Tree House Update

Believe it or not, the pic below was taken in mid-October.  We've long since completed the tree house (phase I).  Sure, we still need to paint and add some accessories, but it's pretty much done.  I've just been plain ole lazy when it comes to posting about the project.

Nick putting on the roof.

 All the windows have been put in (well, except the cutsie arc window which is a bit of a story).

 The hatch was installed....

(sorry for the blown out photo... I'll replace this at some point)

.. and finally, the door and trim.  We've had it this stage for over a month though Nick just recently installed the actual door nob.  Not bad for an old recycled door, huh? 

Now... if only the kids would remember to shut the door...

and the kids would stop tracking mud in the house.

The kids use it just about everyday and they use it to gather and store all sorts of goodies for the bears.  They love to make stinky cakes (a concoction of mud, sticks and rocks) as well as acorns and pine cones.  The kids were out on it yesterday and believe it or not, they still didn't need jackets outside?!  It was a beautiful 60!!  We didn't think we'd be using it much this late into winter, but so far, so good and it is definitely paying for itself with play.

Treehouse Update

The tree house became semi-functional for children as of yesterday!!!! It has primitive railings (they still need to be finished), a ladder, and the kids can use the slide, and deck.


However, there are a million other things yet to be done including windows, doors, rope climb, roof, climbing wall, and a gate of some sort to keep kids from falling out the bottom, probably not the least of which is the latter. But with a little supervision it is usable!

We will be doing a board and batten exterior.  Hopefully we'll finish it by next weekend.

 Even I installed 5 of 9 of the rafters.  There is still a lot to be done to the roof.

Nick constructed a ladder and he installed one of the easiest windows to install (the picture window) on Friday.  We have another 3 windows and a door to go.

Even if only semi-functional, the kids are already have a blast on it.  With the work it has taken, hopefully, it will last more than just a few hours of entertainment.

Tree House Update

As it has been weeks since the last post...  I suppose we need a tree house update.

Nick finished the joists and I helped him secure in the railing posts.  This process took a good weekend and a half to complete.  Mind you we had family obligations and guests in town so that didn't exactly speed up the process.

Once the posts were in, Nick began laying the floor boards.  Nick is just shy of completing these.  It will likely be next weekend until the final boards are laid though.

We will have a hole in the center of the deck by the tree for access from underneath the structure.

We took another trip to Restore, Habitat for Humanity's non-profit store early this morning.  Unlike last time, we really lucked out and found the small windows we were looking for.  We also found a shorter than average door that will just be perfect for the front of the structure.

 miniature door on top of large window

two smaller windows for front and side of the structure

None of the windows match and Nick will have to build a sill for one them.  We don't care.  This is fun, and I love the idea of finding and reusing old materials wherever possible and designing as we work.

For the back of the structure we've been considering attaching a climbing net with a doggie door entrance but the cost of a doggie door is more expensive than all of the windows we bought combined.  So we are still working out just how we will get kids into the structure from the back without a full-on door.  It might just be a pass through with some sort of covering.  We'll see.  For now, we are keeping our options open and our eye on Craigslist!

Treehouse Project Update!

It's been another busy week here at Out in Them Sticks, albeit quite pleasant and wonderful.  Our Wisco relatives came for a much anticipated visit late this week and we had such a great time!  How I wish they lived closer to us and we could make visits more frequent.  We had a wonderful time chatting and even doing a little hiking up on the old AT.

After our guests left for their 17 hour journey home and we completed our long run (thanks to G-ma), it was time again to get working on the treehouse.  On Saturday we hit the Habitat Store for some recycled building products for the treehouse.  We were hoping to find a few functioning windows we could incorporate.  We weren't able to find quite what we were looking for but we did find this cute little window that we thought we can incorporate into the house.  In the meantime we'll have to keep our eyes peeled on Craigslist and Freecycle.

When we got back from the store, we got back to the nitty gritty.  By that, I mean I took care of the kiddos (doing the occasional consult of course) while Nick did the truly difficult work of constructing this monster.  This project has been an organic one and has been evolving from day one of construction.  We are constantly changing things for the better.  I also just love the idea of us finding construction materials and incorporating them as we go along.

For now though, we are still trying to get the base structure up.  Nick built the joist frame today, securing it with hurricane ties and began inserting and securing the joists.  As of today, we still have not quite finished securing all the joists.

Once he finishes placing the joists, he'll be working on installing the final post.  That is sort of a long story I suppose Nick should tell.  Essentially, Nick had some issues installing one of them due to a very large tree root so he'll have to go back and finish that one this week.

Tree House Project

With little work to do in the garden, the good news is that we finally got started on the playhouse project.  We were hoping to have our tree house built back 6 months ago when Nick had some paternity leave but it was cold outside and there was barely enough time for him to build new shelves in the pantry and re-do our closet. Both have been wonderful and I've been enjoying them quite a bit but I have felt quite guilty that we hadn't gotten to the kids play structure.

Designing the structure took way longer than I'd like to admit. We kept changing where we thought the tree house should go and what it should look like. In the end, we decided there were no good trees to really attach a tree house to so we decided to do it amongst the trees with a mature pine tree actually running through the deck portion of the house to give it  a tree house feel. Our structure will be approximately 8'x8' with a 4'x8' deck and a 4'x8' shelter structure. The large pine running through the deck can also act as a ladder to access the deck and play structure. The tree house shall be no higher than 6' or so on the high side.

Once we decided on the plan, Nick installed the footings.  Installing the footings can be quite time consuming when you are trying to get them just square.

Making sure the footing locations are correct

Placing gravel at the base of the footing.

Tubes ready to be poured

Once the concrete had properly cured (and our kids names written on them), Nick installed the posts using stirrups and secured them with temporary bracing.

Once the posts were installed, it was time to cut the posts to the proper height and then secure the beams to the posts.

And that, my friends, is where we are at today.  I'm so excited, it's hard to be patient.  We will keep the blog updated as we progress.  We expect a grand opening sometime this fall.