Treehouse Books

Treehouses You Can Actually Build
David R Stiles, Jeanie Stiles, 1998

Tree houses capture the imagination of the child in all of us, and they have never been more popular than they are today. This inspirational yet thoroughly practical guide shows even the most inexperienced weekend carpenter how to design and build a lifetime of memories for the entire family. With more than 200,000 copies of their popular Weekend Project Books sold, David and Jeanie Stiles have become America's First Couple of do-it-yourself woodworking. In Tree Houses You Can Actually Build, they explain basic building procedures through clear, simple instructions and non-technical line drawings that illustrate every step of the project, from the earliest sketches to the final cedar shingle. The authors outline five basic designs that can be adapted to virtually any set of conditions, and throughout the book, they emphasize safety for both adults and children. In addition to line drawings, the book contains a section of full-color photographs highlighting a variety of tree house projects, plus helpful building tips based on interviews with their owners.

David Stiles, a recipient of the ALA's Notable Children's Book Award, is a designer/ builder and illustrator who has written ten books. His playground designs have won two awards from the New York City Planning Commission. Jeanie Stiles has co-authored six books with her husband.

Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living out on a Limb
by Peter Nelson
Treehouses lift the spirits. They inspire dreams. They represent freedom: from adults or adulthood, from duties and responsibilities, from an earthbound perspective. If we can't fly with the birds, at least we can nest with them. With lively writing and beautiful photographs, Treehouses paints a fascinating portrait of this ingenious branch of architecture. It provides a brief history of treehouses, from Caligula through the Medici to Queen Victoria. It shows how to design and build a treehouse, from picking the right tree to shingling the roof. And it tells the stories of dozens of treehouses and the people who built them, from simple platforms nailed together by kids to arboreal palaces constructed and lived in by grown-ups. The centerpiece of the book is a photo essay showing Pete Nelson building a spectacular octagonal treehouse thirty feet up an old-growth fir on Saltspring Island in British Columbia. With two hundred square feet of floor space, cedar paneling, and leaded French doors, the Saltspring treehouse is one of the finest specimens of the treehouse builder's art. Anyone who has ever built a treehouse, or dreamed of it, or read Swiss Family Robinson, will find Treehouses irresistible.

Larkin is the editor-designer of the best-selling Barn and Shaker and the author of Farm, among many other books published here and abroad. He currently lives in Cherry Plain, New York. Peter Nelson is a builder of custom houses, both treehouses and ground houses, in Seattle, Washington.

the treehouse book
By Peter Nelson, Judy Nelson, David Larkin

It seems that almost everyone likes treehouses. Smiles of recognition turn into grins of enthusiasm as more people discover them and dream about making their own private retreats or family play spaces. And it's nice to remind ourselves that treehouses are built into the oldest and most forgiving, living things on earth. Also, history records treehouses as being built as deliberate follies, as challenges for arboreal designers, for merrymaking, and for keeping the spirit of fairy tales alive. But treehouses can also be social places. We will visit many that were built to entertain, to hang out with friends, or as guest houses. Trees welcome all types.

Detailed how-to information, including plans and drawings, is woven with behind-the-scenes tales of each structure's occupants and stunning interior and exterior photographic explorations.

Home Tree Home: Principles of Treehouse Construction and other Tall Tales
Peter Nelson, Gerry Hadden, 1997





 

Rustic Retreats - A build-it-yourself guide
David R Stiles, Jeanie Stiles, 1998