8 Steps to Glamping

UPDATED: Check out my very first glamping experience here.

I've got a bee in my bonnet and it's called Glamping. We *might* be taking a camping trip next weekend to Chincoteague. And I would like to do it with a twist. Here are some ways to turn your next camping trip into a "Glamping" trip WITHOUT dragging along a bunch of heavy furniture. Most of my suggestions can either be deflated, folded or have stuff stored in it.

1. THE TENT

First off THE TENT! Now, we don't have a fancy canvas wall tent. Our tent was bought at Walmart last year. On the plus side, it's huge at 200 square feet! If you want to truly glamp you need a tent that you can at least stand up in. That's my theory. And if you want to TRULY glamp you want a canvas wall tent or a "bell tent" and unfortunately that's going to cost you a lot more than a cheap Walmart tent. But I'm going to try it with my cheap tent anyway. It's beige at least and not some ugly florescent colors. Below are some ideal tents that would be perfect if you have $1,000 to spare. Alternatively, I recommend Craigslist. I've found a bell tent on the list for only $300 once so it's definitely worth checking. I use a free service called AdRavage which alerts me anytime a specific keyword is listed and I've jumped on so many awesome deals that way. Also if you look up "bell tent" or "wall tent" on eBay you can find some under $600.

The Sibley 600 Twin Bell Tent. $999 on eBay.

The Classic Canvas Wall Tent $997 on eBay.

2. THE FLOOR

Second is the floor. If you're lucky enough to have a camp site with a wooden platform then skip to the next step. If not, here's my suggestion....buy faux wood sheet vinyl in the size of your tent floor, like this one from the Home Depot for $1.25 a square foot. Not only will it make your tent feel more homey but it will help to make the ground you're stepping on more comfortable. Roll it out when you pitch your tent then roll it up when you're done.

I also recommend a couple area rugs like a sheepskin, Moroccan, natural weave or cowhide. IKEA has some great cheap flatwoven rugs. They also have an excellent looking cowhide rug but it's a bit pricey at $200. They makeup for that with their faux sheepskins which are pretty cheap at only $10.

3. THE BED

Third, is the bedding. I'm all for a wooden bed frame but it's just not practical to lug around a bed and frame in your car on a camping trip then set it up and later tear it down. So! Here's my alternative....It's a faux leather air headboard. Interesting huh? There are other colors and styles. I recommend you can find them on eBay or Craigslist as they are $99 retail.

Also you should have an air bed that sits high above the floor like a regular bed. Something like this below. I know air beds aren't really comfortable. That's why I also bring my 4" memory foam mattress topper. I've bought four of these for our house and they work miracles on a crappy mattress. I swear, when I put it on our air mattress it feels like a real bed. BUT I like my beds soft so if you like yours hard you might want to consider a cot like this with a built in mattress.

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Finger Bracelet Scarf!

Are your kids into those rubber band finger-made macrame bracelets? Yeah, mine too. It was only a matter of time before the blogosphere adapted it to their whims;-) Check out what I Love to Create made with an old tie dyed tee shirt. Get her full tutorial here. What do you think it will be?

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Lampshades from Leggings!

Have any old lampshades and leggings? Hey! Might make a cool last minute Christmas gift! Via Vintage Revivals. Get her how-to here!

Fall Fox Scarf FREE PATTERN

Love this fox scarf! You can make one yourself with this free pattern via Pretty Prudent! This would make a great gift too! I'd love to make two of these for my girls before Thanksgiving to wear to school.

Easy DIY Message Bookshelf with Letter Guide

Check out Erin's Creative Energy DIY bookshelf! Clever! Get the how-to here. Erin made this from scratch! But if you already had a cubed bookshelf like the Expedit series from IKEA you add your own messages too very easily! I included a guide below to make each letter of the alphabet and every number via Conceptbook.org.

DIY Cardboard Tray/Coloring Table

Have any cardboard boxes laying around the house? Tired of your dining table covered in a layer of markers and coloring books! Then check out this neat DIY cardboard tray/coloring table made with just simple cardboard scraps and toilet paper rolls! Get the full tutorial at The Cardboard Dad! It's in Russian so you'll have to translate it in your browser.

Concrete Light Bulb Door Knob

Check out this interesting idea! Use an old lightbult as a mold to make a coat hook (or maybe doorknob) out of concrete. Get the tutorial at Instructables!

DIY Waterfall Skirt from Thrift Store Find

Make a very easy, instant, fishtail skirt (also known as "waterfall skirt) out of an ugly thrift store find. Get the full tutorial at the Free People blog!

And check out other fishtail skirts that have caught my fancy lately.

Me Sew Crazy (has a tutorial to go with it)!

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DIY Life Sized Pool Noodle Lincoln Logs

Oh my goodness! What CAN'T you do with pool noodles? They're starting to rank up there with pallets;-) Check out this clever little idea! Use pool noodles as life sized lincoln logs. Just cut notches in each end. Cut to various sizes for smaller or larger logs. Here's a written tutorial via the DIYNetwork. Now, I don't know where you'd find brown pool noodles BUT even better, I found this little tutorial via Miss Kopy Kat about covering pool noodles with wood grain contact paper which would look more realistic. I've seen wood grain contact paper for sale at Walmart for pretty cheap (like 18 cents a square foot cheap). You could also try paint but I'm not sure how messy that would be. Photo on the right via flickr user KimKnits.

DIY Moroccan Mason Jar Lanterns

I saw this really easy idea for DIY Moroccan lanterns. I was recently looking for Moroccan lanterns for my Game of Thrones season finale party. But these look so easy! They're basically made from mason jars, gold puff paint and glass tint paint. If you're a crafter you probably already have these thing lying around right now! Via Design Sponge. Get the tutorial here. I think black puffy paint would also look very convincing as wellz This might even be a neat idea for decorating plain old drinking glasses too!

Here are some more from other people who have tried it themselves!

Gleeful Things

etsy seller: LIT Decor (check out the other MANY styles LIT Decor has!) Gorgeous.

Ode to Inspiration made some out of baby jars!

Fabric Scrap City Scape Skirt

What a cute way to use your fabric scraps. Make a city scape skirt! Via Oliver + S.

Confessions of a First Time Glamper

All of us (except poor Henri) went on an extended weekend to the island of Chincoteague. It was great! Such a nice getaway. Instead of getting a hotel room we thought about camping. We've never been camping with the kids so I was a little hesitant but I really wanted to try my hand at "glamping" so we decided to take a chance and go for it!

There were several things I learned from our "glamping" experience that I'll share with you. But first I want to go through some of the things which I made and bought to make the experience more glampy. First off, to cover the tarp flooring of our tent I bought these faux hardwood vinyl remnants from The Home Depot. The brand was called Natco. I couldn't find them online but they sold them in store for only about 50 cents a square foot and it was sold in pieces 8'x5' and 16'x10'. Vinyl flooring may seem a bit insane to some of you but once it was all rolled up together and placed along the floor of the van lengthwise it took up very little space. AND, not only did it look better than tarp but it felt a lot nicer on our feet as well.

Check out this cozy butterfly chair Lily is relaxing in. I got both the chair and the footstool FREE off Craigslist. I had to go a little further than our hometown but it was totally worth it! I bought the fabric from Hancock in faux cowhide and it feels divine! Then I sewed elastic around the edges and just covered the old cushions. The great thing about butterfly chairs is that they are foldable. EVERYTHING I brought was either foldable or deflatable. That is very key when glamping! 

The wooden folding table I also bought off Craigslist for $10. When I bought all my glamping items off Craigslist I did it in one long trip that went all the way to Baltimore (about 80 miles away) but I got about five different things so the cost of gas was about the same as if I made 5 little trips around our immediate area. I got the cute little lamps at Target for only $9.99 a piece. They're from the Threshold collection.

This was probably my favorite part of the "glamping" planning. It's an inflatable sofa that pulls out into a queen sized bed. This is what the kids slept on at night. You can buy it here on Amazon for $52.99! Now, I made a custom chenille slipcover with fringe piping and welted buttons. I also placed some memory foam on the top of the seat to make it soft. The side tables I bought off Craigslist for $15. They fold. The plants are artificial and I bought them at IKEA. They're the Fejka and they were only $5.99 a piece.

This was also pretty fun. Our bed was completely inflatable. I got this Coleman raised queen sized bed at Target for only $45. The inflatable faux leather headboard I got on Craigslist but you can find it cheap on eBay or for full retail here. The floor rugs I got at Target through their Threshold collection. They were perfect. I can't find them online but they were sold in the store. If I were to add one thing to the "glamping" list it would actually be a small welcome mat for the out side of the tent. People were always walking barefoot and tracking all their dirt onto the new floor mats. A small grass type mat in front of the door would have solved that problem. The bedding we already owned.

I also got these VERY lightweight picture frames from IKEA. They're from the NYJTTA line and they're only $7.99 a piece. Also comes in white and a couple other uglier colors. Instead of glass it uses plastic which makes it easy to use for glamping. It doesn't comes with a matted frame underneath but I made one easily with the paper that was already in the frame.

The inflatable sofa bed was so comfy. Even I enjoyed sitting on it. The girls sat on it and watched "Escape from Planet Earth" while Brian made steaks and hotdogs for dinner. It felt so cozy!

This is the outside of our tent at twilight. As you can see it's a good sized tent. I bought it last year at Walmart for $139. They still sell it but it's now in grey and red but I think I like tan, red and black better. Plus, ours has a nice little canopy for a small porch-like entryway which the newer models don't have and the doors open more like traditional doors. The new model looks more space-like with rounded doors and windows. Of course, if I had MY WAY, I'd get the true "Glamping" tents. Either the bell tents or the wall tents that sell for $1000. But I'm happy with this. It's not fluorescent and it's the perfect size.

Some things I would have done differently if I were to go "glamping" again.....We glamped at the beach. While we succeeded in doing it I don't think I'd do a "beach" glamping trip again. Because the amount of stuff you have to pack for both camping and beach going is just too much. I could have cut our load in half if either we didn't camp or didn't go to the beach. We have a minivan and a roof rack but it still was really cramped while we drove 6 hours to the campsite and it took me an entire day to pack the car.

Another thing I did was pack a queen sized memory foam mattress topper. I placed it in a Space Bag and vacuumed the air out of it. This was a fantastic idea in theory but there were several problems. The amount of effort it took to get the large mattress in the space bag was awful. Then, worst of all, pretty much all the Space bags I bought only stayed vacuum sealed for a few hours then they gradually took on air until they were slightly smaller than when I first vacuumed the air out. If anyone knows of a good vacuum sealed bag please let me know. I bought two different kinds, Ziplock and Honey Can Do. Both worked at first but the Honey Can Do bags had holes immediately in the corners. Even after I patched them they still refused to stay sealed. So if I had to do it over, I'd scrap the whole space bag and memory foam mattress idea and just get this Aerobed Memory foam built-in inflatable bed or this Coleman memory foam topper inflatable bed. I'm sure it folds up nicely since the box I saw it in at Target was pretty small. It might not be as comfy as our 4" memory foam topper but it's probably worth not having to deal with all the extra headache.

Also, my butterfly chairs were highly cushioned which took up a lot of room. I would just use a canvas or DIY a faux cowhide cover instead.

But all in all we had a seriously amazing time! I'm so glad we glamped. It did take a bit of extra effort but camping always takes more effort over staying at a hotel anyway. Next I'll show you how we glamped it up in the sand and surf at the beach.....

Riding Horse Pool Noodle Favors

Aren't these clever?! Might be a cute favor for a pool party? For more of an 'aquatic' theme you could also add a fin to the middle and curl the bottom. Get the easy tutorial at Mrs. King's Music Class. Pool noodles can be found at your dollar store but ONLY for the warm season. They totally disappear (at least here on the east) after September. So get them while you can! Also, good for wreath forms;-)

Cheap L-Shaped Sofa Bed DIY

I love what Antero Kjaer did in her 800 square foot apartment to solve the problem of potential guest bedding. She designed these two twin sized beds that hook together and come apart to make a large L-Shaped sofa. It looks like something that could be totally doable by the average person. These were made with just mattresses, legs, hooks and foam. No expensive sofa bed. To see how she did it, the layout of her apartment and more pics visit her blog, Mettes Potteri, here.

If you wanted to do this on the very cheap you can always find twin mattresses on Freecycle (just be wary of bedbugs and other issues with used mattresses). I can't tell from the photos how she made the platform but it looks like she used 3" square legs and perhaps attached them to a twin mattress sized plywood sheet. Alternatively, if you didn't want to bother with hammers and nails, here's a platform twin sized slat bed frame for sale from Walmart for only $49.

You can get the foam from JoAnn's and use their weekly 40% coupon. And you can make the bed covers yourself if you can use a sewing machine. It looks pretty easy. Just five rectangles sewn together, no elastic or curves.

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Flutter Curtains DIY

Ok. This is beautiful. But I can't imagine hand sewing all those circles. Still, if you have a couple hours on your hands and maybe a LOT of television shows to catch up on. You can sit down, relax and try your hand at making this gorgeous look. Get tutorial at Kojo Designs.

Pom Pom DIY Dandelions

How stinkin' clever is Dana from Made? I love these little dandelion pompoms made from simple yarn. Get her full tutorial here. Then make a wish and blow;-)

DIY Kitty Flats Shoe Redo

Do you love these modcloth kitty flats? Why not make your own for basically nothing?!

Kittenhood shows you a really simple way to make your own out of an old boring pair of flats.

Get the full tutorial through this link. Pretty straightforward!

Recycled Chair Backs to Settee

Since we moved Henri's toybox out of our bedroom the kids have been having a hard time climbing onto the bed. I considered buying a backless settee because I like the look but I didn't really want to spend the $200. But check out this DIY settee made with two broken antique chairs! Via An Oregan Cottage!  I think I would have added a thicker cushion to the seat but it's all a matter of preference. Get her tutorial here.