Fancy Fort

Dinky Playhouse 

As a child I always was building forts. Couch forts, weed forts, blanket forts, box forts, hay bale forts. Any type of fort you can think of a child building I've probably built. The ultimate dream fort that I always wanted was a playhouse. Not just one of those dinky pathetic things. I wanted a miniature house.

Dream Playhouse

It was a little beyond my skill set, so I petitioned my dad. Being the oldest and the only girl I had him wrapped around my finger and he promised he would build me  playhouse.  We even went to the equivalent of the Parade of Homes for playhouses so I could get ideas for my grand fort. However, I gave up up on getting one when I reached high school and there was no playhouse in sight.

This past fall when David and I were looking at apartments we found one in our price range, walking distance from campus with just one minor flaw; There was no bedroom. The front door opened up into the front room and there was just enough room for a king size bed, maybe. I wasn't that excited about having the front door open to my bedroom so we got creative. 

The 100 year old house has 9 foot ceilings. Prime vertical space for a fort. So, I drew up plans for a loft bed and presented it to my dad. He added some of his own touches and in a matter of a couple weeks had built me my fort. 

Our Fort

Our couch under our fort
(help up by food storage)

Bookshelves
 

The custom designed stairs/ladder
(my dad's invention)

Office

Our fort has many functions. Sleeping. Lounging. Living room. Library. Laundry sorter. Next to it is a built in desk (custom to fit the unsquared corner) that serves as our office and it is soon to have physical therapy hookups so I can do physical therapy from home for my neck. 

The next improvement for our fort is a white coat of paint. Apparently when my dad built it he offered to paint it using his auto body paint sprayer (which would have taken 15 minutes) and I refused. I'm not sure what I was thinking. In my defense I was engaged. So, for the past few months we have had a plywood and 2x4 fort. I did paint the front white (which took 2 hours), but the rest is begging to be painted, which should happen this week. Next the top will hopefully be carpeted. Most of it is covered by the mattress but there is a small walkway on one side and the bottom of the mattress and carpet would be a nice, homey touch. 

Over all it is a very functional, practical fort and we've enjoyed getting a lot of use out of it. The crowning moment for my fort was when some Relief Society sisters came over to welcome me to the ward. One had a 4-5 year old little girl and as soon as she walked in the door she screamed "Woah! Cool fort!" and promptly explored every facet. Yep, I've got a cool fort. 

I would like to give a special thanks to my dad for building the fort and helping me with all my many crazy projects.