Taylor Kids

"It should be about this big ..."

My six year old daughter, the eldest son's voice trailed away as he paced outside the field in our backyard the size of a dirigible hangar.

"... And on that great ..."

He stressed the top of the tallest tree in the neighborhood, but the Sears Tower was on Bellaire Avenue, he would have chosen instead.

"... And it should be red ..."

My two-year suspended "and yellow ..."

"... With a windmill on top and a rope ladder and slide and swing, and ... you can build today? "

"Well! I said, and began to explain that before we could even start to build his tree house new plans had to be learned, cost estimates have been calculated, and we had not even chosen a site yet. The house was fairly large tree so we might need a structural engineer. Can I build it myself or should I need to obtain competitive bids from contractors? I just started the section on applications for building permits when he broke in:

"Papa," he said, "you can do it, you're a arky-tek."

(Slight pause as I stifled by the mass of pride rising in my throat - how could I say no to that?)

"Okay. Give me my credit card, son, we go to the lumber yard.

Like many architectural projects, it started with a clash of dreams and reality. "Administrator" of a project, I am often challenged to sort the possible and the impossible and, simultaneously, create something beautiful, useful and sustainable. And if my client is open to alternatives and willing to explore options to control costs, then we have a realistic chance to bring the project close to budget.

But the budget castlefort "as my children came to call it, was only $ 300. And yet, it began to look like a distant dream, when we arrived at court Wood. Ouch! For a minute I thought the prices were in yen.

I just needed a utility-grade wood less, not more right, smoother tips on earth node that is not perfect free samples lovingly hand carved from trees that had lived long and happy life and at the end, fell slowly in thick layers of pine straw - just plain old 2 x 4.

Finally, I shot the worst advice in looking of the bunch and talked to the store manager in a major discount. We were back on the budget.

I knew early on that the biggest problem we face in the location and design of our tree house was the absence trees, or at least the trees that might support a tree house. But there is always another solution in the background, hidden behind the piles of luggage in my brain keeps trying to tell me what a tree house should look like. The solution was simple enough when I realized it was not until the tree house would be in a tree, it's just for most should be in place. And then we have built on stilts in a simplified version of the construction on the coastline where the piles are driven into the sand to block the deck floor. With my six years, supervision, I put four 4 x 4 in post holes and filled with concrete.

The rest of the project had many elements of a "real" house, mentoring, siding, roofing, painting, even indoor / outdoor carpeting. I my son hesitated to demand for electricity and cable television but sold on the chimney / skylight.

The painting was a collaboration between my children, my wife and I treat adults outside while the kids tackled the interior. To the relief of our neighbors outside the home full. The interior, however, resembles a furnace after an explosion particularly bad lasagna. But kids love it and I also

From the beginning the castlefort been a huge success with neighbors and their children. At every party, it is the first child and he will be the center of activity for almost every game they can imagine. But then a funny thing happened - the neighbor children began to ask their fathers when they start building their castleforts. For at least one father, the pressure was too much, his tree house is on schedule for completion late spring.

One evening my wife and I sat on deck watching the children play tag around the castlefort. "Honey," I said: "I wonder how old the boys are when they are tired of playing in the castlefort?

"I do not know if they ever will," she said. "Right now it's a big toy but eventually it will be a secret hideout, or cottage for summer sleepovers with their friends, "" Why, perhaps they'll even invite their girlfriends to see it someday. "

"Girlfriends" I said. "Girl Friends?" We looked at each and every Suddenly the realization of what she had said the strike.

"Ten years, babe, I said. "Then it's down!"