DIY No-Sew TeePee - Sincerely, Marie Designs

Like most kids, Charlie absolutely loves blanket tents or forts. There is something so fun about them. My brother and I would build them all the time when we were kids. What’s even better than a blanket fort in your living room, one that doesn’t have to come down! Like many of you know, I love Pottery Barn. I just don’t always love their prices. I’ve recreated many things that I’ve seen there for very little. When I saw their teepee in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog I knew I could make one of my own for a lot less.

Isn’t it just great! They want a whopping $249! Not to mention Charlie doesn’t have a massive bedroom space to put it in.

We made our teepee a little smaller to fit our space and we made it for an awesome $23! It took just a Saturday. You could make one within a hour or so but we decided to stain our poles. I already had the rope and stain on hand.

Here’s what you need:

4- Wooden dowels 1.75″x6′ or 4- 2″x2″ at 6′ long (which is what we used. They’re much cheaper.)

Rope of your choice

9×6′ Drop cloth

We started by staining our poles. We cut a 45º angle at the bottom of the poles so that they would sit flush on the floor. This angle might be different for you depending on how wide your teepee will be. We then drilled a hole through each pole about 1 foot from the top. Make your hole big enough to feed your rope through. We put our teepee together in the space it was going in to make sure it was the right size for that space.

Next feed your rope through two of your poles. We started with the two poles in the front.

We used a little tape at the end to feed it through more easily.

We wrapped the rope around the two poles once or twice and stapled it to add some stability while we adjusted the other poles.

Make sure you staple it down in a place that will be covered up by the rope in the end.

We stapled some rope to each pole around the bottom to hold the shape we wanted while we worked. We made our opening 44″ wide and the back 22″ wide. This shape allowed us to push it back enough to fit in the corner of the room. This was the most frustrating part of this DIY, I’m a perfectionist and wanted my sides all to be the same length. My smart husband came up with the rope at the bottom to solve that problem!

We removed this rope after we put the drop cloth on.

We wrapped the rope around the top once we had the poles the way we liked them. Weave the rope through the poles first to make it more stable. Then wrap the rope around the outside several times until it’s how you like it.

I started with the drop cloth from the back of the teepee. Find your middle point and place a screw and washer at the top of your pole.

I then wrapped the drop cloth around and pulled and tucked until I got it the way I liked it. I tucked the excess cloth under the bottom of the poles. Which worked out great because I don’t have to worry about the poles scratching up the wood floors. Win win!

I place a screw and washer at the tops and bottoms of each pole to hold the fabric in place. If you’re a good sewer you could easily make yours. I envy those who sew well. It’s not my talent so I used what worked for me! Once all your screws are in place, your finished! There you have it, a perfectly fun teepee!

We hung an awesome fire fly light jar from the center of our teepee. You can’t tell in the photo but it flickers just like a real jar of firefly’s would.