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References and Book Reviews
Treehouses
The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb
Peter Nelson
Edited and Designed by David Larkin
Principal photography by Paul Rocheleau
Houghton Mifflin Company, NY, NY
copyright 1994
128 pp.
This is the book that first captured my imagination, starting with the beautiful cover, a photo of one of Michael Garnier's tree houses in Takilma, Oregon. The photography and design of this book help to create
an irresistable aura of mystery about treehouses. The book is comprehensive with a section, believe it or not, on the history of treehouses, photos of spectacular--as well as simple,
homemade--treehouses of North America and England, including the movie set for Disney's "Swiss Family Robinson," and the Disney World concrete and plastic tourist version.
The focus of the book is the story of the construction of a spectacular treehouse on Saltspring Island in British Columbia, complete with sketches of blueprints, photos and text.
Of particular interest to me, once I got serious about building my own treehouse, was a section with drawings and tips on treehouse construction, as well as examples of different solutions to foundation
design--the most essential element for any treehouse. Here I wished for more detail than I found, but I would highly recommend this book for the library of anyone who wishes to build--or simply admires--treehouses.
Home Tree Home
Principles of Treehouse Construction and Other Tall Tales
Peter Nelson and Gerry Hadden
Penguin Books, NY, NY
copyright 1997
179 pp.
Home Tree Home can be seen as the companion book to Peter Nelson's
Treehouses. In here you can find more detail on the nuts and bolts of building a treehouse, but to make it just that much more fun, he tells the story of the
construction of three tree houses, and of the people who own them. First he tackles a treehouse for kids, then a 182 square foot Montana treehouse built 30 feet up in a
stand of three spruce, an Alaskan treehouse home in the Kenai Penninsula, and his own office treehouse, dubbed "World Treehouse Organization" headquarters.
Mostly in black and white with lots of useful drawings and photos, there is also an eight page color insert with views of exterior and interior photos of the Montana and Alaska treehouses.
Lots of adventure and romance and lots of practical advice in this book. If I could only have one book on building treehouses, this is the one I'd buy.
The Treehouse Book
Peter Nelson, Judy Nelson, David Larkin
copyright 2000
The Treehouse Workshop
It seems that almost everyone likes treehouses.
Master treehouse builders Peter and Judy Nelson, with David Larkin, have embarked on yet another
treehouse-discovery expedition across America, this time adding the investigation of backyard playhouses to their agenda. Now, in The Treehouse Book, they reveal their findings, illustrated and described in the
most complete volume yet.
Tree Houses You Can Actually Build
David and Jeanie Stiles
Houghton Mifflin
Boston, New York
copyright 1998
128 pages
http://www.stilesdesigns.com/treehouses.html
Here's a practical book, written with kids in mind, but I found it very useful for basic information about how to build a tree house, using one, two, three or four
trees for support. Mostly illustrated with cartoon drawings by David Stiles, Tree Houses covers just about every aspect of tree house building from safety, tools and lag bolts to foundations, floor, framing, walls and roofing.
Mostly black and white with illustrations, there is also an eight page insert with color photographs of 20 treehouses of modest and not-so-modest proportions. Clearly there is something here for everyone.
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