The Falls Treehouse
Built in four western redcedar trees near Snoqualmie Falls, this treehouse was made as a place for the family to play music. Constructed with attention paid to all details, multiple craftspeople worked to bring this charming structure into being. Live-edge cedar siding, hand-split cedar shakes, and a branch railing were milled on-site from two windfall trees. This treehouse was featured on Animal Planet’s Ultimate Treehouses television show with Pete Nelson.
Suzanne and her husband, Alan, got in touch with Wild Tree Woodworks and Barefoot Builders in the winter of 2014. The family of musicians wanted a space for band practice, harp and piano playing, as well as solitude and sleepovers. Inspired by the energy of the family, David (of Wild Tree Woodworks) and Michael (of Barefoot Builders) joined together to collaborate on the design and build of the project.
The family envisioned a treehouse with a large deck that faced a stunning bigleaf maple in their back yard. They also requested a sleeping loft, a place for a chandelier, and a fire pole. Two western redcedars on the property had fallen down in a wind storm and the family hoped to use the trees to help build the treehouse. Those two trees provided all of the live-edge siding for the treehouse, as well as the shakes for the loft bump-out.
Four healthy western redcedars created an ideal location for the treehouse to be built, and there the project began. The build took place over the course of three months. David and Michael assembled a talented crew to work through the Seattle spring — rain and shine. The family was also engaged in the process of the build. Alan split cedar shakes for siding and everyone helped sand the cedar railings branches. Suzanne was attentive to the details of lighting and the overall feel of the interior.
The treehouse is connected to a guesthouse on the property where Suzanne teaches piano lessons. The funky but refined exterior of the treehouse brings delight to the eye as it flows seamlessly from the guesthouse porch and into the air. Suzanne took intentional care to furnish the treehouse to her liking and create a space that highlights the details David built into the project. The back door is a stained glass by Patterson Design that mimics the beauty of the bigleaf maple. An iron railing by Studio Steel lines the edge of the loft with dragonflies and flowers, bringing more of nature indoors. Slung below the treehouse is a Dream Net, a sturdy hammock for afternoon naps.
The build was a memorable one for the whole crew, and the magic of the treehouse was captured well on a special episode of Treehouse Masters with Pete Nelson titled Ultimate Treehouses.
“Every time I go to the treehouse I am impressed by the creativity and attention to detail that you put into the build. It still has that "new treehouse smell" after two years. I'm starting to think about treehouse #2…”
