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.

Treehouse ~ Or is it tree house?

Ok, so we have this treehouse that we have been working on for a while now. Wood Genius has recently been re-invigorated into finishing this project ~ possibly because all of us have made a pact to finish it this spring, AND we are actually doing it. Naturally, whenever I work on a project, he feels a massive desire to get involved as well. This is actually part of my master planning. You see, the truth is, I am not all that hot or technical with wood, mathematics, and dangerous wood-cutting tools. However.... hehehe ... BWAAAAhahahahahah.... I DO possess enough sense ~ CUNNING sense ~ to realize that Wood Genius IS. AND, I also know this secret ~ it drives him INSANE to see me royally screwing up a project. ..... :-D.... And hence we obtain take-off.

Yes, I know, it's all so Huck Finn of me, but you know, there is a great deal of pleasure in the machinations.

Well, I could go on, but why? You get the idea. Like she said in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", "Yes, the man is the head of the house, but the woman, she is the neck, and the neck, it turns the head, aaannnyyy way she want to."

That's the idea, anyway. It also helps a LOT that this particular project is one that Wood Genius is IMMENSELY interested in. He has had SOOO much fun doing it. So, without further ado, I will show some pics of our as-yet-unfinished treehouse.

Ughh ~ the yard looks awful ~ it's that gushy 10-tons-of-snow-just-melted-into-your-yard plus all-the-crap-you-didn't-clean-up-last-fall look.

There is even some snow still left ~ however, we are trying hard not to focus on that, and we hope you will too. :-D Perhaps if we all concentrate on no more snow together, it will really come true, and spring can once again come to Narnia.

This is Wood Genius with the entire neighborhood up in the treehouse, scheming on the final touches. The table & benches that turn into a huge sleeping area, the little kitchenette, complete with a pump & thus ~running water~, book shelves, hooks for flashlights, windows that open, battlements ( or flowerboxes, depending on the gender) to be used in rubberband-gun wars, pulley's for the baskets, & about a hundred other fun ideas. One little gal came up with a grand idea of making a split front door, with a peephole on the bottom half.

Another child decided that French doors leading out to the miniscule deck would be enchanting.

And Wood Genius came up with this great handle to make sure that no-one could ever get locked out there.

And here are the windows & screens that just need plexi-glass & hinges added.

See? Not even a layer of dust! We are actually going to install these tomorrow, & paint & install the doors after that. I have been swaying back & forth between painting the outside of the treehouse in a barn red, with white accents, ( it would match the shed) or staining it with a natural cedar ( sort of an orange-ish tint). The cedar color would probably blend into the tree & yard better, but I think the red would be far cuter. Naturally, Wood Genius & young son are not for the *cute* version. They would rather have the *spy-guy hiding in the woods secretively* version.

So, I am taking a poll: Which is better? Barn red (very dark, with white accents)

or Natural orangey-ish cedar stain