There is something just so timeless about blanket forts. I think blanket forts are actually really, really important to our lives-but are often dismissed as just another day in a kid’s life. A blanket fort is like a right of passage. I feel like a blanket fort is somehow one of those “truly American things” but its not….it is even bigger than America. Just like our LifeOnACouch, the blanket fort is an international phenomenon. The blanket fort knows no boundaries-not geographic, not demographic, not political, race, or religious. Kids love blanket forts. College students love blanket forts. And-admit it or not-adults love blanket forts too.

“Ask not if your furniture can become a blanket fort, ask if your blanket fort can become furniture.”

Its close cousin, the couch fort, is essentially the same thing, but depending on the materials at hand, some couch forts can be constructed by using couch cushions alone. A true couch fort can be as simple as two or three couch cushions balanced on one another providing shelter against threats as such as: monsters, light, darkness, dogs, or even little brothers. Using ropes, pipes, and other devices some have bastardized the art form in order to create these more sophisticated blanket forts. Call me idealistic, but this somehow violates my own childhood definition of what a blanket fort should be. I believe that a true blanket fort should be impromptu, and unplanned. The couch cushions are the bricks and the blankets the mortar.

According to Wikipedia: “A blanket fort is a construction commonly made using blankets, bed sheets, pillows, and sofa cushions. It is also known as a couch fort, pillow fort or sheet fort.” Notice, there’s no mention of ropes, stands, pipes, etc. Tools are for hacks. Everyone should aspire to have a blanket fort, especially one that is clean. Before attempting to build one, you may want to think about having a look for the best upholstery steam cleaner on the market so that your children can have a lot of fun, all without being surrounded by dirt or stains. Which means they can stay in their blanket for a lot longer. Make sure that all of your blankets, bedsheets, and pillows are also clean for maximum experience. For an added special touch, why not use Your Photo on Blanket? Yes, you really can do that now!

The Advent of Sactionals – A New Material for Blanket Forts

Some may say that advancements were made with sectional couches, but I would argue that the first organic technological advancement of this decade made in the blanket-fort-building industry came part and parcel with the advent of Sactionals-a clearly superior piece of furniture for blanket fort building. I know that I’m biased on the topic, but just think about it…

• Sactionals are solid when connected but easily reassembled,
• Sactionals are movable,
• Sactionals are rectangular-making them configurable in different ways,
• Sactionals are stackable, and
• Sactionals are beautiful sofas as their day-job, but really earn their money as a 2-for-the-price-of-one blanket fort builder.

While I may be a purist as to the construction of blanket forts, I am a liberal in terms of what can happen within.

Kids will do strange things in there….mostly, they just like to take things in there. Its kind of like their first apartment. They get to “decorate it” themselves. They get to choose their own appliances, and amenities. Like mini interior designers, they delve into lighting, flooring, wall hangings, the whole composition becomes their domain.

Speaking of which can you remember when you moved into your first property? Some friends of mine have just found an amazing apartment in Toronto and are currently preparing for moving day! It turns out that if you are looking for short term rentals toronto is the place to go! I cannot wait to hear all about how they settle into their new apartment! Let me know about your first home in the comment section.

Back to blanket forts now though. College students do all kinds of things inside a blanket fort-typically taking it to a whole new level. The TV, the X-Box, the Wii, the PS2, they all go in. There’s evidence online of some upper-classmen living in blanket forts for weeks on nothing but pizza and beer. And who knows what else goes on in there? I will say that the Blanket Fort episode of NBC’s Community, will likely never be outdone in terms of capturing the soul of blanket forting for the adult age group. Epic.

We Secretely Want Our Own Fort

Finally, we have the parents-like myself. Are we really building these forts for our children with blankets, with couches, with sectional sofas, or with Sactionals? Aren’t we just waiting “by the phone” for our sons and daughters to ask us? Don’t we secretly all just want to crawl in and cuddle up in there with random items that we love? Based on some of the blanket fort masterpieces I’ve seen on other blogs, for the non-purist, that is, he who can accept a blanket fort using more permanent materials, it is possible for the best of them to withstand a minor hurricane. But as for me in my house-we shall only use Sactionals bases, cushions and blankets. This discipline in blanket fort construction certainly limits the size and stability of the fort, but in the end-were blanket forts really meant to last? I know my friend did something similar with his kitchens and their custom photo blanket blankets.

Maybe like our fleeting childhood blanket forts were just never meant to last. In the immortal words of Robert Frost, “Nothing gold can stay.”

— Shawny

Founder, Lovesac

SHOW ME YOUR BLANKETFORT. TAG IT WITH #LIFEONACOUCH IN ANY SOCIAL MEDIA!

Follow me on Twitter! https://twitter.com/Shawny_Nelson

Every morning before 7am our 5-year-old daughter, Lucky, is up and at em. It was lovingly annoying when she used to climb into bed and try to cuddle, or share her meandering dreams from the night before. But somehow (maybe she took the hint) she has taken to spending more than an hour each morning–completely on her own–making crafts of various sorts downstairs at the kitchen table. Here is what I discovered when I returned home from an early morning run today:

Letters to her friends

I’m really pretty amazed that with iPads and iPhones, TVs and toys all over the house, Lucky chooses to spend her time doing stuff like this. I’m pretty sure I would have been watching cartoons.

Early morning crafts

She may be at the kitchen table…but this kind of thing is what I mean by #LifeOnACouch

— Shawny

I find that the Christmas Tree always takes up so much more space than it seems to in my head. This is how we used (or un-used) our Lovesac Sactionals to make room for the tree in my own home….

Sactionals by Lovesac are easily moved, stacked, and stored to make room

— Shawny

Today would have been my grandpa’s 98th birthday. He loved Lovesac. Every time I’d come around he’d do a little dance and sing, “The Lovesac’ll getchya if you don’t watch out…” He was so proud to see me & my cousins building a company together.

As my grandpa got older and eventually passed away a few years back, it gave me pause to reflect on my own life and what I might become. His funeral was packed. Sure I come from a huge extended family, but I didn’t even know half of these people. But I did know that every one of them had one thing in common for sure: In life, my grandpa had most certainly had made them laugh, smile, or just feel great about themselves. What legacy would I leave? That’s a tough act to follow.

My grandpa was an entrepreneur – but he never really “made it.” My grandpa was an entertainer, a vaudeville singer and dancer, a natural (completely untaught) master on the piano – but he never went pro. My grandpa built housing developments, once had his own TV show, was the state bowling champ, tried his own info-mercial, and generally drove my grandmother crazy. But regardless of whatever “successes” he had or didn’t have in life, when I saw the genuine emotion on the faces of so many people who would miss this character-of-a-man-despite his having never achieved any real fame or fortune in life-I realized how much more it meant that he had just led a good, good, good life. He had lived a life of service, a life of joy, a life full of laughter, and full of love.

By the time I really got to know him as an adult he spent most of his time on the couch. I most often caught him on his avocado green barca-lounger watching golf, or football, or reruns of old BYU games (I suspect he might have had a bet on a site like ATS.io every once in a while too – I suppose you gotta do something wild every now and then!). I finally came to kind of envy him. I was being run ragged by a crazy business that made no money and sucked up my entire life. But he had made it. He had just made it to the couch. He could rest easy-having never materially damaged anyone and having never sacrificed his fundamental principles. That was enough.

Just making it back to retirement on the couch in an old body-worn out from a life of service and love. That’s #lifeonacouch.

I should be so lucky.

— Shawny