Part fairy castle, part spaceship, part jungle ride, a tree house can be decked out with indoor plumbing, electricity, and glazed windows or be deemed complete as nothing more than a heap of recycled planks and a crude ladder. No matter how it's fashioned, though, a tree house will succeed as long as it's raised higher than the tallest adult on the property. Because this isn't just a house in the trees—it's the nexus of a child's no-grown-ups-allowed world. It's the crow's nest for a pack of marauding pirates. It's the top-secret clubhouse for the ornithological society and the Young Anti-Establishment Poets of America. It's truth-or-dare central.
Of course, tree houses hold as much romance for adults as they do for kids. Peter Nelson, author of Treehouses of the World and owner of TreeHouse Workshop, a construction company in Seattle, has seen some of his creations evolve into artist studios, guesthouses, and writing lofts. He explains the universal appeal of a retreat among the leaves as almost primal. "When I had a tree house growing up," he says, "I was like, 'This is mine! Here I am, out in the world, free and independent!'"
With such childhood-defining memories at stake, how do you even begin the process of creating one for your own kids? Whether you're constructing a tree house yourself or having it professionally built, you can download design plans from a number of websites (such as Treehouse Guides and EZ Treehouse Plans) for as little as $15. Other sites, like Treehouses.com and Trees Are Good, offer advice on everything from tree preservation to materials and layouts. And professional designers from all over the country, including those behind the tree houses featured here, will often travel great distances to execute your personal vision; some will even assemble the tree house off-site, complete with trunk, then truck it right to your backyard.
The choices are limitless—but at the end of the day, all you really need to get started is some outdoor space and a little inspiration. Cookie takes care of that last part with the following slideshow, where you'll find five leafy lofts that we can't stop dreaming about.
