Sunday, July 17, 2011

A Secret Fort

Back in the day when I was a wee child, my best mate (and next door neighbor) and I would try to make our own little forts in the woods behind our house. It was a ton of fun and I loved the idea of having a secret hideout. It seemed so mysterious of us. This past week my Mom and I made a seriously awesome one for my nieces in the back corner of our yard. It is pretty sweet and you can't see it from the road, making it mega secret.

First, she went and cleared out an area, probably about ten feet in diameter. Then we went to the dollar store to stock up on decor (high quality, of course!) and filled the fort up with old chairs, a rug, side tables, and a picnic table that were going to go to the transfer station, but have found a new lease on life in the fort!


Decor includes paper lanterns, a hula girl cutout to greet you at the entrance, wind chimes that say Faith (we really aren't religious, but all four of my nieces LOVE chimes and how can you pass up a dollar store set?), a pink flamingo, flag, Lisa Frank (throwback to the 90s) banner, and those spinny things(scientific term) that look pretty when the wind blows.

So, you wanna see some more pics?




The fort is so awesome, that I am pretty sure I will find myself venturing up to perhaps do some writing up there. Yes. I am quite jealous!


And you can do it, too. It took little time and since we were able to re-use a bunch of old kiddo furniture we had, it cost under 15 dollars.


It was a pretty huge success, as all four nieces spent Thursday over here and a good 5 hours playing up in the new fort or as the twins liked calling it, The Girls' Club. My niece, Lily, summed it up best by telling my mom that it was the best day she ever had, proving that with a little time and imagination you can create an awesome memory for the little ones in your life.


5 comments:

ArtisansintheAndes said...

How incredibly sweet!!

Anonymous said...

What a sweet idea. I too used to carve out forts when I was a kid. We'd hop this gate into the arroyo and had a great fort with a twig canopy. What a great surprise for your nieces.

cara said...

so cute! i used to build indoor forts out of sheets and blankets with my brother. those were so fun!

vintage eye said...

What a fabulous day for the girls...big & little! :)

Samantha Marie said...

Oh my goodness, How FUN!! I Loved making forts when I was young too, I would have Loved to play in this one! :)