# Any cool fort ideas?



## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

I've been mulling over some ideas for a fort for my kids, and was wondering what other people here have built. 

Here's a couple that I think would be fun to build. 































I probably have enough scraps to build the tree house one minus the stump.


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## Tinstaafl (Jan 6, 2008)

YMMV, but my experience with doing that wasn't entirely gratifying.

Growing up on the farm, I built my own treehouse when I was about 8 years old, and spent countless hours there. When my boys were around that age, I built one for them, considerably nicer--and they hardly ever used it for anything.

Granted, they had a whole other generation's distractions, but in retrospect I think I'd have done better to "enable" them to pretty much do it themselves.


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## superseal (Feb 4, 2009)

here's ours growing up,...put a half pipe next to the tree house and you'll never see you kids again


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

Tinstaafl said:


> Granted, they had a whole other generation's distractions, but in retrospect I think I'd have done better to "enable" them to pretty much do it themselves.


If your kids are anything like my neice or nephews, if it didn't have WiFi in it, they wouldn't use it. All of them have their face in the phones or ipads constantly - doesn't matter what is going on around them.


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

superseal said:


> here's ours growing up,...put a half pipe next to the tree house and you'll never see you kids again


Did you see that father on the news for pushing his son down the half pipe?


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## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

They're too young now to do it themselves, they will get to help though. 

We will be moving in about a 12-18 months so they'll get another chance then. I'm partly trying to use stuff up to avoid a trip to the dump when we move. 

I built them a volcano with some topsoil I'm saving for landscaping. They love it, their mother on the other hand, not so much.


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## Reg (Dec 15, 2013)

Tinstaafl said:


> YMMV, but my experience with doing that wasn't entirely gratifying.
> 
> Growing up on the farm, I built my own treehouse when I was about 8 years old, and spent countless hours there. When my boys were around that age, I built one for them, considerably nicer--and they hardly ever used it for anything.
> 
> Granted, they had a whole other generation's distractions, but in retrospect I think I'd have done better to "enable" them to pretty much do it themselves.


I like your first sample fort. It looks well made and could double if you need an extra place to put up a guest for the night.


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## Sir Mixalot (Jan 6, 2008)

I built this for my daughter back in 2001 when she was 7. 
It was even drywalled and painted on the inside. :thumbup:


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## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

Reg, the hobbit hole one is cool. It might belong on the tiny house thread though. Since we'll be moving I don't think I want to put a ton of money into it.


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

oh..fort ideas..i gotta get these glasses checked:sad:


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

I had a little side playhouse business for a very brief period of time. I was slammed with orders then all of a sudden it was like nothing. One minute I could not keep up then the next I couldn't get a single call. It was very weird. 

Anyway here are some ideas. I built all of them. They all were movable (with the right amount of muscle) if needed.


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

Here is a girly one...


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

All built to order, or you prebuilt and customers bought what you made.

Very nice and i'll bet a lot of fun.


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## CrpntrFrk (Oct 25, 2008)

jb4211 said:


> All built to order, or you prebuilt and customers bought what you made.
> 
> Very nice and i'll bet a lot of fun.


Just one was pre-built. The rest were ordered. They had their ideas from the net or where ever then had their own ideas on what they wanted. 

It was fun. Was great to see the kids get excited. I was kinda bummed when I stopped doing them. I never expected for it to take off and become a full time business but it was the weirdest thing when I stopped. It was like someone took the phone off the hook.:laughing:


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## jb4211 (Jul 13, 2010)

Your very talented. Great work


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

CrpntrFrk said:


> I had a little side playhouse business for a very brief period of time. I was slammed with orders then all of a sudden it was like nothing. One minute I could not keep up then the next I couldn't get a single call. It was very weird.
> 
> Anyway here are some ideas. I built all of them. They all were movable (with the right amount of muscle) if needed.





Truly some real neat stuff!


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## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

CrpntrFrk said:


> I had a little side playhouse business for a very brief period of time. I was slammed with orders then all of a sudden it was like nothing. One minute I could not keep up then the next I couldn't get a single call. It was very weird.
> 
> Anyway here are some ideas. I built all of them. They all were movable (with the right amount of muscle) if needed.


Those are pretty cool!

I have actually been mulling over the idea to do these on the side. 
With my new job I won't have time to do any finish work during the summer months.


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## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

I've been out of town for a couple if months so not much time for the playhouse. 

But this is what I'm doing.


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## muskoka guy (Nov 16, 2013)

I built a tree fort for my kids when they were small. Used a whole skid of lumber I had acquired over the years. Five years later they grew out of the tree fort as their interests changed to sports and boys. After it sat empty for many years I took it down. My advice to anyone who wants to build a fort for their kids is build a good shed and disguise it as a fort. When the kids grow out of it, at least you still have a good shed. Time goes by faster than you think.


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## deter (Apr 4, 2013)

^agree. I'm actually planning to turn my shed into the "playhouse" so it can be a shed again after the kids are done with it


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## aleceskind (Jun 24, 2014)

When we built a fort in our tree, we just did it with a floor and walls - no roof. This way, it stayed cool during the summer time. We used to have a fort with a ceiling, but it would get hot and stuffy and no one would play in it. When we built the new fort, though, I remember it being THE hangout for all the neighborhood kids. Everyone loved it. It might not "look" as cool, but we loved it. Kids have great imaginations...


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## Sabagley (Dec 31, 2012)

Well I got a little done today. 











But my help got sidetracked.


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