Cedar Faerie Tree Palace

This little tree house play structure was really fun to dream up and build. The tree was an old cedar that had been cut down but they left about fifteen feet standing with the idea to build a tree house around it. I took one look at the stump and thought it looked like the stalk of a giant mushroom. So that was the original vision for it. Turns out the engineering involved in realizing that vision would have made it more expensive than the clients wanted to pay for, but it did provide a basic idea for how the structure would be attached to the tree. The deck framing radiates out from the tree stump in a spider web pattern. The posts are either Black Locust, harvested from the nearby woods, or White Oak. Both are very rot resistant. The center post is a Black Locust tree with a Virginia Creeper vine still winding around. The railing is the bottom of the same vine, which must be at least 30 years old. The deck boards are all cedar milled from the very tree that was cut down. This little gem has so many fun architectural moments. I hope it is enjoyed by many generations of kids.