Pirate Fort = Cardboard + Duck Tape + Paint

I think this project was proof (as if people needed anymore) that I am a bigger kid than my daughter. My daughter (2y6m at the time) was over at my parents on her "little holiday". I was having some "me time", and my friend rang and asked if she could pop over as she was local. Great. So most mums would probably have a cup of tea, go somewhere cultural, or maybe do something grown up. Get a manicure. What do we do? We decide, rather spur of a moment style, to build a fort. I had thought of doing it with my toddler, but it was a project I wanted to get done in one go, rather than with a little one "helping".

Yes, this really was my project, not my daughter's. She did help me paint a door though.

1) We looked at all the materials we had to hand. Basical;y lots of cardboard and duck tape. We talked a lot about the "structural integrity" of the fort (neither of us are engineers), but the fort survived a month of play by my little one. I think that's down to the sheer around of duck tape we used though.

2. The finished product (unpainted). We decided to go for the stable door look as my daughter looooves opening and shutting doors. We also wanted a window on the other side, as she loves playing "Shop" at the moment. I had a lot of material left over from when I was doing lots of DIY projects when I was pregnant.

I actually had a ton of styrofoam too; we were thinking of making a soft floor for my daughter . We decided not to annoy my husband to hell though, as the white plastic buffs would end everywhere (he's the neat freak in the house, not me)

3. Paint it together when sprogling arrived back. Actually, I only let her do a door. This was my project after all! 

The curtains were made by stabbing holes into the cardboard and threading with ribbon for curtain cord. I really wanted to put a pair of boxers as the flag a la Moomin, but decided against it in the end.  A pirate flag is way cooler.