Daddyoleo: Carter's Treehouse

Back in October we were celebrating Carter's birthday and it was mentioned that Carter needed a treehouse for the huge Pecan tree in the backyard... well... that sounded like fun...

So, I built a 7x10' deck 6' above the ground and wrapped stairs around the tree that was ready for a second level 3 feet off the ground... Carter thought the upper deck was his treehouse and went right to work enjoying it. The only trouble was the stairs didn't reach the ground... he had to use a short ladder to get to the stairs. I had run out of time, I needed to go home. But he loved it...

Ready for Christmas 2016

Months later I returned to build the lower deck and babysit while Carter's mommy and daddy played. The decks got connected...

Fast forward a few more months and the treehouse is almost done. The escape hatch is not installed and the interior walls are not enclosed... but it is ready for play.

The treehouse was assembled in Martha's garage and then disassembled and put in a trailer and hauled to Carter's house.

This is the current state of the project today...

Upper and lower deck connected and house on upper level

Shingles around door (48 of them) are made from pine that I hand shaped with a grinder and scraped all the soft wood away and exposed the grain... to age... I then sprayed them with five colors of spray paint (mostly metallic) and the clear coated multiple times.

Roof edge decoration is really to hold the cantilevered roof and shingles in place... the whole thing is designed to be disassembled and moved. Dragons and Dragon Flies are part of a story and were cut out of brass and treated with Nitric acid to age.

Fold down table made with scrap exotic woods and hardware scavenged from a friends RV.

Left to right Spalted Pecan (considered for our dining table), African Padauk (used in our kitchen booth), Yellowheart (used in my desk), Prupleheart (considered for kitchen booth but nixed), more Padauk and then Walnut used in our wood floors. No stains used just clear coated.