It’s been said that everyone should have a refuge, a place where you can go and weather any storm… for me that would be my treehouse. Or did I speak too soon? I also enjoy our yoga/meditation room, the master bedroom, the different garden areas, the sitting room, kitchen, living room, even the bathrooms… in fact, our entire home is our refuge, our retreat. I hope to share with you here ideas to help make your home as peaceful and serene so that every day you could say, “Aaahhhhh, it’s good to be home”.
Let’s start by climbing up to the treehouse to take a look! The treehouse, as it is today, came about in the need of a guest bedroom. Our home, a California cottage bungalow, is quaint and very comfortable for my husband and I. However, it has always been a dilemma when guests would be sleeping over. The treehouse was originally built over 20 years ago when my daughter was turning 6. It was just a deck with a Little Tike plastic kitchen, a very fast slide, and a tug boat rope to climb up and down on. Well as life has it, she grew up, moved to Vienna, Austria to study ballet and now has two “adorable!” children of her own – in Vienna. So when they would all come home to visit “Oma & Opa” space was a real issue. The treehouse was badly in need of repair and we needed a guest bedroom… “Voilá”… the transformation began!
A small replica of the main house, the treehouse sits atop an old jacaranda where a private veranda ushers you into a charming bedroom. The room is unique in that it consists of five walls – a remnant of its five-sided gazebo predecessor which served as a happy hideaway for many years. Below, on the deck beneath, is a secluded Jacuzzi, an outdoor sink and a wonderful outdoor shower – sheltered from prying eyes as well as mother nature.
The entrance to the treehouse is thru a secluded Jacuzzi spa area complete with bamboo blinds, palms and canvas drapes for extra privacy. The back wall was once exposed, concrete blocks. For years I thought about painting a mural on it and then finally opted for something more natural.
I added Mexican pebbles with a few sea shells to cover the entire wall. What a difference that made! I did it with one helper, to mix the mortar, but it really wasn’t difficult.
Have to show you what the old treehouse used to look like… quite different! I really did love the bohemian lifestyle we shared with it. (Perhaps being of the “sixties” generation might have something to do with that.) I had found a canvas 5-sided gazebo at IKEA and transformed it by sewing together Indian sarees. The only problem was that it wasn’t enclosed on all sides… After a few years of weather the sarees began to deteriorate and trying to keep it clean was a real challenge. Plus the gazebo fell apart as well. We enjoyed it for many years but it was time to let go, “grow up” and to move on.
New sitting area outside treehouse bedroom