In the Home is all about interior design and making your cozy space your own with a strong emphasis on conscious living.

The cold has finally hit Berlin with yesterday seeing temperatures of -10 degrees C. Now I’m just waiting for the snow. Now I do not know about you, but colder temperatures always prompt me to want to up my cozy game (which to be honest, is pretty a tall order seeing as I am a pretty cozy mother fucker as it is. When I am not running LFB or out on photoshoots, I am working as a professional cuddler and blanket burrower. It’s a thing, I promise!) One way to raise the stakes however, is to build the best goddamned adult fort ever. So this Saturday, grab your friends, a shit ton of blankets and sheets, and build yourself a fort. (Sidenote: Did you know it is near impossible to find flat sheets in Germany? Like they just don’t exist! Does this mean German children do not grow up building forts? I need answers.)

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

How to build the best fort ever

Now, in addition to having been an avid fort builder as a kid, I actually kind of have recent legitimate street cred when it comes to building adult forts as I actually lived in one for a few months during college. To make a long story short, I moved in with some friends over the summer while working at a restaurant and interning for our college town’s newspaper, but the house only had two rooms. Using some ingenuity that would make Macgyver jealous, I built myself a fort which afforded me the privacy that I needed. Therefore, I feel as if I am qualified to impart on you a bit of my wisdom…

1: Choose your company
Hanging out in a fort all day is awesome. Hanging out in a fort with awesome people is even better. Call up your best friends, get them to come over, and get to work! The more people, the quicker that fort is going up and the sooner y’all get to burrow inside.

2: Lighting is everything
Part of the appeal of fort building being bathed inside the cozy glow from the inside your own little cave. Pull out your Christmas lights from storage, and string them up inside your fort for extra lighting, turn off any other lights from outside your tent, grab a flashlight, a classic ghost story book, and relive your childhood.

3: Entertainment
When I was a kid, we didn’t have laptops or the internet (I’m old, I know.) Still, that didn’t stop me from building some pretty epic forts in my day full of hours of entertainment. I simply gave no fucks and just carried my television with me into my fort, plugged it into a nearby outlet, turned the dial to Saturday morning cartoons watching and marvelled at my handywork. Things are a lot easier for fort builders everywhere these days. All you need to do is grab your portable device (laptop, ipad, etc) fire up the Netflix, and get to work!

4: Stock up on sustenance
Be sure to stock up on the necessary goods before retiring to your fort for the evening: chips, cookies, hot tea in the thermos, etc. will get you through the day and into the night. Because nothing goes better with Netflix than food. Who’s with me?

5: Bring in the Big guns
As my fort in college was actually temporary housing for me, one of the friends I was living with was kind enough to lend me his air mattress which made a world a difference. Having a proper place to sleep if important if you are staying anywhere for an extended amount of time, but there is no reason not to blow up an air mattress for a lazy weekend of fort madness if you have one lying around.

Are you a fan of adult fort building? What kind of tips do you have when it comes to building forts?

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

forts from pinterest - lovefromberlin.net

sources: One and Two: designlovefest.com | Three: thejungalow.com Four: weddingchicks.com | Five: pillowthought.com | Seven: wikihow.com Eight: etsy.com | Nine: Ikea | Ten: Kristen Drozdoski | Eleven: tumblr Twelve: Lisa Horten Thirteen: indiejanephotogarphy.com | Fourteen: quietworldcreative.blogspot.com Fifteen: unknown


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Stay conscious, Rae

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January’s lovely sponsors: Adventures of an Anglophile | Yellow Icing

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Rae Tilly

Rae the EIC of LFB and YEOJA Magazine. She is also a photographer and social media influencer.

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  • Yellowicing

    I love a good fort! As a kid I loved nothing better, and it’s a mindset I’ve brought with me into adulthood, it’s the best! I actually wrote a blog post about it over the summer too and spent ages trawling Pinterest to give myself real fort envy!

    Lucy x- Yellowicing

    • rae

      Fort building was seriously the best – I am definitely planning on doing a fort building staycation with friends this year! And awesome, send me the link, would love to take a look at it. Did you get my email by the way?!

      • Yellowicing

        Here’s the link:
        http://yellowicing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/blanket-fort-pinteresting.html?m=1

        I emailed you back on Sunday but got a notification error, I wasn’t sure if the whole email didn’t send or just one of the attachments, did you get my reply? I sent you a tweet the other day about it, hope you got it but if not let me know and I’ll re-send!

        • rae

          Nice, will definitely have to take a look at your post later! And oh no! Maybe try emailing me at raetashman@gmail.com ? Unfortunately I did not receive any twitter messages as well?! Did you send it to @lovefromberlin?

          • Yellowicing

            Yes I did, but just checked and maybe it’s something to do with my settings as my tweets are protected right now! Doh!
            I’ve just resent the email, hope you get it. If not I’ll resend it tonight from my laptop.

  • Ooh,I loved building forts when I was a kid! My brother,my cousin and I were always making forts throughout the whole house when our parents were out of town. And that meant huge forts connected with tunnels made out of sheets and chairs(although I kind of doubt that I could crawl under the chairs so successfully nowadays haha) and it was amazing! We often liked to pretend that we are a zombie repelling unit of sort x) Ahh,I miss it.

    • rae

      Sounds like so much fun! I used to build one on the upstairs hallway and covered part of the stairs too and made my parents “knock” lol. We have these family friends who have 5 kids a bit older than me and we used to go to their house and build the coolest forts by turning over sofas so it was literally a two level fort. If you miss it, you should totally build an adult fort!

  • Rajwant Kaur Singh

    Beautiful inspirations and such great tips
    I love the thought of cosying up all day with family and friends, not sure about telling ghost stories though!

    What Raj Wants

    • rae

      So glad that you enjoyed these photos and found the tips useful! You should totally do it (with or without ghost stories!)

  • Great post very creative.

  • Aw I used to love building forts with my brother! Those were the good ‘ol days. I’d love to have a little tea party in a fort. Seriously inspired to go and do just that now!

    xx Carina

    • rae

      Aww a tea party inside of a fort sounds absolutely sublime!

  • This is so cool! I wish I could be a little kid again.

    x Karen
    http://dressinginlabels.blogspot.com

    • rae

      Right? I think we all wish we could be kids again sometime!

  • Actually reevaluating my teenhood right now because why have I never though of building forts with my friends?! I used to do them as a child with my siblings but have never thought of doing it again. I completely should. Fairylights included. Loving the inspo as usual, Rae! May snow come your way!

    May | THE MAYDEN | bloglovin’

    • rae

      Totally, do it! And snow has come my way finally! Berlin is covered in a beautiful dust of snow!

  • These fort ideas look so pretty! I haven’t build one in 10 years haha!

    Sarah | What Sarah Writes

    • rae

      Sounds like you definitely need to build one asap then! Haha.

  • Monique | WritingMonique

    How incredible are these photos?! Such a great idea, as well! I should definitely create a fort!

    WritingMonique

    • rae

      So glad you liked these photos and this post!

  • Oh such amazing fort inspos! If I had that I would never leave haha. Great tips on the lighting and ambience, makes all the difference! :) xo~ Lena

    http://www.felinecreatures.com

    • rae

      Glad you liked this inspiration, Feline!

  • Well this is just adorable and I absolutely want one!!

    xo Annie
    http://www.laircake.com

    • rae

      You should totally build one, lady!

  • I’m so in love with this post. Oh my. These look incredible. Can someone build this with me??

    Love,
    Hannie Arden from Missing Wanderer.

    • rae

      So glad you enjoyed this post and yes! You should totally find some friends and build a fort this afternoon!

  • Forts feels so nostalgic, you have these moments that you spent on that fort, worth remembering.

    12/15′ Looks X Resolutions ~ Styleccentric Fashion’ | BLOGLOVIN

    xo, Alyssa

  • Wow love the look of these Dens! I make similar for my children to hang out in. It’s fun! Gemma x
    http://www.jacquardflower.uk

    • rae

      So glad you enjoyed this post!

  • so basically i need to build a fort right now! all these forts are cozy and cute and just look like so much fun! thanks for the inspiration!

    lavishingg.net

    • rae

      do it!!!!

  • See, now if I could manage to build forts like those I’d be set for life and I would never, ever leave. My forts still resemble the ones I made as a kid, with chairs and large objects being used to keep up the blankets (I can never figure out how to hang things from the ceiling properly). BUT NOW I’M INSPIRED and I will make a badass, beautiful fort.

    And such a good tip on bringing enough sustenance. Once you enter the fort, chances are you’ll never leave again, so better have enough to last you for a few hours haha.

    Hope you’re staying warm and happy new year! :)

    JennifHsieh

    • rae

      Right? I do not think I would ever leave either! I mean with netflix and ordering in, who needs to ever leave the house? Especially now that Berlin has finally gotten winter and it has been -10C lately! You should totally try to build an adult-style fort, I bet it would be beautiful! Happy New Year, darling!

  • Man, I loved building forts when I was a kid. And even somewhat recently. Sometimes when I go to my friend’s place she and I will make a fort around the TV in her living room (so that we don’t disturb her bf who may be working in the next room.. or so he doesn’t disturb us haha). Netflix, piles of cushions and some snacks and we’re set. This post has inspired me to try adding some lighting next time to make it extra cozy!

    • rae

      Yeah man, Netflix totally ups the fort-building came so much. If only we had netflix as children, haha! And sounds like so much fun! Glad to see you guys have not lost that spark of whimsy in your life!

  • Love this post, it just makes me want to be a kid again and make a fort!!

    Lauren x | http://www.laurenapowers.blogspot.com

  • Such a fun blog post! I really enjoyed it :) Thank you for sharing Rae!

    Jac Fleurant
    http://www.herwearabouts.com

    • rae

      So glad you enjoyed this read, Jac!

  • This was such a fun read! I also love you inspirations! -Maireem

    My Fair Autumn | Instagram

    • rae

      Glad you enjoyed it, Maireem!

  • The idea of a fort made me smile like an idiot! Reminds me of those days where me and my cousins would ‘hide’ under a huge piece of blanket and chairs for 1 minute and called it a night then crawled out as if it was the next morning :) And nope no big guns as we were lucky enough to have blankets without holes! If I were to built a fort with them now, it would be a fabulous one hahaha x

    Real Life Nerd // http://www.vivienekok.com

    • rae

      Yes!!! Your story made me smile! I love the fact that so many of us who come from different places and different backgrounds all have similar childhood stories and memories in common! Fort building is seriously the best!

  • Beauty Follower

    WOnderful photos… cosy way to relax!

    Wishing you a wonderful new year dear :)

    http://beautyfollower.blogspot.gr/

    • rae

      Thanks so much!

  • Hello,

    So beautiful ! :D

    Sarah, http://www.sarahmodeee.com/

  • Angela Donava

    Amazing post!

    Happy New Year!

    Angela Donava

    http://www.lookbooks.fr/

  • Love this inspo! I remember making forts as a kid – great times and thanks for bringing back a load of happy memories :) x

    Pop over to my blog!

    Sarah
    sarahinks.co.uk

  • So beautiful….but I would NEVER leave!!

    Merrissa / Rad Maverix

  • Omgosh I used to love building forts as a kid!!! Such a great post!!! Xxoo

  • Samantha Mariko

    I remember doing a photo shoot a couple years back with a fort as a prop! these are all so cute, and cozy for sure!
    http://www.samanthamariko.com

  • So inspired

    kisses Adela Acanski

  • Wow, wow wow. They look amazing! Beth x

    http://www.ohsoaugust.com

  • Wonderful photos, thank you for this beautiful inspiration :-)

    http://soalicepl.blogspot.fr/

  • Awesome inspirations! <3
    http://www.meriwild.com

  • Marisa Wij

    thank you for posting this! i feel so inspired after reading your post <3<3

    marisa
    http://summersnackies.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/update-update-update.html

  • Forts are THE best thing ever! I built so much of these when I was a kid and seriously it was so much fun! I haven’t made another while being an adult, but why not? héhé…
    What?! -10° in Berlin?! So cold…

    Laura | http://www.furiouslychic.ch/

  • Daiana Abagnale

    I love this kind of bedroom! Mine is similar :) love this post!
    Have ah happy New Year!
    http://dasynka.com/

  • Your photos make me not wanna leave my own, cozy fort like…never ? xD thanks a lot, I have a DogWalk to do, damn it :D