There are tree houses – you know, a bunch of wooden boards cobbled together by your parents, punctuated by swear words and extra trips to the hardware store for more nails – and then there are tree houses. These are literal houses in the trees, with electricity, running water and a rustic-modern interior that would make any interior designer weak at the knees.
Do your kids dream of a treehouse or do they already have one?
History of the tree house
Pete Nelson has seen treehouse fever grow along with his business, which was born out of a night of drinking in 1987. "I couldn’t sleep, I was so excited," he says of the moment he imagined building full-size houses that floated in the air. To finance his idea, he built both normal houses and tree houses. Soon more and more people were coming to him for the latter, so much so that in 1994 he co-authored and published Treehouses: The Art and Craft of Living Out on a Limb, the first of a half-dozen from his pen. In 2006, he opened an overnight place near Seattle where you could sleep in one of his designs, which he called TreeHouse Point.
A tree house is actually a dreamy and romantic playground for the little ones.
Our tree house plans
Use one of these free treehouse plans to build your kids the ultimate playhouse in the sky. This great selection of free tree house plans includes everything from simple to fancy.
Detailed diagrams, color photos, videos, step-by-step building instructions and tips will help you build a safe and sturdy treehouse that your kids or grandkids will enjoy for years to come.
Tip: No good tree house trees? No problem! Most of these free treehouse plans include an option for a freestanding treehouse that sits on posts. Logs are best suited for this purpose. You can also find some free playhouse plans and free swing plans that will better suit your needs.
If you’re ready to move on from tree houses to your next woodworking project, you can find more free woodworking plans for toy boxes, bunk beds, deer stands, dog houses, picnic tables, birdhouses, gazebos, porch swings and bookshelves.
Online you can find free tree house plans that meet even the highest demands.
Deluxe Treehouse Plan
If you’re looking to build an amazing treehouse, this free treehouse plan is the one for you. Don’t worry if you don’t have the right trees for a treehouse. This freestanding treehouse can be built anywhere.
Outside this treehouse is a pulley system for treasures and a ladder. Inside, there are bunk beds and plenty of room to go on adventures.
This free tree house plan includes a materials and shopping list, color photos, diagrams and detailed step-by-step building instructions.
Do you want to build the perfect playground for your children yourself?
Free treehouse plan from The Handmade Home
Lots of color photos, diagrams and written instructions to help you build this treehouse that any kid would love. There is a main cut list and materials list for this free treehouse plan, as well as separate blog posts on building the deck, walls, railing and shutters, and roof.
For 300 euros Made With Happy has built this high-quality, ground-level tree house, in which the children can play all summer long. There is a breakdown of how to build the base and frame, floor, roof, walls and window.
You can let your creativity run wild when decorating a tree house.
This is not a step-by-step plan for building a treehouse, but is a handful of tips you can use if you want to build your own treehouse. Whether you use your own designs or those from this list. Some of the tips include weight and stability. This one you have to keep an eye on when building the tree house. To understand that there must be space around the trunk. For the tree to move and grow over time, you need to keep the floor level and stable, and much more.