This party tent barely cost anything! Anja created a charming DIY pavilion as a joint project with her son
Anja Palomäki built a summer pavilion with her son, Iivari. The pavilion will shine at Iivari’s confirmation party at the end of July.
The idea for a DIY pavilion came about when Anja Palomäki was browsing online for rental tents for her son Iivari’s confirmation party.
“I wanted to get a canopy on a minimal budget,” Anja says.
However, the rental tents available were simply too large.
“Around six in the evening, I told my husband that we wouldn’t rent a tent. I’d ask our son to help, and we’d try building a little pavilion ourselves—whatever happens, happens!” Anja says.
Anja and Iivari fetched four long birch logs from the woodpile in the yard, which Anja’s husband sawed to the right length. They built the roof frame from old deck boards found on the property, and that’s how they got the pavilion standing.
“We took turns with my son, so one of us did the nailing while the other acted as a ‘visual level’ and held the boards,” Anja describes.
They finished the pavilion before eight in the evening, but it didn’t get its tarp covering until the next day, since the stores were already closed. The pavilion cost only as much as the tarp, which was €6.50.
Anja would gladly build another pavilion and recommends it to others too.
“If you have any interest in doing it yourself, and don’t need it to look like a professional carpenter’s work, just give it a go!”
