with them.

The corners...this is the hardest part.  Once you get all of your fabric draped over your rod, you'll need to make the four corners of your tent.  You can make it as big or small as you like.  I got these smaller hooks and put four of them into the ceiling first.  Then you will need to take a large safety pin and put it through all of your layers of fabric and pull it up.  Then string fishing line (make sure it's pretty sturdy, I've had mine break a couple of times and had to re-do it) between the safety pin and the ceiling hook.  Note:  I used a large paperclip because I didn't have any safety pins and I was too lazy to go buy some.  They are working fine, but I had to jam it through my fabric and I'm sure a pin would work better.

The fishing line will be invisible when standing back.  

My mom happened to be getting rid of an old feather bed so I snatched it up for the bottom of the tent.  It's for a queen sized bed and I folded it in half and covered it with a fitted sheet.  

My kids wanted the doors of the tent to be open, so I found some old curtain tie backs and tied them to the front fabric and attached them to my fishing line to create the open doorway.

And there you have it!  The perfect nook for reading, napping, and even the occasional sleepover!  I love it and so do they.  And the best part is that it was mostly free!

If you have made a tent or end up making one, link to it in the comments of this post, I'd love to see it!

The Lettered Cottage

15 comments:

  1. Love this! You did a great job! (When my girls see it, I know they will want one :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is great! My daughter is always asking for a tent/hidey hole.
    Followed your ling from The Lettered Cottage.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I get pleasure from, cause I found exactly what
    I was taking a look for. You have ended my four day long hunt!
    God Bless you man. Have a great day. Bye
    Also visit my weblog : Lexington Law

    ReplyDelete
  4. What's up, I desire to subscribe for this blog to get newest updates, thus where can i do it please help out.
    Feel free to visit my web page ... need a residential remodeling contractor orlando

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great beat ! I would like to apprentice whilst you amend your
    site, how could i subscribe for a weblog website?
    The account helped me a acceptable deal. I have been tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided brilliant transparent idea
    Take a look at my homepage : Smith Mountain Lake Virginia

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was
    just curious if you get a lot of spam remarks?
    If so how do you protect against it, any plugin or anything you can suggest?
    I get so much lately it's driving me crazy so any assistance is very much appreciated.
    My webpage : ikea furniture assembly service

    ReplyDelete
  7. Link exchange is nothing else but it is simply placing the other person's blog link on your page at suitable place and other person will also do same in favor of you.

    Here is my weblog; phil cardella

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you're just too wonderful. I actually like what you have acquired here, really like what you're stating and the
    way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still take care
    of to keep it sensible. I cant wait to read much more from you.

    This is really a tremendous website.

    Feel free to surf to my homepage - fingerprint building in thailand

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn't appear. Grrrr... well I'm not writing
    all that over again. Anyways, just wanted to say excellent
    blog!

    Also visit my homepage ... Diablo 3

    ReplyDelete
  10. Afteг looking at а handful of the blog aгtiсles on your blog, I trulу apprеciate уоur technique of wгitіng a
    blog. I book marked it to my bookmark site list and will bе
    checking back in thе nеаr futurе.
    Take a look at my wеb site аѕ well аnd let me knοw how you
    feel.

    Chеck out my blog post - raspberry ketone uk

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi i am kaѵin, its my first oсcasion to cοmmenting anyplacе, when i read this paragraρh i thought i
    could also сreate commеnt ԁue to this sensible artiсle.


    Feel free tо surf to mу hοmepаge; vitamin shoppe coupon code

    ReplyDelete
  12. Тhankѕ for finally tаlκing аbout > "How to Make a Play Tent" < Liked it!

    My webpage viѕtаprint сouρonѕ

    ReplyDelete
  13. We are a group of volunteers and starting a new scheme in
    our community. Your website offered us with valuable info to work on.

    You have done an impressive job and our whole
    community will be thankful to you.

    my web blog; disney land porn xxx

    ReplyDelete
  14. This blog gives a solid proof of extraordinary composition.
    top-5-best-pop-up-tent

    ReplyDelete

Comments make me happy.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...