Tuesday 30 October 2012

DIY: Indoor/ outdoor A-frame play tent.



Last summer whilst on a trip at my folks in lovely Devon, I discovered this blog post: A-frame tent and I was absolutely smitten, I had to make this pronto. I looked over to my dad, asked him if he had any 2x1"ish batons, he did, so I told him to get his drill out and off we started, that soon. It wasn't quite that quick to make in total as I needed to gather supplies but all in all I think the two of us finished the whole tent over two morning nap times. My dad cut and drilled the posts and I sewed the fabric and sanded the wood.
For Kwak Palace this tent is ideal, the frame is light and easy to erect/ dismantle and it stores perfectly under the little ladies bed. I did look for the vintage sheet/ crochet blanket combo but the devon charity shops did not prove lucky that day, so I bought lengths of net curtain and green fabric instead. I have since been informed the green fabric is in fact the fabric used to cover snooker tables. I went with green as there is a lot of green in my house, I do like green, snot green a particular favourite, so it is versatile in all rooms really, if the tent fits that is.
I added the red figure of 8 loops to provide a little more support on our wooden floors and I got carried away one day and made a load of wool tassel's to funk it up.

Strike a pose:
The little lady enjoying her tent in the summer, perfect for picnics in the garden with her dollies.

Tassel detail:



My sewing machine technique can only be described as 'wonky', but I am learning.

Casually hanging about:

Perfect for the bedroom, she uses it as a den to play in and also to occasionally sleep in at night.

I can see you:


The transparency is what instantly appealed to me, as if she chooses to sleep in it, I can easily see she is OK, when I pop my head in the door at night. (She is actually asleep in it right now as I type).

Living room:

And as you have seen previously, it was the main act for a spot of autumn glamping fun.


Cost: The batons were free c/o my dad, as was the sewing machine and cotton. Net curtain £2.00, 3x broom handles: 89p each, green fabric £4 per metre, I bought 70cm. Total: £7.47. I already owned all supplies for the tassel's and loops.
Supplies: 2x 2x1" batons, net curtain, snooker table fabric, sewing machine with white cotton, scissors, pen, drill, saw and sand paper. Figure 8 loops: webbing and cotton thread, Tassel's: wool and embroidery thread.
Time taken: 2x morning nap times= 4 hours, not including shopping for supplies.

So have you seen abeautifulmess.com? if not do look. It is one of the first blogs I discovered, and the very first where I had to sit and look through every single post from present to the beginning, it took me days but was well worth it, these girls are amazing. The only downside is they have an absolutely amazing collection of Lotta clogs which I am super green eyed jealous about.

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