Scavenger Chic

Building an Indoor Treehouse – Part 1

• By Joan
• March 23, 2022
• 6 Comments

Building an Indoor Treehouse

In the past I’ve mentioned how the soaring ceilings in my son’s house are ridiculously high.  When it came to the living room they were a beautiful design feature.

Not as much of a welcome feature in the babies room when the ceilings were open to the rest of the house.  Sound travels, which is not such a great idea for a sleeping baby. 

This was the ceiling after it was enclosed with reclaimed fencing boards.

After the birth of a second baby (my grandbaby #4), rooms at my son’s house got reconfigured  one more time.  Their oldest son, Felix, was moved into the guest room and new baby Isaac moved into the room with the fencing on the ceiling.

Once again the ceiling in Felix’s new room was open to the hallway, and of course all the noises from the entire house.  

This is the picture of the closet and above in the new bedroom.  Look at all that space above the closet, it’s the perfect amount of space for an indoor treehouse.

The 2×4 structure above the  stepladder is the beginning of framing in the space that is open to the hallway.  This is similar to what was done with the fence board ceiling from 2019.

The space where the 2×4’s were has been filled in with drywall and it was time to work on the structure for the treehouse.

This 2×6 structure was assembled on the ground then bolted to existing studs in the wall.

Attached joists to the 2×6’s to get ready for a plywood floor.

By the way, the plywood and the joists were the only new wood for this project, all other materials were scavenged like a good treehouse should be. 😆

The vertical beams on the sides are  for attaching vertical walls, not for support.

If you need any electrical work this is the time for it to be wired.  They wanted a plug in the treehouse and lighting beneath the structure. I don’t do wiring (other than lamps, those are easy) so I can’t give instructions on that process.  You may need to hire an electrician.

If all your wiring is complete you can enclose the bottom part of the treehouse.

Here, my son Kevin, is installing some reclaimed old oak hardwood flooring.  The flooring covers the plywood, joists and wiring and best of all, it was free!

Cut a piece of 1/2″ plywood that fits the front of your treehouse.  

I brought over an old window we were trying on for size and experimenting with trim.

We decided against the single window and went with  2 doors from the above, upper right cabinet.  This cabinet was taken down when we did this wet bar kitchen cabinet makeover in 2020.

Measure and cut holes in the plywood for the new windows. Attach windows.  We did the cutting and installing of the windows while the plywood was still on the ground.

The front of the new treehouse is screwed into place.

Side wall was installed with another reclaimed window.

Wherever there was an open joint or seam that needed to be covered we attached some reclaimed 1×3 boards.

The inside also got trim to cover all the rough edges.  This was all reclaimed wood, mostly from the demolition of this project.

Lighting installed and the treehouse is all trimmed out and ready for paint.

The side painted wall still needed another coat of drywall patching before its final coat of paint.

They knew that the base would be this leftover dark blue paint but what about the trim.  These four colors were all leftover paint, either from a past project or paint the previous homeowners had left behind.

I like them all, but orange was the winner of the vote.

Mid paint job.   

I think it was about this time that they started to rethink their orange and blue paint choice…after all, it is the team colors of the Virginia Cavaliers.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with the Cavaliers except they are one of the main rivals of my son and his wife’s school, Virginia Tech (Hokies).

No worries, I can tone down the orange and blue theme.

Full speed ahead.  Trim inside the treehouse.

The orange and blue color changed dramatically with the addition of antique wax.  The wax is super easy to apply, paint on and rub off the excess.

It’s hard to tell that was even a blue color and the orange almost looks like stained wood.

The beautiful wood flooring was another salvaged find.  I’m assuming someone had ordered too much of the flooring and didn’t have much use for the shorter bits.  It all works for me.

The last touch were these cedar shingle planks attached with builders adhesive to the sloping ceiling to look like a roof overhang.

OK, we still need a ladder.  Next week I’ll bring you the ladder construction and some simple decorating for the inside of the treehouse.

Until next time, stay inspired.

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