The Treehouse... the backstory.

So where did the idea of building our backyard treehouse even come? The building of the "treehouse" but not really a treehouse on the property was built for what started out as out as our 11 year old's Christmas present, which evolved overtime into a hangout as well as living quarters for guests.

Ok, it all started when my husband and one of my daughters were watching a Christmas movie. My husband picked out a classic hallmark type Christmas movie he hadn't seen before. Well the premise of the story was about a kid that really wanted to Nintendo for Christmas, but the dad wanted some bonding time and together with his son build the gift a treehouse in the yard. Of course, as all Hallmark movies end, it turned out to be an amazing experience and in the end the boy absolutely loved his treehouse. At the end of watching the movie, my daughter looked at her dad and told him she wants a treehouse for Christmas. Backfire!

So being that my husband is a builder, he said "Sure let’s do it." First, he needed her architectural drawings. She worked on them and a few weeks before Christmas she put up an easel outside of her room to display what she was expecting for Christmas.

The plan was made, and the spot where the future treehouse would be built was established. A spot near the trampoline among some large trees on a slope that looks down at the canyon.

They got to work clearing the land and then the framing the treehouse. A few times I asked my husband how he was going to lay it out, and what different design choices there were? He would just referred me to the architectural drawing that was propped up and that's what they were going to follow.

It was quite a fun process between my husband, my girls, and we even hired my cousin to help frame the structure.

So yes, we call it the treehouse, but is it in a tree... well no. However, it is among the trees and built above the ground over the slope leading to the canyon which has a very natural feel when you look out and see from the balcony that you are high above the canyon.

Now, in building the treehouse we certainly were looking for ways to save money being that... after all it is a treehouse. We did have to order the lumber to build the structure as well as roofing material, insulation and drywall. We kept our eyes and ears open to ways we could save on items that didn't need to be an exact size or made from new material. A friend of ours had just remodeled and had a very large leftover window. She offered to me and I was happy to take it off her hands. We also had a leftover door that we were saving, but we didn’t know what we needed it for. Of course it worked out perfect in the treehouse. Same with a stain glass window my husband had saved after a client had remodeled and no longer wanted it. I had leftover lighting that I had switched out from our kitchen so you got it... it was perfect for the treehouse. Over the course of the evolution of a treehouse we tried to re-use an up-cycle as many materials as we could and then purchased affordable on budget items for the rest. The vinyl wood flooring we purchased from Costco which worked as a great option and then we did need to order one more window and one more door.

Here we are working weekends and in the evenings which was when we had the time to come together and get the treehouse built...

Once the structure was complete, came time to decorate. I went on the app Nextdoor, which is a re-sell site for those in your area and I purchased a gently used small sofa that had a pull out bed in it. It was small, compact and perfect for the treehouse. From there we mounted a TV, added a mini fridge (that we also purchased from nextdoor) and outfitted the place with some cute accessories. Some leftovers I had and some that were handed down from friends.

When my daughter had gone away to a friends house, my husband and I made quick arrangements to pick up the couch and the decorations and quickly put it in the treehouse and were able to then surprised her when she came home... almost like she was on an episode of her own HGTV show.

Her her reaction which is pretty cute...

Once it was done, I made this "Treehouse Established Sign" and hung it up. You can order your own at:

I wanted to always remember the architectural drawings that my daughter worked so hard on, so instead of keeping the original (which by now was pretty damaged) I took a photo of it printed it as a 5 x 7 and I put it on the back of the treehouse sign so that we could always remember the vision behind the building of the treehouse.

There you have it. That’s the backstory on where the idea of the treehouse came from. The Treehouse was built in 2022, which wasn't long ago and it has certainly been a blessing to have. It has already gained many uses which led to the decision of building a bathroom for the treehouse. That’ll be up next, but for now just know that sometimes your kids can bring forth ideas that are easy to say NO to. But I’m so thankful when the inspiration from the Christmas movie struck it wasn’t met with an automatic NO. Sometimes our kids bring forward some big asks and sometimes they turn out to be blessings that we didn’t even know we need it. We might’ve been there, we might have built that.

Xo,

Mama