Some Action Shots of Our DIY Yurt

This past weekend was the last of TRF for us.  Rather sad, but can't wait for next year.  So much fun!  As I promised, I took some action shots of the yurt with it's new table, stools and shelves.



Here is the current setup.  We store our food under the new table with a plastic trash bag over the crate.  The stack of crates on the far right was used as a small trash.  All utensils and other equipment fit nicely in the others.



The shelf hangs from the top of the yurt wall from two ropes.  And, each shelf has notches that rest on knots in the rope.  I will eventually replace this yellow rope with a better one.  I'd like to make another set for the other side of the door.



We set our propane stove on another crate stool or two.  When I was editing the photos I thought the pattern of light the sun made from the top crown opening was kinda neat.  You can also see the white and red dots that shine through the canvas.



Here is the yurt with the walls removed.  We've found that it's best to put the roof canvas on first and take it off last.  This way we get more light but can pack and unpack in the shade. (Many breaks were taken under the shade while working.)  :)  And, yes, everything fit nicely right inside the Jeep with us.



I'd really like to figure out a better bed setup.  I'm thinking I may use some shorter soda crates to elevate our bed off the ground, but also allow us to stack or rearrange it out of the way during the day.  During nice weather we've just been sleeping on the floor where we placed stacks of carpet padding under the carpet for cushion.  It's okay, but probably not good for rainy camping.

Well, that's it, I think.  I'll be posting Harry Potter stuff soon.  We've got an elaborate 2nd year party planned for later this month.  So much to do!

Yurt Improvements: Camp Table & Stools (plus some other stuff)

I've been busy, but found a little last minute time to make some more improvements to/for our yurt. I've posted about Yurtle a couple times.  This time I painted some stools and a small table.



As you may noticed in the pic above, we've been using milk crates in place of chairs for a while now.  We've pretty much given up on those folding aluminum camping chairs everyone has, because our crates don't walk away on their own or get easily broken.  Not to mention crates are dead useful for packing.  They may not be the most comfy things and a little blah to look at. But, with limited space in the Jeep anything that serves more than one purpose gets a better chance at coming with us.



We had some leftover scrap wood from some previous yurt improvements, so we decided to make our crates even more useful by making wood tops for them.  This way they can be used as a table and some stools without having to dump out the contents and turning them upside down to do so.  These stools are a lifesaver when I need to lace boots.  I can also use them as a night stand next to the bed.  They also keep things out of sight when we are walking about.  Plus, I've found that most 13 gallon trash bags will fit perfectly over the crates.  This is great for storing perishables and items we want to keep dry and bug free.  The stool lids are made with a lip that allows them to sit down in the crate to seal it nicely.



Eight crates pack down to a convenient cube or can be rearranged to fit where ever we can get them in.  It's usually always a game of Tetris to get everything to fit in the car.



We normally bring between 6-8 crates depending on how much equipment we need and how long the trip is for.  However, with nine crates we found we can arrange them into taller bar stools and table.  ;)



But, a six or four crate arrangement fits just right inside the yurt with a couple spare stools for guests.  Later I want to go back and paint some black on the stool tops  leaving the border and center flower designs red for more contrast.  But, ideally I want to make some removable cushion covers.  My sis gifted me some black pleather that will work perfectly.

I think the table top is a wee small.  (Would make a perfect Viking shield.)  I would like to make a slightly larger one later, but it works for now.  This table was actually a round piece cut from the center of our new yurt crown you can see below.  We made the table top design to match.



Not long ago after the storm last year at TRF, we redesigned our yurt crown to make it lighter and more secure.  Since we were redoing it anyway, we thought it could use a bit of dressing up.  The cut out design allows better ventilation and light.  A friend said the design resembles a dreamcatcher.  Since we sleep under it, that would be fitting.  :)  We may just be a bit paranoid after last year, but those cables were added to keep the roof members from pulling out in any strong gusts of wind ripping through the door opening.

 Here's a closer look at the crown.

Also made some red shelves that hang on the wall, but I haven't gotten a pic of yet.  I'll try to get some action shots at TRF in the next couple weekends.  Really looking forward to staying in it again!  Now to get some last minute costuming and packing done!

Our Yurtle Got a Face Lift

That's right. Our yurt, which I've been calling "Yurtle", has been undergoing some cosmetic enhancements. You may, or may not, remember the post about building it here.



I've been wanting to paint the white camo top since we finished it. I'd been planning to paint it to resemble a blue turtle shell like those found in the illustrations of Dr. Seuss's "Yertle the Turtle" children's books. However, I was out voted by our family (mainly the daughter) who all wanted a giant mushroom, instead. Oh well, I can be flexible. So, we went with inspiration from the Super Mario video games and painted a red/white pattern loosely based on the Amanita Muscaria.



We also painted the frame red to match, which really livened up the inside. This is actually pretty traditional. We see quite a few yurts online with the red frame.

Additionally, we now have nice wall-to-wall carpet over our tarp floor, when an aunt decided to rip out her carpet to put in hard floors. Score! Then, by pure fortune, I found an awesome bargain on a lovely 10 yard black/gold piece of upholstery fabric for $5! Double SCORE!! :) It is now the inner lining wall. It's getting to be quite a load to hall in our Jeep with all the fabric and such, but I love it. It was wonderful to sleep in this past weekend.



I had stuck little round stickers all over the white patterns in the camo print on top before priming the whole thing in black. Then, I painted the white and red over it. This helped to eliminate the camo print glowing through when we light the inside of the yurt. It turned out really cool. When inside in the daylight the dots light up like white and red stars. And, the outside at night faintly shows the dot stars when the lantern inside is on.

Now, I just need a pretty lamp to hang, instead of the propane Coleman eye sore. I'll also be attempting some mattresses made from the aunt's carpet padding. :) I used some of the padding to make the cushions ontop of the milk crates stools in the second pic above. I'll be covering those with some of the sixty upolstry fabric samples I acquired from another thrift store for another $5. They are beautiful! Should look really cool in the yurt, too. And the crate stools double as containers for our gear.

Can't wait to go camping again here in a couple weeks at TRF. Hope to have the mattresses ready by then. Until next time, happy crafting!

Yurtle, the yurt in progress

Over a few weeks ago my sweety was slaving away building me the frame for our dream home away from home. Is my man a provider, or what?! :)



Looky here! Even has a sky light. :)



Umm, well...okay, so its not exactly a dream home. But, it's pretty cool to me so far. :) It's called a yurt. And, it's based on traditional portable nomadic dwellings used for hundreds of years. Go look them up. You'll be amazed at what is being done with them.

If you've ever tried roughing it the primitive camping way, sans electricity, etc..., you might understand the important of quality shelter. My man is just over 6 foot tall. And most tents just won't due for him. Plus, the weather here can vary drastically from day to day from extreme heat and humidity to down pours of rain to freezing and the very rare snow fall. Well, this baby has 6 ft walls and an 8+ foot center ceiling. We decided to make our first attempt a decently sized 12 foot diameter. And, these yurts are designed for long term shelter in extreme temperatures. They ventilate very well keeping it warm at night and cool during the day.

Additionally, we camp on grounds that can get pretty crowded and crazy with people on walk-abouts tramping though your site tripping on your neighbors guy lines (drunk traps) and into your tent. Our yurt shouldn't give way to the average-sized drunk. I like that I can hang things from the ceiling (like a chandelier if I wanted) without too much worry of it collapsing. I'm going to find myself a full length mirror for dressing when I can manage it.



I sewed the walls and roof covering myself on my vintage 60's "Carl" heavy duty home sewing machine. It did a fantastic job going through all the layers of canvas without a hiccup. Though it was pretty tricky getting all that fabric through the machine, I was even able to flat feld the roof seams (like you see on jeans) to make them stronger and more water tight. :)

We've got a lot to finish on our yurt still. But I thought I'd show you all the progress pics, anyway. I need to add some grommets to the roof cover, finish the flooring and decorate the interior. I plan to paint the coverings to a more traditional look, I think. The camo print just isn't doing it for me. :) But, it was a bargain and kept us dry in the light showers we experienced, so I can't complain too much. We still need a floor over the ground tarp and an inner lining for the walls would be nice when it gets a little colder.



We camped in it twice so far. The pic above was taken our first trip without a finished roof. The frame all fit easily on the roof of our Jeep Cherokee. So far, we average about 2 hours of setup time. Most of which is spent tinkering on things that didn't get done. It was really comfy to sleep in. Even taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon was comfortable in the Texas heat. It was cool to look up at the repeating pattern of the roof members, too.