gnome treehouse

[blastomom]

Has anyone made a treehouse style dollhouse? I've seen them in catalogs and just saw a couple IRL at our local botanical garden giftshop. Way cute! They come with a little family of Waldorf style dolls. I'm not sure we are up for spending $150 so I'm hoping I can add it to my "honey do" list and have hubby try to make one. Anybody know of a site with directions?

[JenniferC]

I don't have any instructions, but wow, look at these one! http://www.elucinda.com/whimsical.html

[mac5977]

I don't know of any instructions either, but I don't really think it'd be hard to do. The cool thing about treehouses, etc is that each one can be really unique and individual.

Think about how your kids play. Would they like a lot of rooms for their people? Or will just one or two open play areas work? How big are the little people they play with? What materials are easily available to you? Personally, I think it's best to use found natural materials or rescued/recycled scrap wood.

Have fun with it! I'd love to see what you create!

[blastomom]

DS is just 18 months old right now--I figure if we get started right now it might be done by the time he's off to college...

[melamama]

I made a treeblock treehouse for dd for christmas.
I couldn't find specific instructions, but I liked the look of this kind .
It's just made from tree branches-for the upright supports, then I used 1" pine for the floors-- cut curvy with the jigsaw, edges rounded with the router, sanded and finished with walnut oil.
To connect the branches to the floor, I used wooden dowels--drilled holes in the centers of the branches, then drilled holes at various places in the floor. I don't have a band saw, but I think that would help to cut the larger diameter branches/logs more evenly. I had precut all of my branches, but when I was assembling the house I found I hadn't accounted for the different angles of top/bottom so I needed to recut some.

I sized our treehouse to fit the 5" Kathe Kruse dollhouse dolls--so I think it ended up being bigger than the ones peopled by the tinier treehouse people--or the little tomtens. I want us to work on some wood furniture as a spring project.

Both dd and ds have been enjoying the treehouse.

+the best part is that the branches were found wood, so I only had to buy the pine board ($15) and the dowels ($5).

[srain]

Originally Posted by melamama

It's just made from tree branches-for the upright supports, then I used 1" pine for the floors-- cut curvy with the jigsaw, edges rounded with the router, sanded and finished with walnut oil.
To connect the branches to the floor, I used wooden dowels--drilled holes in the centers of the branches, then drilled holes at various places in the floor.
Both dd and ds have been enjoying the treehouse.

I made one in almost the same way. I used screws for attaching the supports to the floors, though. I glued some bark on the top to cover up the heads of the screws (which I put in flush with the wood). So mine couldn't be changed around. I didn't finish with oil or anything.

[Staceyhsmom1]

I made one with two friends. We each used wood bases from a local craft store. then we had thick sticks, like 2" dimameter we used to make a second floor. We drilled holes in the sticks and snapped off dowels to fit in the base to the sticks. I have a picture around here somewhere.

[lupineperriwinkle]

Stacey - post a picture already I want to see my messy kitchen in the background.

We made houses like the ones in the Magic Cabin catalog. I am making a larger version for my daughter's birthday to go with a fairy doll I got from Where's Waldorf.

[octobersweethearts]

I also think it would be fairly easy to make. I actually sell the one the other poster linked to and it is pretty simple. It is just the getting the wood pieces and then figuring out how to make them fit together.

The base on that treehouse has holes drilled in it. The "wall" pieces just have little peg parts that pop into the base. So if you have some power tools, it might not be too bad!

I also like these little houses: http://enchantedacorn.com/pictures/album01

[countrymom]

We made one--and the boys & I had as much fun building it as we have playing with it......I'll try to take a picture of it in the future to post.

We used a branch from a cherry tree----sawed a hole in the base--the base in an upside down basket----we built decks/ floors & ladders from twigs----used some popsicle/craft sticks for some floor bases----used dried moss & sea shells to decorate & a chain of silk/poly flowers & vines from Michael's craft store to be the foliage at the top.

[Selena]

ANy chance you gals could take pictures to share of these? I am contemplating buying the treeblock house but have been so inspired lately by the handbuilt ones that I have to see some more and see if I want to maek them myself

thanks!