DIY Kids' Teepee for SIXTEEN bucks!!

I have been working on Baby Girl's nursery a lot lately and feel like I have been neglecting Beckham's room... I know he doesn't care either way but something about leaving old-lady-ish wallpaper up in a little boy's room that feels like child neglect to me...

I have been "pinning" ideas for Becks' room that have a sort of wilderness theme to them and thought that I would keep with that theme and build him a teepee.

I looked at a lot of "how-to"s and got some ideas but ultimately sort of did my own thing and I'm really happy with the results!

I started out by going to Lowe's and purchased a 6X9 foot canvas drop cloth for $10.98, this is a STEAL for how thick and high quality this canvas is, literally the perfect material for a teepee and I daresay it would even work outdoors because it is so durable.

Materials Needed:
Four 1"X2"X6' boards
One Canvas Dropcloth 6'X9'
Hemp or Twine or Rope
Drill (to make the holes for twine)
Estimated Cost: <$20
Estimated Time: <60 min

I looked and looked at different types of wood to use as the frame and ended up talking to an associate and found out about furring boards (which I had somehow never heard of) that are super cheap (1"X2"X8' for $1.13ea!) and more sturdy than a lot of the other types of wood I had been looking at. They're a lot like 2X4s but cut much smaller.

When I got home I had my hubby cut the furring boards down to 6' ea (FYI they will do this for you at the store but it costs $.25 for each cut, just keep that in mind) and drilled a hole in the top of each about 3.5" from the top. I then took twine and wrapped it around each board, putting it through the hole and tying it securely, then wrapped around the next and so on until the top was really tight.

I took the canvas and draped it over the frame until I was happy with the shape, I didn't cut off any excess because I wanted the fabric to have some give for when the kiddos are playing in it (and also I really liked the finished edges and didn't want to have to take the time to sew them after I cut) so I just tucked the corners under and they were eventually covered with pillows and blankets- easy peasy!

I cut small slits in the fabric on either side of each part of the frame and then wrapped the twine twice around the wood, threading it through the slits finishing by tying a cute bow in the front. I did this twice in the front, once at the bottom and then again about 24" up to help secure the flap opening.

I finished by adding a pennant banner that I made from scrap fabric I had and hot-gluing it to the same twine, wrapping 3 times around the top of the teepee.

The moment the boys got up this morning they were all over this thing and so far it is holding up perfectly, which is pretty amazing considering how rough boys play. I saw lots of cute inspiration for this and the girl's ones were some of my faves so I will probably be making another one in the future for Baby Girl.

I hope this post was helpful to you and you can find the time {ONLY AN HOUR!!} and money {ONLY SIXTEEN BUCKS!!} to make one for your own little campers.

xoxoCas