How to Build a Blanket Fort

This Valentine's Day I was fresh out of ideas but knew that, as standard, I didn't want to be one of those couples in some cringey restaurant surrounded by other couples. Luckily, Rosie from The Londoner lent me an excellent idea in the shape of a blanket fort and thus the seed was planted.

I took to Pinterest to gather some ideas and had a vague plan in place but when it came to the actual construction I found myself having to draw heavily from my childhood brain, you know, when fort building was a legitimate past time.

Fortunately the fort room of choice is under the roof and therefore has skylight windows with bars to attach ropes/awnings etc I'm not sure how easy it would be to construct without these. Like I said, when building a blanket fort, you need to get creative.

Remember to stock up on snacks for the fort, along with DVDs (build around your TV - very important).

Start with the structure i.e. ropes/awnings. If you have some time, perhaps learn a few sailors knots so you don't end up cursing at a heap of knots upon deconstruction. Tie your awnings in a cross for your basic tent shape. Then get draping with your sheets and duvet covers. To stop gaps I found hair grips and clips held sheets together well. Once your happy with the tents shape, decorate with cushions and fairy lights. Construction took me about one and a half hours - no, I'm not joking and yes it was worth it.

James in the fort.

Pleased with myself.

Preferably choose a room that you don't need to use on a generally day to day basis, unless you enjoy crawling that is. Either that or build on a weekend so if (when) you fall asleep in the fort you don't wake up at 7am needing your work clothes and realise that they are all housed in an integral part of the forts architecture (wardrobe).

What I used:

• Lots of sheets/duvet covers
• Blankets and cushions
• Random rope type things for the main structure (I used dressing gown cords and fabric waist ties from dresses)
• Lots of clippy coat hangers
• Miscellaneous hair clips and hair grips
• A shoe lace
• Fairy lights

In the slightly more normal Valentines spirit James cooked steak and bought me flowers, then we set up camp with Crazy Stupid Love and ate ourselves to death. It was good.