(click the arrow on the right of the image to scroll through pics of the top ten tree houses)
Top Ten: Most Awesome Tree Houses
Make 10-year old you super jealous by visiting these awesome tree houses from around the world! Cross them off your Bucket List, or even better, make your own ultimate tree house worthy of making this list.
10. Redwoods Treehouse Restaurant
Who: Peter Eising and Lucy Gauntlett of Pacific Environments Architects
When: 2008
Where: Auckland, New Zealand
Why: This gorgeous treehouse was built as part of a marketing campaign for Yellow Pages. Amateur entrepreneurs were challenged to build a restaurant 30 feet up a redwood tree using only those resources they could find in Yellow Page’s directory.
9. Beach Rock Tree House
Who: Kobayashi Takashi
When: 2005
Where: Okinawa, Japan
Why: Takashi bui breathtaking treehouse with the purpose of communicating with outer space. You may not be able to talk to aliens in outer space, but it sure feels like you can reach up into outer space from this pod. Perched in the treetops of Beach Rock Resort this popular attraction is known as the “plexiglass portal to the universe.”
8. Hogwarts Tree House
Who: J.K. Rowling
When: In Construction
Where: In the Garden of Rowling’s 17th-century mansion in Edinburgh, Scotland
Why: The tree house complex is being built for Rowling’s two youngest children, Kenzie and David. When you’re the author of one of the greatest children/fantasy book series of all time, why not? The tree house will boast cedar-shingle roofs, a secret tunnel, rope bridge, fireman’s pole, basket and pulley, spiral staircase, trap door and rope ladder, double swing set and trampoline deck.
7. Lantern House
Who: Roderick Romero
When: 2007
Where: Santa Monica, California
Why: Romero is known for building treehouses for stars like Sting and Val Kilmer, but it’s his desire to live a more minimalist, ahimsa-focused life that first inspired him to create this treetop masterpiece. The Lantern House sits atop three eucalyptus trees and 99 percent of it was built with salvaged lumber.
6. Temple of the Blue Moon
Who: Pete Nelson
When: 2006
Where: Treehouse Point in Issaquah, Washington
Why: Nelson, a world-renowned treehouse builder and author, created this sustainable destination as a beautiful, educational getaway that provides visitors with a unique way to connect with nature. The Temple of the Blue Moon sits partway up a 300-year-old, 160-foot-tall Sitka Spruce and boasts skylights, built-in cedar beds and handmade quilts.
5. 4Treehouse
Who: Lukasz Kos
When: 2002
Where: Lake Muskoka in Ontario, Canada
Why: Kos designed 4Treehouse as an exercise in minimizing the impact on trees, the building site and nature itself. So its two-ton lattice-frame structure is suspended 20 ft above the forest floor with steel cables that are anchored to just a single puncture whole in each of the four trunks surrounding the structure.
4. Finca Bellavista community
Who: Finca Bellavista community members
When: 2006
Where: Finca Bellavista on the southern coast of Costa Rica
Why: This community started when Mateo and Erica Hogan fell in love with the area of rainforest. They decided to purchase a 60-acre land plot and determined a treehouse would be the simplest, least invasive housing. But they realized this land was far bigger than they would ever need and decided to see if friends wanted to come along, build their own treehouse, and created a community connected by bridges and ziplines. This seed of an idea eventually grew into 600 acres of “the finca.”
3. Le Lit Perché
Who: Alain Laurens
When: 2005
Where: Paris, France
Why: Laurens was a former chairman of a major French advertising agency but left his position to found La Cabane Perchée, a Paris-based studio that designs and builds treehouses. The Le Lit Perché is designed to give the most intimate tree-dwelling experience possible.