Modern Treehouse Test Drive

So we're giving the LostRiverModern treehouse a dry run here in our full-time backyard:


We're working with three trees as our supports, which lends itself nicely to a modern shape, and to a fun triangular pitched roof.

Hard to keep kids off as you build...

Probably a little overbuilt, and it'll be a pain to take apart if our landlord makes us dismantle it before we move on to greener pastures.

The floor is 7/8" BC board (sometimes called project board), which has a nice smooth finish and is plenty sturdy. Most of my power tools are out in WV (including my jig saw), which meant some tricky and not-recommended improvisation with an old skil saw to shape the floor around the trees...

The plan is to use 1x2 slats in a rain-screen application for the walls, and to screen it in (mosquitoes are tough in these parts). About $350 in lumber and misc. materials. I fastened the beams with 1/2 x 6" lag screws. Not much to it after that. Framed the floor, roof and ladder; the roof will be corrugated plastic. Should finish today or tomorrow...

Michael says it's "awesome."

My kind of DIY

If I were building a modern home for us to live in, I would definitely be looking hard at these. Get the satisfaction of building Ikea cabinets yourself but with gorgeous exposed stained 7-ply instead of fiberboard...

Wanna go halfsies?

I don't think I could ever live in the desert, but I'd love to have a west coast version of LostRiverModern and man do I wish it could be this:




With apologies to all the wonderful prefab designs out there, this very first version of the Marmol Radziner entry into the prefab world still blows me away. Dwell has detailed the home and the process here. And if anybody out there wants to help me scrape together $1.2mm...