Every kid dreams of having their own tree house and if you’re fortunate enough to have the space and trees kids will often try and build one on their own. It’s a childhood milestone that sticks with you forever. As a parent you can make special memories with you children by helping them build a tree house. Here are some ideas to take your tree house from the idea stage to a backyard hideaway for your kids.
Planning
Like anything you need to have a plan in place. You need to find a tree that will support your tree house. Grab some graph paper and roughly sketch out the design and square footage of the house. Figure out the materials and tools you will need, often tree house are made with scrap lumber and things you may even have lying around in the garage. It really depends on how sophisticated you want the tree house to be. What kind of furniture if any will you put in the tree house? All of this you should have planned out before you grab your hammer. Here’s a video on how to build a simple tree house.
Pick the Right Tree
This is where your kids will be playing so you want it to be strong and safe for them, so it all begins with a sturdy tree. You need a mature and strong tree, maple trees work very well. The tree should be able to hold the house well even during the winter months. Make sure there are no insect nests or snakes living nearby either.
Design
Sit down and grab your rough sketches from earlier and make them into an actual design. Proper sketches with the right measurements will make building a whole lot easier. You need to figure out the size of the house and how many rooms it will have. Most of this will be determined by the tree you have chosen. Before you start building you need to have the design with the rooms mapped out along with the right measurements.
Material
When you figure out what you need look for what you might have around your home already. Most people have leftover wood and tools from other projects that you can use to build the tree house. It will save you some time and money before you head off to the hardware store. Use strong materials to build your tree house, a solidly built tree house can last for generations.
Paint and Color
If you opt for painting the tree house then try and pick some colors that won’t fade too soon with the weather. Get the kids involved in picking out the color, give them some choices to work with. Encourage them to help you paint or even paint it on their own. They love to help with the construction and it’s a great way to get them involved in the whole process. This is going to be their tree house so let them have some choices and invest some sweat equity.
Furniture
This part really should be left to your kids. Let them choose from the old chairs and cushions you may have taking up space in storage. They will figure out how to make it comfortable and cozy for themselves.
So now that you have an idea where to begin it’s time to start picking the right tree to start building and get ready for moving in.
