build a treehouse

Well, we have a design for a base platform, half the wood and a shopping list. A field of poison ivy is in the way so I have to deal with that first.

I just found someone who is trying to sell a treehouse. It’s very pretty, and the total cost is very modest.

I e-mailed him. Maybe he would be able to help me build mine. Meantime, I want to find out more!

I bought a treehouse book! I bought some power tools and built a dog house to get my skills up. Now I just need a property where there is a suitable tree!

I can’t really find a very good tree on our land, but we do have a big wooded hill and I was thinking of building some kind of cave dwelling instead. It must be bear proof, of course.

My friend’s daughter is wisely unsure about getting into this project, despite the allure of it, for reasons that make perfect sense.

Yesterday I searched online for an architect from the island, who is familiar with building in that part of the island. I found someone and e-mailed him. Today, his response.

The cost of the project was on the nose of what I anticipated. The time when he will be available to begin coincides with our timetable.

And so it begins to happen.

And yesterday, after months literally of thinking about one small aspect of the design – the island transition between cooking space and living space, this came to me: The island will be kitchen counter height, which is also conversation table height. It will be finished like a bar top, so chairs can be pulled up to eat all around it. Or the cook can use the surface to prepare on. And best of all, the center will have a gas grill, so you can sit around it and cook your own food on skewers, or a fondue pot can sit there on low, or it can be off, with a topper on it, and a fruit bowl or gorgeous island flower arrangement can occupy the space.

With the broken ankle, I am thinking through all kinds of things.

My sweetie and I watched a “Not so Big House” and got some ideas.

I thought about my fall and how difficult everyday life is without the use of one foot, and I re-thought the design.

The land has a gulch, and the house can swing over the gulch and still be accessible without stairs, as a tree-house environment. With this design, we can also build a shelter over the path from the carport/garage to the front door, so you don’t get wet.

And I can keep my essential design.

Odd how things that happen can change everything.

This is very exciting.

Kind of a story, but I have all day… heh heh … sitting here with my broken ankle propped up, music going, back door open, dog trotting up when I call…

I have a life long friend, C. We met when we were so tiny we were not even in kindergarten yet. Over the years, we have had adventures together. We have voyaged up past the San Juans into Canada, backpacked down the western rim of the Grand Canyon, ridden bicycles around Lake Tahoe, and taken many a family vacation together at Tahoe and in Hawaii. C’s daughter TD is a designer. Her design focus is on the interior space, but she can do a full on architectural rendering, and she is delightfully talented.

In the way of children soaking up whatever they grow up with, she is a bit familiar with my sensibilities and love of Hawaii.

Last night we had a conversation about the tree house, and she is totally down for taking this on as a project. We talked about the shape, what the house would be about, the exigencies of rain forest living. We talked about materials. She told me about 3form. She likes the idea of cork floors.

She has a wonderful enthusiasm to bring to the project. It will mean much to her, as a career launcher, just as it is a 3 D projection of one of my oldest dreams.

So we are beginning!!!

Now to get that beach house sold.

photo is of 3form application in bathroom

I would LOVE to do this for my little brother and sister, as i had a kind of tree/wendy house when I was little, trouble is we dont have that many trees in our garden, but my dad ( who wants to help with this) said he’ll try and think of a way to secure it onto a little tree

today was are beginning to build a backyard trellis – or arbor. It will be a sort of patio cover. We have thought about this for as long as we’ve had this house – three or so years.

Meaningful shade is not important – the weather is mellow.

Being a sunshade when it does matter – late in the day in the summer – cannot be accomplished because as the sun sets and shine in your eyes, the rays are coming straight in from the side.

So what this will offer is a feeling of shelter, and as such, it will be very open, and have growing over it some sort of climber. Wisteria is nice. I also link pink climbing roses, but for out look, it will more likely be a trumpet vine of some sort.

This picture is where it goes.

and I do think more about the shape of the treehouse than say, my shape…

as I was thinking about it, I realized that because it is overhead, the bottom of it needs to look nice.

so I was thinking about having its underneath aspect be constructed sort of like an arbor, with cross beams, and maybe with woven palm fronds behind that. Something tropical, at least, like bamboo.