Easy DIY Backyard Glamping – Why Backyard Yurts Make for the Easiest-to-Install Guest House!

Looking for a backyard glamping guestroom? Planning an outdoor backyard fun birthday party?
Our cotton canvas tents, bell tents, yurts and wall tents are 4 seasons and sturdy and hold up well on rainy days and heavy winds, but it’s always good to hear it from someone who actually used the tent. The following is our small conversation with Marcy Brown; one of our amazing customers, where we ask her about how she does the backyard setup so well, her interests and how she found her experience in a White Duck Outdoors Glamping Tent as her camping tent!

1) How did you decide on White Duck Outdoors for your yurt? 

Once I decided that glamping was the solution to my holiday guest room shortage, I painstakingly compared the tents out there.  I found that a lot of the companies were cheap knockoffs, with sketchy or bad reviews, and that’s not what I wanted.  I needed it to be durable, pretty, and of a certain size.  I needed my guests to stay warm and dry and I needed it to stay up with no “oops!” for at least a couple of weeks.  And I needed to know that I’d be able to put it up on a non-conventional surface (concrete/wood) in a very non-conventional way.  My search came down to two manufacturers:  White Duck and Bell Tent. I really went back and forth between the two, read every single review, and ultimately the tie-breaker was your customer service.  You guys answered my questions about setting it up on a hard surface, and I was confident that it could be done.

2) What got you and your family into the idea of camping or buying a tent?

My tent purchase was probably not the normal purchase.  I needed to figure out how to house 8 adults for the holidays–3 grown kids and their significant others, plus my husband and me–in our 3-bedroom house.  I wanted everyone to be comfortable.  I wanted to be able to make the space pretty and festive.  I didn’t want to break the bank.  I started looking for RV rentals, which ultimately led me to glamping rentals.  Since I needed the tent for at least 2 weeks, it made more sense to just buy one. You can also check glamping tents.

3) How was your experience camping with White Duck Outdoors?

My 27-year old son and his girlfriend stayed in the tent.  They LOVED it.  I made it beautiful before they arrived:  full size bed with warm, fluffy linens, dresser, armchair, side tables, lamps, a pretty rug, twinkly lights, flowers and an oil-filled radiator heater.  They had their own space, it was warm and cozy even through 40 degree LA nights, and it was the perfect holiday getaway while visiting the family.  They were both sad when they learned that I took it down (after they’d left, of course).  It exceeded my very high expectations of the perfect holiday glamping guest room.

4) Any memory of note using White Duck Outdoors?

I asked my son about this.  He told me that it was so cool being outside, but at the same time being in a very cozy and beautiful “room.”  It rained hard one night, and they could hear every drop, but once they realized that they were warm and dry, they just settled into the lull of the rain and had the best night.

5) Any goals with your tent? Any cool things you have planned?

I haven’t planned anything.  But I’m excited to have the option to throw it up again if I need more space for incoming guests.  It’s definitely a conversation piece, and a unique way to host.

6) We saw you had quite an innovative set up, what inspired that?

I did a lot of searching and googling for ways to put a tent up on concrete. But I didn’t want to drill holes in the concrete slab, and some heavy fall rain showed me that I’d need to elevate it by at least a few inches to keep my guests dry.  I found pictures of tents on wooden decks but didn’t want to go to the expense of building a deck.  Plus, it was going to be temporary.  I was looking at ideas on Pinterest and I realized that pallets would serve as a stable base to get the tent off the concrete, with plywood over the pallets to create a solid floor.

So I drew up a rough diagram, figured out what I needed, found used pallets on Craigslist, and bought all of the materials I needed.  I recruited handy family members to help me put it all together (and fed them a very yummy dinner), and within a short time, we had a strong, stable base and were ready to put the tent up.  I wasn’t sure how to do the stakes until we had the whole thing laid out on the base.

We figured out that J bolts would work best, which just required a quick trip to the hardware store.  I had to rig the guy lines to some very interesting places as the tent took up most of my back yard (fence posts, hillsides, rocks, pipes on the house….) but it all worked out.  That tent was up for 3 weeks and withstood intense Santa Ana winds for two full days.  It was perfectly stable.

7) How was your overall experience with White Duck Outdoors?

I’m so happy I went with White Duck Outdoors. Everything about this experience was perfect.  From the customer service on the front end, the actual product, the perfect packaging….it made for a very memorable holiday season.

What is the difference between a yurt and a tent?

A yurt is an ancient type of dwelling that was originally used by nomadic peoples in Central Asia. It’s circular, with walls made from lattice-work or wattle (a woven mat) and roofing material made from felt, wood shingles, or thin pieces of bark.
Tents are often used as temporary shelter for camping trips because they’re easy to set up and take down. They can be found at our website WhiteDuckOutdoors.com.

Learn More:

How To Setup A Glamping Business?