No-Sew A-Frame Tent Tutorial

I've really been wanting to make a little tent for my girls to play in. I've seen these A-frame tents different places online but they cost a fortune. I saw a segment on my local home and lifestyle show Studio 5 and decided then and there to make one.

 

In the segment, they showed a quick tutorial of how to make one (tutorial here) but I actually ended up making my tent quite differently, and like the way I made it a little better.

 

And the best part? It's NO-SEW!

 

 

SUPPLIES:

- 2 pieces of 1x2 lumber, 8 feet long (Cut each piece in half, 4 feet

   long, Home Depot will do it for 

   free if you ask)

-1 5/8 inch wood dowel, 48" or 4 feet long (it already comes cut in

  this size at Home Depot)

      *Note: I meant to get a 3/4 inch dowel and accidentally bought

        the 5/8 inch one which worked 

       out fine, but if I had a choice I'd get the 3/4 inch dowel since

       it's easier to drill holes that size.

- 3 yards of fabric- my fabric was pre-cut to about 43" wide which

   worked out great

- hot glue gun or EZ6000 glue, twine/string/extra fabric (for 

  attaching fabric to wood), drill & drill bit (Home Depot will drill

  holes for free if you ask)

- Any embellishments you wish you use; ex. pom poms, ribbon,

  banners, extra fabric, etc.

 

 

As stated above, buy 2 pieces of 1x2 inch boards 8 feet long and ask to have them cut in half at Home Depot for free.

 

 

Then get the hardwood dowel. I accidentally bought a 5/8 inch one that happened to be located in the 3/4 inch slot, so I didn't find out until I got home.


 

ASSEMBLE:

STEP 1: Drill a 3/4” hole (or whatever size dowel you buy), 4
              inches from the top, in all 4 pieces of the 1×2 lumber.
         *Note: Home Depot drilled a 3/4" hole for me because I
           thought I had bought a 3/4" dowel, but discovered I was
           wrong once I got home. My husband drilled a smaller hole 4
           inches from the bottom of each piece so I could still use the
           wood boards.



STEP 2: Insert two of the 1x2's on the front of the dowel and the

              other two 1x2's at the back of the dowel. This takes some

              strength so you may want some help. You don't want the

              dowel to easily slide in and out, it needs to be tight.

 

STEP 3: Place fabric over the dowel so the bottom of the fabric is

              even on both sides. I didn't want the fabric to go all the

              way to the floor on both sides, so I left about 3-4 inches of

              space on the bottom of each side.

 



 

I couldn't believe I found such cute fabric at Walmart of all places! It's called Springs Creative Nursery Sweet Meadow Allover. They had really cute boy patterns as well in this same collection.




STEP 4: Attach the fabric to the wood board X's. I simply took a
              hand-held hole punch and punched a hole at the top,
              middle, and bottom of each side of fabric, then tied it to
              each wood board. (2 ties at the bottom, 2 in the middle,
              and 1 tie at the top where the "X" shape starts.) This means
              that the fabric isn't actually permanently attached so I can
              remove it to wash or switch it out with another fabric.

 
See the tiny hole punch? I used the scraps from the fabric to make ties.

Use only 1 tie at the top on each side.

 STEP 5: Add embellishments! I added a white pom pom fringe by
               simply applying EZ6000 glue in a straight line along the
               side of the wood boards. (I only did this at the "front" of
               the tent, not on both ends.) Then I placed the fringe over
               the glue and let it dry.




It's easier to glue embellishments on if the tent is flat so I laid one side of the tent down on the floor.





Make sure if you are attaching any embellishments to the wood boards to first un-tie the fabric. If you don't, you'll end up gluing OVER the ties and will be unable to remove them.



Sooooooo........you could end here if you want. However, once I was done, I felt like the tent needed a door or covering on at least one side, because an open tent isn't nearly as cozy or private as a tent with a door.

Instructions if you want to add a door:

SUPPLIES:
- fabric
-EZ6000 glue

I thought about all the different kinds of "doors" I could make, those with tie-backs, one that tied in the middle, one that hung from one side and attached to the other...... but all of those required some kind of tie-back or effort to keep it closed.

My girls would be crawling in and out of this tent and wouldn't have time to do that, or the know-how. I came up with this idea: simply hang two pieces of fabric that overlap slightly in the middle so that when a child crawls through, it opens easily yet swings closed again without any effort.

 
This part was a little tricky. I wasn't sure how much fabric I needed or how to cut the pieces out. So I spread the tent out (like in the picture above), held the fabric up to the tent frame, and sort of drew a line down the middle as my mark where to cut with scissors. Really technical huh? Actually, I didn't know what I was doing or if it would actually turn out the way I envisioned in my head, but it worked out in the end.

I made sure that one side of the fabric was wider than the other to create the "overlap" in the middle so it would close easily.  

 

 

 

 
I attached the fabric directly onto the main tent fabric so that no fabric is actually directly attached to the wood boards. I once again laid the tent down on a flat surface so I could do each side of the "door". Using EZ6000 glue, I made a line of glue going all the way down the inside edge of the fabric, then gently pressed the edge of my door fabric to it. You can see the glue "dots/lines" in between the fabrics below.



So only the two edges of each fabric are glued together, nothing else.


Once that's dry, flip the tent over on the floor and glue the other side.

 
Once everything is dry, your tent is ready to be played in!

 
One of my favorite features about this kind of A-frame tent is that it folds up very easily and takes up little storage space. Some of the larger tee-pee type tents you can make take up more room.

 

 

 
This could slide underneath a bed, in the back of a closet, and a myriad of other small places, because it folds up so thin.

 
We haven't had a chance to "store" the tent yet because it's been used constantly by my girls since I finished making it.

 

 

We love placing a blanket and pillows inside the tent and reading books, playing with toys, watching a show on our ipad, and sometimes just crawling in from one side and out the other as we chase the baby (which she loves).  

 
I hope this tutorial makes sense and that you are inspired to make your own A-frame tent! It's a great addition to any playroom (or in our case, living room). A tent adds a magical touch to any space!

Please let me know if you have further questions, and I'd love to see your finished product!

Update:
I just saw this tent from Land of Nod in a catalog. Price? $99! Make one yourself please! This one you have to assemble with metal poles and plastic pole connectors. So much work!

 



Ikea Lamp Hack DIY Tutorial

I took this ordinary lamp that had been sitting by my daughter's bed for about a year, and decided to add a couple simple touches to it to turn it into a fabulous vintage piece.

 

This Lampan Table Lamp from Ikea costs $4.99 (that's right!!!). It comes in white, pink, and turquoise. I liked the simplicity of the white when I bought it. I didn't have any intentions of doing anything to the lamp, but it took me about a year for a light bulb (no pun intended) to come on.

 

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 Supplies needed:

 

-Ikea Lampan table lamp

-E-6000 glue and/or hot glue gun (I used both)

-extra fabric, decorative items like washi tape, lace, pom pom fringe, etc.

 

That's it!

 

First Step:

I detached the lamp shade from the base (very easy, in fact it comes like that when you buy it). All I did was use the E-6000 glue around the top of the shade to attach the lace.

 

Second Step:

I used a hot glue gun to attach the pom pom fringe around the bottom of the shade. I applied hot glue directly to the lamp shade then carefully placed the fringe around it bit by bit. It was one long piece of pom pom fringe that I cut at the very end once I knew I had enough to cover the entire shade.



 

 

And voila! It totally transformed this $5 lamp into something so much cuter! Once I let the glue dry, I plugged it in to see what it looked like.

 

 
I love how it turned out. It's so dainty, vintage-looking, and fun in my daughter's bedroom. It no longer looks like a simple white lamp.

  

 

I experimented with adding washi tape to the rest of the lamp shade but decided against it, I liked the simple vintage look with the lace and pom pom fringe. 

 

 
The lace also gives it a cool look when it's dark in the room and the light's on. Definitely a cozy addition to reading time before bed!

Updated Nursery Photos

 

It's been almost a year and a half since our big Nursery Reveal! While the room has largely remained the same, we've updated a few things that I wanted to share.

 
The most noticeable difference is the new Tastrup Button Rug. I found it at Ikea shortly after we finished the nursery and just had to have it. It's polka dot (which instantly drew me in) so of course I bought it. It's much bigger than the small rug we had before in this room. I love its vibrant colors and my 3 year old loves playing the "Button Game" that we came up with. While I change the baby's diaper, I tell her a color button to jump on and she jumps from button to button. It's quite fun.

Ikea Tastrup Button Rug 

I am still loving the window bench I made. It's very functional and holds a ton of toys and blankets.

 

 

 
Our Ikea pot holder continues to store all things hair-related including head bands, bows, clips, etc. It comes in very handy. We have another one for my 3 year old's room too.

 
This Ikea Lantern is also new. I love the look of it. Perfect shade of pink too.

 

 
I love the new Alphabet Pillow I got from White Plum.

 

 

 

 
I can't believe our nursery's occupant is now 14 months old! Time sure does fly!

 

Paper Scraps Letter Decor

Okay this "project" will only take you 15 minutes. I had bought a letter "E" for my daughter's room a while back at Michael's craft store with a 40% off coupon. The letter was white and had a hole on the back so you could hang it on the wall easily.

 

I am not a huge DIY-er and only like to do projects that have minimal steps and don't take a long time to finish.

 

This was one of those projects.

You will need:

- a letter (whether a cardboard, wood, or some other medium, you can find them cheap at craft stores)

-mod podge glue

-scraps of paper

 

 
I simply put mod podge directly on the letter E then tore up old scrap book paper so the edges would look rough. I didn't use scissors, I wanted it to look torn.

I then placed the scraps of paper on the letter in no particular order or pattern, and put mod podge glue on top of it all and let it dry.

Wahla! An easy project that looks adorable!

Treehouse Museum in Ogden

I took my girls to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. I'd heard about it and we decided last minute to go on a Friday. It was so much fun! It's truly a great place for kids (and adults).

It was a bit of a drive but the girls did fine and the museum is literally right across the street from the new Ogden temple. The open house is going on right now so it was a bit busy around this area, but parking wasn't too bad.

"Treehouse Museum serves children and families by providing interactive, hands-on exhibits and programs focusing on family literacy, children’s literature, the arts, and the humanities. Treehouse seeks to be the magical place where children “Step into a Story."

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All my pictures were taken with my iphone, and most of them turned out blurry, so sorry they are a little hard to look at. 

There were many different cultural homes and dress ups to go along with that culture. There was Mongolia, Germany, Mexico, and other cultures represented. 

  

A fun rodeo spot where Eliza rode horses.

A barn with animals. This cow was awesome. You could really "milk" it and squeeze the utters and water would spray out into the bucket. It was pretty cool.

Gardening and pulling out vegetables.

I was pretty proud of myself for putting this dinosaur puzzle together. 

I think my favorite part of the museum was the Oval Office. It just looked so realistic, and the dress ups were pretty fun. 

Here she is signing an important piece of legislation.

Look out world, here comes a new president!

She looks like Paul Revere here, or maybe Thomas Jefferson.

In the middle of a musical composition, don't bother her.

That sword in the stone just never comes out no matter how much you pull on it.

The "castle" area was pretty fun, full of princess/king/queen/jester dress ups and a bunch of stuff to play with.

Medieval puppet shows.

Our view of the Ogden temple from one of the museum windows.

Chess anyone? 

A quick bathroom selfie while Eliza used the potty (all by herself mind you). 

I'm a sucker for dress ups. I feel they can transport you to any make-believe world in a jiffy. And kids are just so cute in grown up outfits. 

I always wanted to be an astronaut.

Youngest astronaut in space?

Watch out for this police officer, she plays bad cop pretty well.

Another favorite was the "Children's Hospital". She makes a pretty good doctor I think.

Checking on all the babies in the nursery just like Mommy used to do. 

Skeleton mirror.

Abby crawled through these logs about 10,000 times.

The tree house in the middle of the museum was really cool. You could climb all through it.

Eliza liked this Adventure Tower. She climbed up and down it.

Fire chief Eliza to the rescue........

Conductor Eliza will take your tickets now........

We had a really fun time at the Tree house Museum. I couldn't believe we were there for about 3 hours, that's a long time! I wanted to get our money's worth too so we took a long time to explore everything.