design {a} fort #7

design{a}fort is a series here at seejaneblog.
on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts!
it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

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friday. it’s time to share a fort with you, only i wish it were not already friday, july 20th! i heard an advertisement on the radio last week about school supplies, and i saw a blog post this week about them. am i the only momma in denial that summer is flying by way too fast?!? i want more time!!!!! more time to play with my kiddos, more time when all of our family is in the same place at the same time for more than 24 hours, more time to get projects done!

speaking of projects, today i am trying to put the finishing touches on the organization that is behind-the-scenes of our new home. you know – bathroom closets, the toy room, etc. i am happy to report that we have sela’s teepee set-up! we took time to design a fort this week, and today we are planning a new one that will be in a unique spot under the stairs space going to the third floor of our new home. (many boston homes have three floors, this was new to us when we moved out here.) if you follow @see_jane on instagram, then you know we’ve put the teepee in our kitchen nook until we get some new furniture. our new home has a bit more space than the last one, so we have lots of empty spaces around the house. the teepee nook included.

right now, i have the cutest fort to share with you. molly of my favorite things submitted a fort her boys put together. the little lantern flashlight is such a great detail – check it out:

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Forts are a big deal at our house. Just about every day, you will find my boys constructing one thing or another and flashlights are always a must. My boys love black-out forts, the kind where no light can penetrate the quilted walls. My boys usually gather all the kitchen chairs and round up every last pillow and blanket. Then their imagination takes over and the outcome is different every time.

such a fun space for kiddos. molly is a darling momma from texas – check out her blog for more awesomeness. and, happy weekend! if you get a chance to design a fort, i’d love to hear about it! xo.

*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

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design {a} fort #6

design{a}fort is a series here at seejaneblog.
on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts!
it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

today i have a fort to share with you from one more mushroom. check out the darling fort below, then head over to meta’s fresh, inviting blog for more design ideas! and, enjoy your weekend, maybe you can squeeze in some time to build a fort.  see you back here on monday! xoxo.

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The other day I was in my office and called out to Henrik asking where he was. He answered me saying “I’m in my studio” (my husband is an artist and has a studio attached to our house). I immediately had to go check on him an see what he meant by “his studio”. When I walked in the living room he and Maja were laughing and playing under their chalkboard play table.

We decided to make their “studio” into a fort and added chairs and blankets to make it much cozier. We had so much fun playing with the fort and played for several hours.

Our poor little muppet dog Hazel, looked in on all the fun longingly and of course we let her join.

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*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

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design {a} fort #5

design{a}fort is a series here at seejaneblog.
on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts!
it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

***

before we head in to this three-day holiday weekend, i want to introduce you to my friend kristina from my love nest. she is so beautiful, with the most amazing eye for style. recently she posted a picture of this darling fort on instagram and instantly i was hoping she would let me share her creation here! lucky for all of you, she obliged!

check this out, drool over these photos – and then spend some time with those you love this weekend.
build a fort. and cherish the moment. xoxo.

***

When Jane asked to feature my little fort on her blog I was so flattered! She is a true inspiration to me in all aspects!

My inspiration for this fort came from the movie, The Holiday. I fell in love with the Fort that was in the little girls room and knew I wanted to make something similar for my girls. Years later I finally had it in me so I gathered some old curtains, a sheet and a vintage tablecloth that I added Pom poms to. I surprised my girls originally on Christmas eve, complete with Christmas lights. As soon as I saw the blossoms on our backyard tree, it was time for a tea party with friends.

{images via.}

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*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

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design {a} fort #4

design{a}fort is a build-a-well-designed-fun-fort-inspired-series here at seejaneblog.
on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts!
it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

***

Hi everyone, I’m Astra from ‘a journey to a dream‘ and I’m very excited to be doing my first ever guest post, thank-you so much Jane for inviting me over to your lovely blog

My hubby and I recently celebrated our 5 year anniversary since the day we flew to Ireland to begin our life together, since then we have done sooo much but now we are settled, married and saving for our dream. I had been trying to think of unique (free!) ideas for a celebration date night at home and since we’re such big kids I knew a romantic living room fort would be right up our street

It took me about 3 hours to put together, just using what I had in the house. I took down the curtains from our spare room and hung them from the light, re-arranged the furniture a bit, added a few finishing touches and VOILA!

I used to make tones of forts and dens as a child and it is so much fun, adults should definitely make more forts! Especially people looking for free date night ideas, we left ours up for nearly a week and every night was extra special, super romantic and the fort created such a fun light hearted atmosphere. We played board games, drank sparkling apple juice and watched old movies, it was brilliant

I hope our fort will inspire couples to be creative with their adult nights in, be childish, laugh and play, why should the kids have all the fun?!And don’t forget you can do it completely for free!

- Astra xx

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i’m so impressed with how romantic my readers are! such a fun idea.

*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

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desgin {a} fort #3

design{a}fort is a build-a-well-designed-fun-fort-inspired-series here at seejaneblog.
on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts!
it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

*****

Hello SeeJaneBlog readers! I’m so honored to be featured here.
I’m Deborah from my life at playtime here to share our little backyard fort,
‘Fort Cheesy All Stars’ to be exact. The kids were really desperate for
a treehouse but alas we had no tree grand enough to hold one, so we
settled for a raised fort that was connected to one of our porch pillars.

Most of the fort was constructed with pallets, we reuse a lot of pallets
in our house projects(my boys even sleep in beds upcycled from
pallets!), and my husband made the rope ladder for the entrance. We
tried to use as many wood scraps laying around as we could and ended up
purchasing about $60 worth of wood for the base/flooring of the fort.

The kids absolutely love the basket on a rope, we swung it up over our
trellis so they could raise and lower items into their fort. We often
find them snacking in the fort, holding a few tea parties, or taking
cover from a marauder band of clone troopers seen in the area. Since we
live in Southern California we get to use the fort year round, and it is well loved.

After the constructing of the fort came the most difficult part of the
whole project…having 3 children(2 boys, 1 girl) all agree on a fort
name. Each child threw out ideas and favorite words, and then we just
combined those words, and that’s how ‘Fort Cheesy All Stars’ came to be.
I had some leftover paint from a project so we made a few signs for the
fort. And there you have our children’s little backyard haven.

Happy fort making!

Thanks Jane,
Deborah

*****

how cute is that fort?!? that is what great childhoods are made of!

*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

Posted in design {a} fort | 1 Comment »

design {a} fort #2

design{a}fort is a build-a-well-designed-fun-fort-inspired-series here at seejaneblog. on most friday’s i feature YOU +  YOUR forts! it all started here. if you would like to participate, read below*

this week, i am featuring alyssa, and her fun idea for valentine’s day or any day of the year for a great at-home date night!

*****

Hello! I’m Allyssa Zemke. I created a fun little tent for my husband and I for Valentines Day this year. It was a blast and we had fun eating fondue and watching a few flicks under it.

I got this lovely little tent idea from the fabulous Justina Blakeney’s blog. I wanted to make Valentines Day memorable without spending a lot of money so I thought what better way than a living room tent?

Materials Used:
4 sheets
broom stick
twine
6 screw hooks
a few safety pins
lots of pillows and blankets (for coziness)

instruction photos courtesy of Justina Blakeney and Design Sponge

1. First measure the length of the pole and decide where to screw the hooks into the ceiling. Tie a 2-3 foot strand of twine on each end of the pole and tie to the screw hooks in the ceiling.

2. Place the sheets one by one over the hanging pole. Make sure the sheets are almost touching the ground.

3. Safety pin the sheets about 2 feet from the pole in front and tie a long strand of twine onto the safety pin. Do this on each side of the opening of the tent, front and back.

4. Then tie up the strings hanging from the front up onto the remaining screw hooks so it makes an opening to the tent.

5. Then fill the tent with pillows and blankets. Enjoy!

you can also visit my blog for more information and photos.

*****

*to submit a design{a}fort post, email me: jane@prolook.com with photos & your story. if photo-editing is your thing, my blog posts are 670 pixels wide. i will review the entries and possibly share yours on an upcoming friday. xoxo.

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design fort, a new series…

you may have noticed that over the years, i have posted a lot of pictures including “forts” around our house – hidden beds in closets + myla’s indian-style outdoor stick forts {this one was extra unique!} + piles of pillows to hide in + poolside beach towels hanging over chairs. i’ve been reflecting on how rad the “fort” is in a childs life as they are growing up. it gives them a sense of privacy and their own space. building these little pieces of kid-size architecture fuels their creativity.

i thought it would be fun to introduce a new series for see jane blog! on most fridays i will be featuring: YOU + forts. these can be forts you create by yourself or with children involved, or forts created by children. these forts can be made of quilts, tents, teepee’s, twinkle lights, couch pillows, blankets, wood, cardboard, simple, fancy, toy-size, life-size, anything! they can be inside, outside, anywhere! i’d love to see each individuals personality in the creation. maybe this project will inspire you to spend a day building a fort?  go crazy.

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i will start with my youngest kiddo, she is one of my munchkins who inspired this series. this year sela has taken over our home with two mini abodes. you will notice she has an obsession with black & white stripes.  she dresses herself & i like her style.

to ignore the rest of the world with a book & twinkle lights overhead, truly magical. i will always love the glow of white christmas lights. hanging them on a fort gives you reason to enjoy them all year long.

both of sela’s forts these past few months have been within a few feet of my desk. while i sit and work, i get to sneak peeks of her like this -

and i literally get a crush. on repeat.

the latest cardboard house is a creative work in progress. on a daily basis, sela raids the art/craft/gift wrapping supply cupboards to find treasures to adorn her home. if you are an anthropology fan, you’ll notice their felt christmas bows on the door knob. i’m particularly fond of the tulle flowers in place of window knobs.

sela writing her stories…

there is a lot of variety in her wardrobe. some days thick black and white stripes. some days thin stripes.

sela has one rule in her house. if you are prone to scribbling – you may not color. she will find something else for you to do!

sela colors like it’s her job. she is very selective in her color choice – making sure to never match. she colors just like she dresses herself – rockin’ the freedom of expression.

she is quite the little fort-home-maker, too. keeping her mini homes organized + fills the space with snacks, and art supplies – always prepared to give her guests a handmade treasure. i love watching her busy herself with these little projects. a mini me in the making.

happy weekend my friends. our kiddos are starting winter break today, we have nine days to play.
there are sure to be more forts around here!

xoxo.

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have a fort you’d like to share? i’d love to see pictures & read all about it.
you can send these to me at jane{at}prolook{dot}com.

stripey tent | my very own house

{all photos by me. edited by becky kimball.}

Posted in create something, design {a} fort, family life, sela, Uncategorized | 7 Comments »