World treehouse list

Sigrid Little

30 December 2006

I have always loved the magic of tree-houses! My husband and I built one for our 4 grandchildren (and us) in our backyard. It's 12x12 with a deck on the front. We built it on posts among the trees for ease of construction. My husband is screening in the area underneath for another gathering area. It has electricity and a phone!

David Robinson
Wiltshire, UK

20 November 2006

I come from Wiltshire in England, I started making the treehouse when I was about 15, now I'm 16. It was orriginally going to be just a platform, but turned into a small hut in a tree with 3 different floors with ladders connecting them. This cost me about £20 (for nails), I stole and was given all of the wood to build it.

Matthew Williams
Bangor, Wales, UK

31 October 2006

I'm building this treehouse to cater for four children, it's halfway through finishing stages. It has a balcony, eventually a swing between the posts, cladded with 12mm ply, rubberoid felt, and tanalised 'D' rail timber for a 'log cabin' effect.

Olivia Fox

25 October 2006

Years ago my older son got a book from his aunt for Christmas, "Housebuilding for Children". He drew houses until spring. Using his ideas we built a house on stilts out of mostly salvaged lumber.

When his little brother got older we added a cantelevered extension, a "2nd floor" lookout platform, and a trap door. It's only about four feet off the ground but still high enough to dream in.

Rory Duncan
Zambia, Africa

23 October 2006

I am goint to start construction of a permanent tree house for domestic and visitor use in the Kafue river gorge system of the Zambezi valley. I want to use mostly railway track in concrete as foundations and build in and around the trees and rocks as opposed to bieng supported by the trees. I wanted to look at tree houses around the world to get some ideas. I am very far from Europe and States.

Patrick Power

23 October 2006

I am building a treehouse for my 6 & 3 yr old boys. It is approx 8ft x 16ft. 8ft high . Appreciate any tips.

Everett Peacock
Maui, HI, USA

3 October 2006/p>

I have a two story treehouse, in a small Banyan tree on the northern coast of Maui. Plans are forming now for a third level in which to support a wind turbine.

Henry Quintero
St Granada Hills, CA, USA

18 September 2006

My son Henry Jr. visited Colombia, South America July 2006, upon his arrival he wanted to build his own tree house in front of our rented house, which by the way is located on a major street of the City. He visited several farms in South America, place where he got the idea of a tree house. He is 5yrs old and attends Granada Elementary. This project became a family project and I think the 1st grade teacher may bring the class over to see this project. We will keep you informed.

Patrick Bikebordr11
Upstate NY, USA
13 September 2006

My cousin and I have, over the summer, been building a triangular (12 x 12 x 6) treehouse about 9 feet off the ground. It's really cool, but at the moment it still needs a third wall and waterproofing. A tip for future builders: if you're building more than 5 ft high, use a ladder.

At the moment the future plans are better than the real thing, but it'll be done before winter!

Calum Suggett, aged 12
6 September 2006

Hi, one morning I logged on to your site and was really inspired by all your stories and pictures. Me and my dad built a treehouse up in an old willow tree using simply a round table and a pair of tree cloppers. I was really impressed by your site and think you might like to know that you really inspired me to make it.

art-borecsences
France

perso.orange.fr/art-borescences/cabane/cabane.htm
26 August 2006

Hello from France. I have just finish to built my treehouse. You can visit me on the web (address above).

You can contact me by changing "years" to 2006 in the e-mail address

N.T. McLean
E.Dover, Vermont, USA
25 August 2006

My partner and I started a "weekend tree house" and three years later it's almost complete. Our tree room has a sleeping loft, a window seat, six windows, two clear story windows, two porches, and a terrific rope swing. Someday we would like to add a bridge walk to the next set of trees and to build a reading/meditation platform. The views from all windows are lovely, deep hemlock/birch woods, a meadow, our pond, and the surrounding ridge line which changes with every season. We're now contemplating building a couple more Tree rooms for visiting writers/ artists.

Rone
East Sussex, UK
21 August 2006

Due to all the Oaktrees having "Tree Preservation Orders" on them, I built the structure on stilts next to and under the trees.

Cary
Jackson, New Jersey, USA
13 July 2006

Decided to build treehouse for my sons, using left over materials from deck project. Treehouse porch has Trex surface, inside is regular wood surface, house itself has two windows and one door. There are steps attached to the tree which leads to a trap door hatch in the treehouse floor. Also has a plexiglass hatch in the ceiling which allows access to the roof.

Michael McDonald
Saint John, NB, USA

21 July 2006

What was going to be just a 4x4 beam between two trees for a swing set in the back woods behind my house, to keep my kids off the front street, became a $3500, amazing treehouse.

The tree house has 3 big fir trees (the kids and I call them the Big Bears) growing up through the floor and continuing up through the roof. She's all level but nothing is square. We used 18 inch galvinized lag bolts to secure the structure. The trees to this day are happy and healthy.

My kids love it and every fall when the snow is about to blow in, we take a marker and Mallory 9 and Connor 7, write a paragraph of what the summer was like and the times they had that year. So far we have nine great stories on the walls of Camp Outrageous, as the kids fondly call the old tree house.

That 3500 dollars was the best investment in memories a father could have ever undertaken. We live in the trees and love what they have given us.

Cary Goldberg
Jackson, New Jersey, USA
13 July 2006

Decided to build treehouse using left over materials from deck. Treehouse porch has Trex surface, house itself has two windows and one door. There are steps attached to the tree which leads to a trap door hatch in the tree house floor. Also has a plexiglass hatch in the ceiling which allows access to the roof.

Kelly Heikkila
Western Ohio (I live in north eastern Ohio), USA
7 July 2006

My dad built us a big treehouse on a federally funded tree farm down by Greenville, Ohio and Fort Laraime. It's a one room one story roof treehouse. Although there is no porch is has screens, swinging ropes and a bucket. I am now thinking of buliding one on our property at home. This site truly insipired me!

Matthys Jules
Wanze, Belgium
23 June 2006
  

I'm 72 years old and I finally realize my dream: having a treehouse! The big terrace of 4m x 4m50 stand at 3m50 from the ground and give me a fabulous view on the surroundings. I'm sitting and dreaming there during hours, looking at birds, hearing the wind, and, when the rain fall, I go inside the treehouse, looking the nature thru the windows ... great moments !

RL Joseph
near Shelburne Ontario
8 June 2006
     

Outside dimensions 8' x 12'.

Suspended by cables from 2 rows of 35 year old spruce trees. Total of 8 trees are used all cables have turn buckles. One fixed point is 8' diameter cedar post founded 4' below grade. In calm conditions it will rock gently with people movement. In windy conditions it feels like a ship at sea.

Contrary to your advise, top end of cables have sleeve of garden hose then wrapped around trunk. Redundant support allows easy relocation of top ends to prevent wear on tree. Actually there is little wear from movement but rather the tree grows around the cable if it is left in the same place for a long time.

Floor, walls, ceiling and sliding barn type door are all 4 x 8 x 6.5" structural insulated panels (Thermapan Industries) weighing about 100 lbs each. Easy for non carpenter to install single handed. Well it would be easy the next time now that I know how to do it. Very good R value. Spent entire winter of 04\05. Cabin is heated by "Little Cod" wood stove designed for boats. ( Height: 11.375 In. (28.5 cm.) to top of cook surface.Width: 18 In. (45.75 cm.). D epth: 13.75 In. (35 cm.) Weight: 50 Lbs. (22.5 kg).

1st roof membrane is applied directly to top of ceiling panel (peel & stick made to go under shingles on conventional roofs at pereimeter where ice can get underneath. Sould have put a ply wood protection board on top before I built the main since material is not meant to be exposed to light. But it has held up so far. Main roof is shed type painted corrugated metal panels. 1/3 slope.

Appreciate your site I will build a high summer tent platform this year maybe based on your 2 tree design but larger floor area.

Regards,
RL Joseph

Ezra Idlet

troutmusic.com
25 May 2006

I bought the book Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb back in 1997. It was like a gong going off in my head. I was inspired on so many levels. Just to see the images of the treehouses was thrilling. The real capper was to see the diagrams of how one might go about building thier own treehouse. I couldn't get it out of my mind. Building a treehouse seemed doable even for a musician. I talked with my wife about getting started and she pointed out that I had no real building skills and there were already a whole bunch of projects that needed attention and where were we going to get the money? So we shelved the idea for a while. Still the thought of spending time in a treehouse reverberated in my head. When things weigh that heavy on my mind, they usually come out in song and my songwriting partner and I wrote a song called Dreaming that spoke of the dream of building a treehouse.

Fast forward three years. I'm talking with a neighbor who wants to buy a couple of horses from me. He's a professional home builder. I suggest that instead of paying me for the horses, he trades his expertise and experience to help me build a treehouse. With his assurance that he'd help and my brother in law's assurance that he'd help, my wife finally caved in and the project began. That was six years ago. We are on the home stretch building the treehouse now. What remains is building the staircase to the loft and the railing for the loft. Kitchen cabinets need to be constructed and installed then we'll be finished! The treehouse is 18'x20'. It's supported by three red oak trees and six 2" steel poles. At the tallest point, from the floor to the ceiling is 19' tall. We have a woodstove and a composting toilet.

The supporting oak trees come through a deck that goes around the entire treehouse. There are some special details in the treehouse that have been provide by friends. In front of the woodstove is a mosaic done by my friend Denise. There is a chandelier that holds four Aladdin oil lamps that was bui! lt by my friend Greg. Over the front door is a beautiful stained glass piece that was built by my friend Ginger. Go to the web site to see a slide show of the treehouse. The NY Times also did an article on it and you could find that article there as well. Thanks Peter Nelson for writing your book. The whole process of building the treehouse has been a joy.

Suresh.P.R
Vythiri, Western Ghats, North Kerala, India.

8 May 2006

Houses built on trees 90 feet above in a tropical rain forest 4500 feet above sea level in the Western ghats in kerala, South India.

Paul Gorrad

Fareham, Hampshire, UK
30 May 2006

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking about building a treehouse for a couple of years or so. The first woodland I was offered (owned by a friend, private, perfect!) has come under the builder's hammer and will be developed soon, so I backed out just in time! Now I have a small undisturbed wood that belongs to a friend and I can do as I wish with it. It has a spring, 3 wells somewhere in the undergrowth, and to one side of the main clearing is a wonderful old beech tree, with a massive trunk, and a crown about 14 feet up that is screaming out "BUILD HERE! "

It's quite close to the boundary with next door but he's fine about it, bottom of his land, 300 yards from any houses, and I'm planning to more or less let it evolve as it goes along, having done lots of homework first of course!

The platform will be in a single tree, in the crown, about 14 ft up, the branches are big, this is a mature tree! I thought solid fixings would be the way to go, surely it can't move much, but haveing read the various build techniques, I'm not sure now... Any suggestions much appreciated, I've done lots of woodwork but never anything like this, so any help much appreciated!

The woods are in a village near Fareham, Hampshire, England... In a valley, quite sheltered.

I'm planning to set up some solar/wind power, and live here, at least some of the time, this is marvellous old undisturbed woodland, shin deep in leaf mold and untouched for 100 years or so, the water from here used to be pumped up to the local manor house, so it's good stuff! Really secluded, but 1 mile from a big town, any tips much appreciated.

Greetings to tree folk everywhere, keep up the fantastic work you're all doing!

Regards, Paul.

Karen Grayczk
Silverton, Oregon, USA
Text and original photos: 5 May 1998

Photo 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
26 April 2006: Photo 8

14' up to platform which is 16'x21'. Another level 3' up from the 1st using actual stairs, then up another 5 or 6' to the sleeping platform. There are 11 windows and a Dutch door. We have all outer walls up and most of the rafters. There are portions of the trees that come up thru the floor and we intend to wall around them as well. House is set between two huge Maple trees that are both at least 4' in diameter at their bases. Arborist work was done to take some weight out of the tops and have reinforced some areas with cabling.

Have builder/inspector (Jeff Wearne) doing the work. I am the go-fer.

Ricardo Brunelli

casanaarvore.com
8 April 2006
              

I own a small treehouse construction company in the southern part of Brazil, not too far from Argentina. I am starting to use recycled plastic/aluminum but it's been hard to find suppliers as the price of wood is not as expensive as it is in the US and other parts of the world.

Wish all treehouse builders success in their business and congratulations for their creativity. Hope to participate in an international event one day.

Rick Colhoun
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
21 March 2006

Built out of mostly re-claimed materials. my three year old boy loves playing in it and climbing on the rock wall. He also loves the secret door and stairs. This thing will probably never be done as we are always tinkering with it.

Cameron B
Baltimore County, Maryland

hometown.aol.com/camerondb/treehouse.html
15 March 2006

This isn't an old, forgotten treehouse. It's my daily place! It's where the fun goes down and often becomes a party! The Treehouse, established June 2005. This was built entirely by me and a friend with no special equipment and certainly no massive amounts of money. It's what a treehouse is supposed to be, with the addition of electricity, cable TV, surround sound, refrigerator, heat, air conditioning, propane appliances, plenty of seating, etc. We will always be adding to the design and constructing new additions to make it more fun to throw huge parties or simply chill out and watch TV. Thanks for checking out my place!

Cosette Dawna Rae
Fall City, WA, King County

heavensfield.com
19 February 2006

Heavensfield Massage & Bodywork, home of the Pacific Northwest's only Treehouse Massage studio.

Wild Canopy Reserve
Bokkapuram, Masinagudi, Mudumalai, Nilgiris, India

wildcanopyreserve.com
25 January 2006

Built on old Jammun Trees 40 feet from ground level,in a private forest at the foot hills of the Nilgiri mountians, adjoining Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary and National park, overlooking a water hole frequented by wildlife.The tree houses have bathrooms running hot and cold water. For reservations contact the above email.