Sunday, February 6, 2011

Couch Forts

I wonder if any other adults ever get the compulsive urge to build couch forts? I know I do. If you’re unfamiliar with couch forts, I genuinely lament your unprivileged childhood. They’re furniture/blanket/pillow-based structures often assembled in living rooms with the assistance of other children. With an active imagination, a couch fort can be anything from a fortress of solitude to a submarine to a lunar module. It’s a cozy refuge with a significance and a comfort far beyond its scrappy-looking exterior.

I’ve recently had the privilege of building a gigantic couch fort with my girlfriend. I felt childish, having the sudden impulse, but was encouraged by a similar accompanying mentality. With greater dedication and access to more resources, I’m proud to announce that our couch fort was truly epic—and I don’t use that word lightly. To a more “mature” outsider, the notion and the thrown-together shape would appear impractical and unsightly. But to us it was a cave to our childhood.

It’s a unique and temporary way of creatively applying your cushion-related resources, and letting your inner kid run wild without jeopardizing your property or reputation. It’s cozy. It’s warm. It makes you feel like a king, or an astronaut, or whatever you can imagine yourself to be. I recommend fort-building to any age, but especially to those of you that like to imagine you’re beyond your early youth. It will have some sort of impact on you as long as you go into it with the right mentality. I guarantee it.

13 comments:

  1. The best part of sleepovers when I was younger was everyone building--and defending--their own couch forts. With 10-15 people? So much fun.

    But I'll definitely have to remake one, now that I have a laptop, and can lurk the net from the safety of my own couch.

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  2. Ahahah. That was so epic, sometimes i miss my childhood..

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  3. Haha, I've never grown up in this respect. I bet I could build am amazing one as I have a massive corner couch!

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  4. A friend in my childhood had a foldout couch, and we would unfold it and use the space where the mattress went as the inner sanctum of a couch fort.

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  5. Sounds like you had a great time. When I have my own couch I'll be sure to make it into a fort.
    Dog fort come in... this is Red Lobster over.

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  6. I love couch and blanket forts :3!

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  7. Aww you're lucky to have a girlfriend like that.

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  8. pics or it didn't happen. Also, mine are called couch 'castles' because they are so grand.

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  9. I make couch forts quite a bit sadly. I have my own place so I can leave it up for days if I wanted. I made sure to pick up plenty of sheets just for it.

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  10. My cousin and I used to make couch forts whenever our mothers cleaned the inside of the couches out. We used to put the cushions against the couch and use them as a tent. Too bad I'm a bit too tall to hide underneath just 1 or 2 couch cushions now. Hehehe.

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  11. Damn, that brings me back...wonderful post, thank you

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