Friday, April 18, 2008

Tree House update!

Well folks (isn't that just so comfy-like-I-know-yah-all? :-D) I took a poll. and Barn Red won! SOOOO ~ here are some updated pics of the treehouse, sans all the white trim yet, but at least the barn red bit is done.

Wood Genius installed the windows, screens & doorways, as well as the deck railing.


Almost all of the wood in this treehouse is ~re-claimed~. Most of it has been endcuts or left-overs from jobs that Wood Genius had. Even the plexi-glass windows and screens are re-cycled. We didn't want to use actual plate glass, since this treehouse will be used by kids ~ LOTS of kids! :-D Also, the supports & framework are all of sound lumber. Again, just being on the safe side.

This is the little dutch door, with the secret hand-stuff-through-the-door cut-out on the lower half. Either the top or the bottom may be opened.

Here you can see a better view of the deck. This will also be in white accents. I suppose you can kind of see the french doors leading out to the deck as well.


This is the bald little kitchen(ette!) window, where Wood Genius intends to hang a flower box/battlement, depending on your gender. But it's gonna be a battlement with flowers in it! :-D We'll likely want to put the same under the dinette windows as well. Naturally once the leaves grow in, it will look much more treehouse-y.

And we all loved Corrie's idea of growing ivy up through the whole thing. I will have to see if it will choke out the tree too much. This old tree is a Dutch Elm, and it fell sick to that horrid nemesis, the dutch elm disease. However, through various loving efforts of extra nutrition, watering, clipping, removal of affected limbs, and basic pray-that-the-tree-house-tree-will-survive nursing tactics, it seems to bounce back to better health every year.

Now that the treehouse is almost finished, it's time ( it's REALLY time) to start looking at housing for the chicks. We have to clean out their brooder twice a day to make sure they don't stink up the house. But they are getting quite large. I swear they have already doubled in size, and they are only 2 weeks old today! Those little biddies grow like weeds! We have had a nice day or two, where temps were in the 60's to 70's, so the chicks got to go outside & play for a bit in the little ~play-yard~ Wood Genius made. I hope & pray that we continue to have decent weather, since I really don't want to keep these little ladies in the house any longer than necessary. If they were getting raised by a real hen ( instead of the brooder light/all of us), I am sure she would have had them tromping about the yard regardless of the weather. At any rate, I'll do the next post on them, and the coop.