I remember the first time I stepped into a yurt, I wouldn’t have believed that a funny-looking spaceship tent could be create such an enchanting space. The fire was crackling in the woodstove and the sun was streaming in through the dome window in the center of the roof. In the grayness of the deep, dark, Idaho winter, the yurt was wrapped in warmth and light.
It didn’t take me long to convince Brenton that we needed to move into a yurt, someday. We talked and dreamed about buying land and setting up a yurt, but in the end, we couldn’t figure out how to scrape together the cash for land, utilities, and yurt. We put a downpayment on a little home, and settled in for the long remodel.
In April, I said to Brenton, “I’ve got a great idea.”
“Okay, let’s do it.” He replied.
“I’m so glad we had this conversation, dear” I said somewhat sarcastically.
“What did I just agree to?” He asked.
That was how we started building the playhouse yurt.
We started building in April, on the weekend, between rainstorms and working on the house electrical rewiring project, slowly the playhouse yurt progressed. I hoped to be finished in April, but these things never happen as quickly as you want.
We camped in the yurt up for the first time on June 3. It was set up in the middle of our living room. The 8 foot diameter barely fit between our couch and the sofa, but it stayed up in the living room for a week. Then we took it back down, wrapped it up and hid it away in the garage.
With a long weekend ahead of us, this was the weekend to finish the yurt. I spent 3 days sewing the canvas cover. I was glad I was sewing an old Singer rather than trying to use a wimpy new machine to sew through all that canvas. I finished the cover at about 6:30 Monday night.
At 11 p.m. on the 4th of July I woke up to the cannons blasting all around us. Brenton, Samuel, and I were tucked snug in our yurt. I whispered a quiet prayer, “Thank You, Lord, for our freedom.”
Have you ever camped in a yurt? I hope we will every few days for the rest of the summer.
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Wait. You made that??? Is it just Home Depot type fencing? What the roof made of??? That is SO COOL! I must know more…
Lindsey, I have great plans to do a tutorial on how to make a yurt. Right now we are trying to pay off our student loans, we should be done in about a month. Then watch out for the tutorial. The wall is made of lath strips held together with zip ties. (there is your preview LOL).
Wow! This is going to be good. Can’t wait!!
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