Design

DIY THE ULTIMATE PILLOW FORT

What’s the best thing to do on a morning or afternoon during the holidays (or weekend!) other than build a pillow fort?! No matter your age, pillow forts are perfect for those days when you simply don’t want to adult. It’s the perfect way to celebrate your inner child, either with children or just, you know, on your own.

Furniture and decor store, Wayfair recently commissioned an architect to design a historically accurate pillow fort and create a step-by-step guide so that you too, can defend yourself from modern-day threats like children, parents, emails or deadlines on those days when you just don’t fancy leaving the house.

Jason Eccles, Artform Architects who worked on the project comments, “The design of the pillow fort has been based on historical fort architecture and is largely based on a traditional keep which was the main part of a motte-and-bailey castle layout.  These were fairly simple, robust structures constructed from timber or stone and were introduced into the UK by the Normans in the 11th Century.  Their main purpose was to act as a fortified tower or residence that would act as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the motte-and-bailey castle be overtaken.  

Eccles continues, “As such, the designs had few openings in the external walls and provided high-level ramparts for defending the keep from invaders.  The keeps traditionally sat atop an earth mound (the motte) surrounded by an enclosed courtyard (the bailey).  This meant that the keep was at the highest point of the castle layout and gave the best vantage point for resisting any attack.  The pillow fort incorporates a typical square plan form with 4 ’tower’ sections at each corner.  A single doorway leads through to a central ‘courtyard’ which then provides stepped access up to the ramparts which run around the external walls as a parapet wall.”

Check out the fort guide below – Happy building! 

Wayfair offers a zillion things home. Check out their collection here.