And by ‘house’ I mean ‘tent.’
My niece Cora turned one this August and I built her an a-frame tent using this post as my guide. I tell you what: it was not sturdy. Legs all akimbo, no means to control the width of its stance – there was definitely room for improvement, which I finally got around to this past weekend. I added dowel rods to connect the legs at the bottom and ribbons to control how far it would open. I also added a pocket, because what kid doesn’t love pockets? (Or, even better, books about teddy bears with pockets.)
It’s still probably not the most durable thing in the world, but it should last a year or two, provided Cora doesn’t turn into a real bruiser. (And if she does, well, all the better.)
Speaking of kids (smooth segue, right?): children have ruined the ENJE. These awesome, easily-customizable roller shades disappeared from IKEA’s shelves right before we moved into our new place. I have had my fingers crossed they would come back so that I can replace the miniblinds on our living room windows . . . and they did! In the United Kingdom. And the United Arab Emirates. And Taiwan. And Slovakia. And everywhere all over the world, really, except for the United States of America, because American babies can’t be trusted with cords. During a recent trip to the IKEA in Schaumburg, I checked out the new US ENJE, which has a flimsy spring-roller and cheap-looking plastic pull-down tabs:
These shades aren’t even pictured on IKEA’s US website because if they were American babies would start doing research on how to get entangled in them and then IKEA would have to recall them all over again.
Happy Thanksgiving, folks! If I continue the trend of posting only on federal holidays, you can expect my next installment around December 25th.
Project Palermo 