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Ok, maybe not the best title, but I remember Wayne saying at one point he had some ideas reguarding tents and decorating them in a way to make them look more like "structures." I'm interested in bringing this topic back up. Anyone is welcome to offer suggestions.

The goal is to make something in such a way that it is fairly easy to transport, and doesn't loose it's water-proofness.

One easy thing to do is put a cloth-covered pavillion over top your normal dome tent. Get one of those free-standing pavillions for cheap (some are as low as 20-30 bucks, and use muslin ($1 a yard or less on sale) to make wall hangings for the four sides... usually requires about 16 - 20 yards. Then your normal tent is concealed inside a periodesque pavillion, decorate with tassles or corner spikes, and you are all set.

I have a tonne of ideas. To start with, I think the easiest and most portable thing would be to make a cover for an existing tent. This could vary based on the look you are going for.

If you are looking to make a stone keep looking building, like the House Building for instance, you could make a simple cover out of muslin and then paint it to look like stone. Then slip it over a screen tent. Put some gromets in each corner and stake it down with the tent.

If you want a more rustic/druidish/savage dwelling and dont want to build a yurt, you could take a dome tent and make a cover for it out of burlap/Distressed fake leather/Faux Fur/etc all patched together. Throw the cover on top of the pitched dome tent. On top of the cover you could take thin diameter wood poles (green with bark), lash them together and bend them over the cover so it looks like a structure that the "Hides" are tied to. Kinda like


ANother neat idea I had was to do a pyramid. The sides and bottom could be made out of PVC and the covering could be painted fabric. This site has a great blurb about Large Cheops Frame Pyramid Construction. You wouldnt have to worry about making it waterproof because you could just pitch a dome tent or two inside of it.

Just for note on the covering of tents. I'm not positive, but I'd think making any covering for a dome tent or other wise will need to avoid touching the tent or else it will reduce the tent's ability to repel rain. Like I said I can't be sure on all new tents but many I have owned don't like excessive weight on the rain cover causing it to touch the actual tent as the tent will then leak.

So, in summary, a standalone structure surrounding the tent is probably a good idea unless you are sure about your tent.