Tour of the Fort

  When we were looking at homes to buy, I remember opening the storage closet under the stairs and saying... "This has so much potential!"  I am  fairly certain our realtor thought I was nuts...

Well, My boys birthdays are the 16th and 17th of August. So,  the week before their birthdays we locked the door  and created this little hide-away in  just 5 days!

 

 So, would you like a tour of  "The Fort"?

 The "Bottom Floor"

  Instead of heading up the stairs, you can duck  under and find this little area. 

 The lower level of the fort is dedicated to toy and play space.  It is complete with a nice clean and convenient toy storage.  I just love organization.  (I am pretty certain my kids may be doomed to a future of OCD.)

  Once you get to the end of the toy storage it splits off the left...  This always surprises everyone!  At the far end they  have  "busy board" and a built in tool bench.

What always shocks people even  more, is  secret room if you continue around the corner!

This fun hideaway has become known as the ball pit...how original.

Complete with wall maze, and basketball hoop.  I would have killed for a place like this when I was little.  In fact  I recall making a "fort"  in the dirt crawl space under our house...  yeah that was gross.

 

Fun fact:  While we were in the midst of  building the fort,  my husband brings in a hammer and says...
Andy-" I want to hit a hole in the wall.."
Me- " Makes sense, Why ? "
Andy- " I want to see whats behind this wall" (pointing to a nicely finished wall)
Me- " Of course you do."

Well his odd curiosity , is what  brought about the ball pit.  We busted down the wall made a door and completely  finished off the space , that was even further under the stairs. (Yes,  this detour project was included in the 5 days we had to finish  it.)


"The Upstairs"

 If you  go up the stairs to the top floor you are greeted by some of the kids favorite characters. 

The evening before their birthday  I stayed up very late working on these guys.  Look how cute  Wall-e is even eating popcorn.   Why is he eating popcorn ?  Because , my dear,  they are...

watching  a movie !  Can I tell you how nice it is to NOT have to watch/hear Curious George ?  It makes all the hard work completely  worth it.
 On occasion Andy and I will crawl up there with the kids and watch a movie.  It is a pretty  big space,  it can actually  fit a twin size mattress...  just ask  my  younger brother. (We may or may not have had him sleep in there.)

 The dvd player is conveniently  located out side the fort in the hidden storage area behind the treetops/curtains.

  My kids love it and when friends come to play,  they all just  stay in there.  It's great.  Not to mention, all of their toys are contained to one place.  They aren't strewn about all over the place.  I love it.

So, do you have an odd size storage space somewhere ?  Maybe you should sort through all the random books that you now have in digital copy,  and clothes that are too small, and make it into a kids hide-away.

 Just a  thought. You will be glad you did.

 Have a great day !