DIY Play Tent

For Christmas I really wanted to get Archie a play tent, but the ones I had seen were well out my price range, So of course I knew I could make one and so I did for less than £20!! As a lot of materials and tools I needed I already had thankfully.
Come Christmas Day after Archie opened his presents I took him to his room, were I set his tent up, and his face lit up! made all the hard work and stressing so worth it!!!


Materials

Battening timber - £8 per pack  - Wickes
White under coat
White gloss
Butterfly bolts
Used sky blue tab top curtains -£5 Ebay
Screws
Saw
Drill Gun
Compressor staple glue
Staples
left over materials from cushions
Measuring tape
Sand paper
Broom handle
Needle and thread
Bed sheet

Time Taken

Approx. a week as again I had to work around my son

1). First I got some timber from my local Wickes and measured them all to equal size and began to saw them down. Once this was done I sanded all the edges down so they were nice and around and there was no sharp edges.

2). Next I drilled out some pilot holes on the ends of the timber ready to drill the screws in without the wood splitting. After they was all connected I choose a point I wanted to 2 pieces of timber at each end to meet to make a cross and drilled this and connected them with a butterfly bolt ( I chose these so they can easily be un-done by an adult and you can collapse the tent to create space again ).

3). I then undercoated the frame and glossed it ( this took a few coats of each ) and cut down a broom handle and painted this as I used this for the top support that the held up the curtains.

4).  I found an old blue bed sheet and pinned it to the back of the frame and measured it all up to cut off any excessive material ready for it to be stapled later on.

5). After that I created  a seem at the bottom of the curtains to thread through the bottom of the frame, which I had to un-done the frame, Very time consuming.

6). Lastly I stapled the back material on and used the left material I had from some pillows I made out of Archie's old blankets to create bows and stapled them on the front of the frame and FINISHED!