Interior of the assembled tent.

This is part two of my DIY living room pup tent walkthrough. If you haven’t checked out DIY Living Room Pup Tents: Part One (or the original post this idea is based on), head over there and read that now. Go ahead, I’ll wait!

Assembling the Frame

Mitre the Posts

In order for the tent to sit flat on the ground, mitre the post feet at 22.5°. The original tents I’m working from mitred the top of the posts for aesthetics, but I’m applying the same technique to the base for a little more stability. To get the cut perfect, I’m using scrap PVC and a clamp to align the posts while making the cut (Fig. 1). You could make this cut prior to staining, but I found it was easier to work with the boards with both ends square.

Fig. 1: Mitre the ends of the posts at 22.5° to allow the tent to sit flat.

Attaching the Stringer

I made a small blank from scrap stringer stock, and traced the outline of the stringer on the posts.  Clamp two posts together and trace the outline of the blank. This represents where the stringer will connect with each post (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2: Use a 1x3" blank to trace an outline for the stringer position.

Drill two holes inside the outline of the stringer (Fig. 3). It’s also a good idea to start each screw in place to prepare for attaching the stringer.

Fig. 3: Pre-drill the holes for the stringer screws.

The sheets we’re using have a larger hem at one end. I opened the stitching on the sides of the large hem and fed a stringer through the sheet. With one end of the sheet connected this way, you need only staple the other end. Carefully connect the post to the ends of each stringer by setting the screws (Fig. 4). Take care; it’s easy to split the ends of the stringers and posts if you’re off-center or muscle it together too much.

Fig. 4: Carefully screw the posts to the stringer.

Securing the Sheet

With the stringers attached and the sheet connected at the large-hem end, you can attach the posts to the PVC joist, and all that remains is attaching the open end of the sheet. The easiest way to secure the sheet is to open the tent completely flat, and wrap the loose end of the sheet around the remaining stringer. I secured the sheet with staples (Fig. 5). Don’t pull the sheet too snug, or you’ll end up with a bow in the PVC pipe; a bit loose is fine.

Fig. 5: Wrap the sheet around the exposed stringer and attach with staples.

Finishing Touches

In the original post’s comments, someone wondered what kept the tent from opening flat and falling on a child (which seems like a valid point). So, in the interest of not scaring the bejeesus out of the kids under a collapsed tent, I added a small length of chain to the edges of the posts on one end (Fig. 6). This discourages the tent from opening flat.

Fig. 6: Cut a small length of chain and attach to sides of the posts to prevent the tent from opening flat.

Lastly, to prevent the posts from traveling laterally down the PVC joist, I cut the ends off two PVC caps and positioned them inside the posts along the pipe (Fig. 7). I glued them in place with regular-duty PVC glue. This is probably overkill, but I wasn’t sure how everything would loosen up or expand over time, so it can’t hurt.

Fig. 7: Cut the end off a cap and glue in position inside the posts to prevent the posts from sliding laterally along the PVC.

Final Thoughts

I think the finished product looks really great, and only time will tell if they get the seal of approval from the kiddos. The best part is they fold nearly flat for storage (Fig. 8) — and Maherly discovered a great second use for the folded tents, but that’s a post for a different day…

Fig. 8: The tents fold nearly-flat for storage.

The Finished Tents

The pair of finished living room pup tents.

Last week (probably via Pinterest) Maherly came across this awesome example of a DIY a-frame pup tent — perfect for impromptu forts or VIP movie nights. The end product looks pretty cool, and while my attempt doesn’t stray too far from the original, there were some gaps in the post’s detail that left me with a few questions. So I decided to take a crack at making a couple and documenting it here. Be sure to check out the original post; none of this would have happened without it!

This post is Part One: I’ll prep the material and finish the wood. In Part Two I’ll assemble the frame and attach the sheet.

Building the Frame

Cut to Length

I started with medium-grade 1″x3″ pine. No need to go top-shelf, but since they’ll be exposed in the room I stayed out of the bargain bin. I ripped two 8′ boards down to four at 48″ long (Fig.1).

Fig. 1: Two (2) 1″x3″s, clamped, cut to 48″

Drill for the Crossbar

The ¾″ PVC crossbar I chose has an outside diameter of ⅞″, so I drilled a ⅞″ hole through two boards at a time. The center of the hole is 2½″ from the end of the board, on center. Aside from a nice cosmetic detail, it’s important to offset the crossbar a few inches from the end of the boards, rather than close to the top. The overall assembly will be a bit stronger, but more importantly, twin sheets aren’t exactly 96″ long (despite the measurements on the label). The extra few inches will ensure your sheet will fit over the whole assembly (and not be too short).

Fig. 2: Drill a ⅞″ hole for the ¾″ crossbar.

Route the Edges

Our kids are still pretty small, and sharp corners aren’t going to do us any favors, here. So I departed from the original design by routing all the edges with a ¼″ roundover bit (Fig. 3). As evidenced by the pic, my router and I are still coming to terms with each other, but nothing a little sanding won’t fix. If you don’t have a router or prefer the look of clean lines, I’d recommend moving on to a healthy sanding.

Fig. 3: Route all edges with a ¼" roundover bit.

Sand, Then Sand Again

To get a nice finished look and clean up any router trails, I sanded everything in two phases: a first pass with a medium-grit (100) paper (Fig. 4), and a second finishing pass with a fine-grit (180). The result is super-smooth — splinters, be damned!

Fig.4: The frame routed (left) and sanded (right).

Prepare for Finish

The original design left the wood unfinished (I think), but I decided to finish the frame with a stain/poly all-in-one. You could paint the wood, but the natural opening and closing of the tent might hasten the paint toward rubbing off. To prep the lumber for stain, wipe it clean with a damp cloth (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Wipe down the boards with a damp cloth

Apply the Stain

I chose a Minwax stain/poly all-in-one (Fig. 6) in Bombay Mahogany Gloss (a deep, reddish-brown), and applied it with cheesecloth.

Fig. 6: Choose a good quality stain/poly all-in-one to save time.

;

The boards are a manageable 4′ long, so it didn’t take much time to apply two good coats (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7: Apply at least two quality coats of stain.

Cut the Stringers and PVC

The frame gets strength and support from the stringers — pieces of lumber running the depth of the tent that serve double-duty by keeping the sheets tight. I chose a depth of 4½′ for our tent — slightly shorter than the originals. A shorter base (in this case) will strengthen the frame, and using 1″x3″ stock means some savings on the wallet. I have enough lumber for two tents, so I clamped four boards and chopped them to 52″ long (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Clamp four (4) 1″x3″s and cut to 52″.

The PVC joist ties the frame together and holds the sheet up. For a depth of 54″, cut the PVC to at least 54½″ to allow some overhang for the end caps (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9: Cut the PVC to 54½″, or slightly longer than the depth of your tent.

Finish With Spray Poly

To finish the exposed pieces of the frame you could add another couple coats of stain/poly, but I cut right to the chase with a spray-able polyurethane. Following the directions on the can, I added two coats of polyurethane to the frame, giving it a nice gloss and protecting it from crayons and markers (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10: Apply spray-able polyurethane to the frame.

And that wraps up part one! Let everything dry, and come back later this week to put it all together!

But no matter. This needs to be said; you need to know this: the two best songs of February 2012 were by Destiny Hope Cyrus and Kesha Rose Sebert. And, yes — that’s Miley and Ke$ha to you, me, and Us Weekly.

Both songs appear on the massive, 70+ tracked, Bob Dylan tribute album, Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan. Previously the only thing these three had in common was a pension for stage names (with apologies to the dollar sign in Ms. Sebert’s otherwise given name). Devoted fans of neither Miley nor Ke$ha will enjoy these songs, but anyone who dares venture beyond their Earbuds of Pop will. Miley — who cannot sing by any traditional measure of quality — stays within her range (and Dylan’s, btw…) on the plaintive, stripped “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” And Ke$ha, with her flair for the dramatic, takes to Method acting for her raw cover of “Don’t Think Twice (It’s Alright).”

Alright, top three; ish gets real. If “North Dakota” is the ‘night before’ and “Nobody Knows Me” is the ‘morning after’, then Ensenada is the reason why and the end result.

You can offer to the righteous
The good that you have won
But down here among the unclean
Your good work just comes undone

There’s a ton in this song, from riffs on Orpheus to the Divine Comedy to the Bible, but it all boils down to Man’s fall and missing the chance for redemption. These aren’t ‘cheating’ songs; they’re spirituals.

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

By all accounts, Loudon was a terrible parent (and husband). But what he lacked in moral fiber he made up for (if it’s possible) in songwriting. The doting dad watches his little girl with a pride that boasts: “That’s my daughter in the water, who’d have ever thought her?”

Every time she blinks
she strikes somebody blind.
Everything she thinks
blows her tiny mind.

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

There’s not a lot of overly happy songs on my top ten, and this is no exception. It was between this and “Used Cars,” but this one just gets right at it. Bruce Springsteen’s “Highway Patrolman,” from the famously underrated Nebraska record, tells a Cain-and-Abel-esque story of a farmer-cop and his “no good” brother.

Me and Franky laughin’ and drinkin’. Nothin’ feels better than blood on blood. Takin’ turns dancin’ with Maria as the band played “Night of the Johnstown Flood.” I catch him when he’s strayin’ like any brother would; man turns his back on his family, well, he just ain’t no good.

Springsteen’s storytelling was never sharper than here in the climactic verse, as the narrator is forced to choose between duty and family and somehow still finds the gray in between. He never does turn his back on his family; but he does chase it away.

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

If “North Dakota” is the night before, “Nobody Knows Me” is the morning after. The man strays, swearing “there weren’t nothing to it,” but regret reveals the cost of losing all the little things: “eggs over easy, a flour tortilla, sleeping in on Sunday.” The economy of language here is gorgeous.

But it was a dream made to order
South of the border
And nobody knows me like my baby
And she cried man how could you do it
And I swore that there weren’t nothing to it
But nobody knows me like my baby

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

“Hey citrus, hey liquor, I love it when you touch each other.” In two verses, Craig Finn crafts an ode to the modernist’s trinity: drugs, god, and sex; all in a song that started as a lullaby. If addiction will turn on you, then love will get you out. And if you’re addicted to love, well… that’s a different song…

I feel Jesus in the clumsiness of young and awkward lovers.
I feel Judas in the long odds of the rackets on the corners.
I feel Jesus in the tenderness of honest, nervous lovers.
I feel Judas in the pistols and the pagers that come with all the powders.

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

For me this is the unaffected anthem of growing up in the 90′s. Pavement purists will hipster-check me for picking a single, but the song just peels out and never stops rolling over itself. Great power pop.

Advertising looks and chops a must
No big hair!!
Songs mean a lot
When songs are bought
And so are you-
Bitch, rant down to the practice room

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.

The first of three Lovett songs in my top ten; “North Dakota” sets up the portrait of the doomed relationship. Nobody does regret so deeply and peacefully as Lyle.

The boys from North Dakota, they drink whiskey for their fun
And the cowboys down in Texas, they polish up their guns
And they look across the border to learn the ways of love
…
So I drank myself some whiskey.
And I dreamed I was a cowboy.
And I rode across the border.

This post is part of the Ten Greatest Songs Of All Time, according to me, a pretentious bastard.