Fly Away Home

Photography by Jacques Delacroix from Exceptional Treehouses by Alain Laurens [via Australian House & Garden]

This is a post I've been meaning to do since last spring. Oops! Now the branches are weighed down by snow, and spending a day in a treehouse sounds more like a frosty form of torture than a luxury. But when it's time for the birds to come back north, they're going to have some serious competition for their tree-top real estate if I keep seeing buildings like these.

From what I can tell, the treehouses above were commissioned by private clients of Alain Laurens. Laurens left a successful advertising carer in 1999 to pursue a childhood dream, and he has since built over 220 treehouses throughout Europe with his firm, La Cabane Perchée. Right now, I'm coveting his book, Exceptional Treehouses, which showcases 30 of his aerial masterpieces.


Closer to home is TreeHouse Workshop, a Washington State firm that has built nests across the country.

[via TreeHouse Workshop]

If bears lived in trees, I would be convinced that this is the house that lured Goldilocks. The chalet-style treehouse in Olympic Penninsula, Washington, looks like it came straight from the pages of a fairytale. TreeHouse Workshop built this guest house with running water and enough space to sleep four.

Of course, if commissioning your own treehouse is outside your budget, there are always tree hotels and restaurants...

TreeHouse Point [via Bella Gets Real]

Bella of Bella Gets Real sent her lucky daughter to this tree-top hideaway near Seattle for her 19th birthday. (What a sweet mama!)

Yellow treehouse restaurant [via exPress-o]

And Diana of exPress-o brought my attention to the Yellow treehouse restaurant in New Zealand. While Yatzer wrote in early 2009 that the restaurant was fully booked, the official website says it's "closed until consent is obtained." Well, that's unfortunate.

Six Senses Soneva Kiri resort [via shelterpop]

In the meantime, you could dine in this palm tree pod on the Thai island of Koh Kood. Can you imagine spending an afternoon up here with a good book and a daiquiri?


But, by far, the most creative treetop architecture has to be at Sweden's Treehotel...

The Bird's Nest [via Treehotel]

 

The Mirrorcube [via Treehotel]

The Blue Cone [via Treehotel]

The UFO [via Treehotel]

So, what do you think? Would you spend the night in a treehouse, or would fear of heights get the best of you? I know which side I fall on. Treehotel, here I come!