You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June, 2008.
Not only does this song rule, the video kicks the asses of all other videos.
Hey, this is Kent writing today. It has been a while since we have updated our tree house progress so some of the details of this day might slip my mind. Today’s main goal was to fit the extremely tricky, oddly shaped floor piece that fits around the tree. Most of the day’s progress was on paper as John and I measured and remeasured the area that needed to accept the floor.
We decided the best way to transcribe the shape of the tree and all the necessary cutouts to the plywood would be to use a series of measurements every 6 inches. We marked those measurements to the plywood and just sort of connected the dots. I am proud to say we fit the piece snugly around the tree with only a few minor adjustments to our original cuts.
Once that section of floor was up the kids FINALLY had a chance to climb into the thee house for the first time. Needless to say they were excited to see the view from up there.
- KR
The guys managed to sneak in a little more floor time before lightning started bolting all over the sky prompting Kent to say, “huh, I think maybe I shouldn’t be standing up here now, so I’m gonna go ahead and get down, right?” Just in time because within a few minutes the sky went almost black and just opened up.
As you can see, our trashed Ikea chaise loungers that we were going to get rid of have come in quite handy. Really, the lounges and the recycling bins have become the outdoor workbenches. Oh, and the kids’ picnic table. You can see the high tech system they have developed whereby Kent carefully stands on the piece of plywood which is on top of the chaise lounge allowing John to trim it down with a circular saw.
- JF
The first part of this day was spent beefing up the stability by bolting the structure to the tree. It’s amazing how much more solid it got once that happened. After that, they hoisted up the first section of the floor. The kids were going crazy when it went up and were begging to stand up there but as you can see, it’s way up there and oh, I don’t know, I guess sides would be a good idea before the children actually stand up there. Kent made me climb up to check it out and I never took my hand off one of the posts. It’s an amazing view. I should have brought the camera up to snap a few panoramic views but then again that would have required me to remove my hand from the post and that wasn’t going to happen.
- JF
I think guitar god Eddie Van Halen might be losing his skills.
Danzig needs to get his act together too.
Come on guys, you’re better than that!
- KR
Just a few hours spent on this day because Kent was in NYC so John had to fly solo. He hung the floor joist brackets and beams and suddenly this thing started really taking shape as a serious structure to me. The kids too – somehow even the idea of a floor made them even more excited about the tree house.
- JF
I don’t really know what to say or think about this. I hope you enjoy this clip of David Bowie and Cher singing about 300 songs in 6 minutes as much as I do.
- KR
I had a little cocktail party last night and received a lot of compliments on our new mantle and tile surround. It made me think I ought to give credit where credit is due and give a shout out to my very talented pal Erik Gustafson who designed it. He is a woodworker and designer who did the mantle at our previous home (made out of zebra wood) and he constructed this with one of his colleagues, Bill Schick. He does furniture, chandeliers, all sorts of really unique pieces.
My request for this mantle was modern but still rustic and cozy. He suggested holly based on the tone I wanted for the room and because the pieces he had at the shop had a lot of excellent knots. When people look at it they can never figure out what it’s made of and are always so surprised when I tell them it’s holly. Who knew?! I didn’t see the finished product until it was installed and I couldn’t have been happier. I adore this thing. The knots are really expressive. I chose the tiles from Heath Ceramics and Erik designed the layout. I think the two elements really compliment each other and for sure they both achieve the perfect marriage between modern and cozy.
- JF
Day two was when the real fun started and the scale of the structure was first realized. Although the pouring of the foundation on day one was important it’s just not as fun as getting to saw lumber and drive some nails and screws. Today we became men! I should mention this is Kent writing not Julia, she is still a woman.
John and I had to balance our excitement and eagerness to use the rented nail gun with the reality of keeping this rather large structure safe and sound. We began by bolting the 4×4 posts to the cement foundation. That step was easy but once they were up we needed to take our time and make sure our frame design was adequate. After making only a few small tweaks to our original idea we began to construct the skeleton out of 2×6 pressure treated lumber. With the addition of each 2×6 the frame became more and more stable and we worked hard to keep everything level and plumb. To attach the main elements of the frame we used heavy duty bolts for extra safety and stability. Remember, the floor is going to be 8 feet off the ground.
By the end of the day we had a basic frame constructed and the kids began to get excited because the tree house was no longer an abstract series of concrete posts in the ground and lumber waiting to be used in the garage. The big debate at this time is where to put the trap door for the stairs and exactly how to safely construct this door. We are trying to think of every possible scenario in order avoid any smashed fingers or accidental trips to the ground through an open trap door. I’m still not sure we have a great plan for this aspect of the tree house but the kids have demanded a trap door.
This sucker is looking pretty sweet though and John and I have already discussed how easily we could run power for a TV in the tree house. We might end up using it more than the kids.
If you don’t feel like building an actual tree house you could always just buy one of our stylish Tree House T-shirts available only at Fooey.
- KR
