I was about 6 months pregnant with Artisan, and knew that having Artisan and Taly share the nursery was not ideal. Taly is a super light sleeper (so going in to tend to a new born multiple times a night was going to turn into a multiple child pow wow) so we moved Talynn into Kalvin’s room to get ahead with the transition. Kalvin’s room was a tad small. We had his toddler bed in there and the crib which takes up the same amount of space as a toddler bed…..and then of course a dresser and it just felt a bit: tight quarters. So I started thinking bunk beds, but HOLY EXPENSIVE and that’s just for a sturdy nothing special kind. Okay okay my husband is super handy so i’ll have him make one. Well that’s how it all began folks. Jeff and I can’t help ourselves. We start with one idea and continue to brainstorm and at times we get a little carried away but this room turned out AWESOME, and we did it ALL for less than what a bunk bed was gonna run us. We thought an outdoorsy treehouse or beachhouse themed bunk bed would be cool, and then jeff had the idea of actually doing suspended treehouses for their beds and the ideas just grew from there. It was great having the beds up off the floor because then they still had all the floor space to play. We wanted fun stuff for them to play and climb partly so their are toys that don’t make a mess and have to be cleaned up (i hate clutter) and because our kids have been quite the little acrobats right off the bat….
Here is Kalvin at 16 months doing back extensions in the bank-
And Taly at a month old hanging by her hands-
We’ll show some good ole before and afters, then for those that are curious we’ll break down our process…..
BEFORE AFTER
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BEFORE AFTER
I have split up the steps in CONSTRUCTION and PAINTING since many of these things had to happen at the same time.
CONSTRUCTION: Here you can see we’ve built our subfloor frame. Our dimensions are based off of a crib size mattress. So each kid has their individual treehouse which is just big enough to fit a crib sized mattress. We drilled into every stud along the ledger board and into the ceiling joists using lag screws. This whole structure is super sound our whole family hung out up here together inluding dogs, and i was fat and pregnant. Super sound construction!
PAINTING: As you can see from the before pictures EVERYTHING is painted a tan color (this was the case in the whole house!) walls, ceiling, baseboards, doors, door frames. EVERYTHING! This actually worked great for my plans. I wanted the colors in the room to be grey, white, and then little pops of teal and coral. The TEAL for Kalvin and CORAL for Taly. To go with the treehouse theme I wanted the feel of the treehouses being out in nature, now i realize that aspens are not ideal for hosting treehouses but i think they are beautiful and they were perfect for my color scheme. I started out by take some white paint and just freestyled the basic silhouettes i wanted for the trees. I let them dry just so they were dry to the touch, and then took painters tape and taped off the white area (i know big no no since the paint wouldn’t be completely cured but it worked out beautifully) 
CONSTRUCTION: We used 1/2” plywood for the subfloor and the wall panels. Jeff used 2x2’s to frame windows and doors so there would still be a slight reveal one we nailed the pallet shakes onto them.
PAINTING: I then painted all the walls, and ceiling grey. When i peeled off the tape it pulled some smaller areas of the white off with them revealing the tan , I also went through with a piece of sand paper and made some areas thinner so that just a tad of the tan would peek through.
PAINTING: Then I came back through with a small paint brush and the tan paint color and did some detail work to make the trees look more legit.
CONSTRUCTION: We put in a spacer first off to get the correct angle and then, just like with any siding you start from the bottom and work your way up. We cut a ton of pallet boards up to make the shakes in 5 different sizes which varied from 6”-9”.
CONSTRUCTION: We wanted to be able to change bedding as easily as possible and to be able to get to our kids quickly if need be so we made the railing so that it can swing down, complete with a lock so that it is nice and secure.
The flip down railing gives us quick access to Kalvin’s bed.
And this is Taly’s treehouse, and the outside wall of hers actually flips up. The hinge is kind of hard to see but here it is open, and the hardware for locking and unlocking it.
Instagram video we did demonstrating the swinging aspects-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_wXd-wePAg
CONSTRUCTION: Now that we had their bed structure made, they needed a way to get up there. Stairs were gonna take away too much from the floor space, and Taly was still only 15 months or so, so we needed something she could climb safely, but that would also accommodate for Kalvin’s size. These offset layered platforms proved just what we needed. Easy to climb up, and descend, and big/small enough for both children to fit through.
CONSTRUCTION: We had to think out the placement for the top opening to make sure it wasn’t too close to either kids treehouse doorway. We didn’t want kids falling through while trying to get in/out of bed. This was the best location, and has worked like a charm! Each platform is made from a 2x2 frame with 1/2” plywood mounted on top, each platform is then secured the the vertically running 2x2’s.
I really loved the way the raw wood looked but, it’s was almost too much, and alot of detail got lost. So i decided to water down some white paint and give just the shakes a white wash looks, so that the framing around the treehouse windows door, and the railing would pop and break it up a little. At this time I also painted all the baseboards, bedrooms doors and frames white as well. I just did a very thin coat so as to mimic the whitewash look of the treehouse and window blinds.
Now that we had the way up/down figured out, we could map out what kinds of activities we could mount underneath their treehouses. Jeff came up with a long list! Like way more than I wanted, I felt it was gonna get too cluttery and i told him i wanted stuff that could be pulled up and tied out of the way or removed. So we made sure that the things we could make removable were.
Like these rings! we bought these rings online already attached to the webbing with was like 4 feet long . We cut them to the length we wanted and sewed them to some hooks that hold up to 180 some lbs. So we can unhook these and move them to multiple areas under the treehouses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddlcPhtrzjU
The pull up bar, is obviously permanent but also holds a ridiculous amount of weight. Jeff has done pull ups on here with the weight of both kiddos hanging on him.
The rope ladder is also permanent but is well out of the way, it is actually mounted through the floor into our basement.
We ordered a rope online with came with the hook fixture on top this can also be removed and moved to other hooks along the underneath of this entire structure. (it holds over 200lbs)
This is a video of how Talynn started out figuring out the rope, the stuff Kal and Taly do on here now is ridiculous!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDakS7YtMUc
CONSTRUCTION: You can see the swaybridge and other platform that we added as well the slats on the bridge are 1x3’s that Jeff shaved down a little smaller, wrapped in tan pleather and then attached to 2 strips of webbing that was left over from the excess we cut off of the rings. The larger platform is made the same way as the others framed in 2x2’s topped with 1/2” plywood and wrapped in the same tan pleather. Jeff covered all the platforms in the tan pleather so we wouldn’t have to worry about splinters or sharp edges. Plus this makes for easy clean up, we can wipe and disinfect most of the surfaces in here.
floor mats…
CONSTRUCTION: We thought it would probably be smart to have a cushier landing area under the crazy jungle gym structures because well kids will be kids. Jeff took plywood wood and cut them into to fit the area and then the shape he wanted. cut the foam slightly larger the the wood pieces and then stapled pleather that we bought in a grey (we got the pleather online for crazy cheap, and the foam and plywood at HOME DEPOT) This area can also just be wiped down easily.
While he had been making the mats Jeff also made Window shutter’s we thought about making some that were just nailed in the open position next to the windows, but making them so the kids could open and shut them is just so much more FUN! The construction of these is pretty self explanitory. Jeff drilled little finger holes in each shutter.
The dresser we had been using in their room was the one that went with the nursery so I was on the hunt for a fun dresser to redo. I was looking on craigslist and KSL, but then my sister said she had a few she was getting rid of and didn’t know if we could use them. I said YES! So this is a black chest of drawers she gave us.
I removed the hardware, and decided to use a lighter grey than i did on the walls.
I did a super light coat, and made sure the brush strokes showed (but as even and pretty as possible) I wanted a little rougher look to go with the outdoor campy feel.
I wanted some pop of color and to use the accent colors. I had a bunch of different ideas (some super complicated/busy designs) but i wanted it as simple as could be so I just taped the drawers into quarters and alternated the accent colors
Let dry, and then remounted the hardware.
I was happy with the end product and it gives this corner of the room a little life and pop of color.
Next I like having a potty in the bedroom. It’s nice for the newly potty trained toddlers with a little weaker bladder (that can’t wait to be let out of their room in the morning). But I HATE how sometimes it can get knocked over with pee in it, and well I hate clutter and things sitting out with no place to go. We thought it would be funny to have an “outhouse” in the room, and put the potty in there! The potty is out of the way, the “outhouse” goes with our theme, and just adds another fun aspect of the room for the kids.
CONSTRUCTION: The construction of this is pretty similar to the treehouses in that it is framed in 2x2’s with the 1/2” playwood paneling. We just pitched the roof, and the “shingles” are just pallet boards nailed horizontally, and then the shakes we did the same as before.
The door has this lovely latch with the handy dandy string fed inside for unlatching from within the outhouse.
Everything else were just little finishing touches…
There’s a couple little treehouses….
and other painted projects….
I’m still wanting to put an alphabet above the bedroom and closet doors, with letters in all different fonts, painted in various shades of the room colors, one thing at a time i guess!
This room has been WONDERFUL for our kids, and us. Friends love playing in there, it’s gives the kids exercise and ways to burn their energy on days just too chilly to go outside. They are constantly testing their abilities and learning new tricks, and are way beyond other kids their age when it comes to agility and physicality. Their imaginations have sky rocketed, and it’s a great way to wind down at night. We go in their with them before bed, let them burn off their remaining energy and then they can just climb up in bed!
Here is a video of Taly when we were still working on the room. She is only 14 months here and is already enjoying everything this room has to offer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK5Ae7DiE3Y
Here she is again on the rings only 2 months later-basically a pro!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-OzohgN9_I&feature=youtu.be
Kal does his thing on the rings too!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_PNESCUj8E
The two goofs spinning together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syxcO8mHDGk&feature=youtu.be
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