Where there's a will (and a creative architect behind SHED Architecture and Design) — there's a Seattle dream home built on a practically inaccessible hillside lot. This 1,644 square-foot treehouse is a labor of love and a testament to the power of human determination.
Prentis Hale and Tracy Edmonds along with daughters Maisie and Pippa, live in a modern day fairytale. Except their glass slipper was an "impossible" lot, located 20 feet beyond the edge of a dead-end road and 20 feet below grade with no municipal hook-ups. Most people wouldn't have looked twice at this jagged piece of land, but for Hale and Edmonds the shoe fit.
After a decade, their dream home is finally a reality. The three level home has an open communal feel and is the perfect size for this family of four, who make sure to keep things relaxed and evolving. The decks are accessorized with hammocks and swings giving their home a playful spirit. As a added bonus their home nests above their favorite P-Patch community garden. "Last spring, Edmonds hauled beets from the P-Patch through a living-room window with a bucket and string, and she jokes about installing a zip line from the room directly to their section of the garden."
Even with a few unfinished projects on the backburner, Hale and Edmonds have built an amazing home. It's inspiring to see what a little drive and creativity can produce when you have the ability to see possibility in the "impossible."
For the full article see Dwell | A New Slant.
Images: Philip Newton/Dwell
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I'm an impossible pragmatist. There's no way the bottom of that thing is insulated enough.
Beautiful beautiful home :)
I can't get over the fact that girl in the mask in the 2nd picture reminds me of the movie The Orphanage, though :S
You can insulate the bottom of a house. In my last house, I had R-30 installed.
I was so intrigued by the exterior deck, and the idea of being totally enveloped in nature, that I didn't even notice the person touching the tree through the second story window.
What an experience!
Very nice, but I would be freaked out by it's structural safety. I'm sure it's more than safe, but it looks deceivingly tippy, and not supported enough. It would scare me.
Eek! I love it but I'd be afraid of sliding right on down that Seattle rain-soaked hill.
This is beautiful, even if it makes my palms sweat looking at it!
Yeah, but is it going to survive our forthcoming 9.0?
Other than that, I loves.
Amazing and love it!
It's not a treehouse.
This is absolutely incredible. Wow!
</small>why am i thinking it's less 'a labor of love and a testament to the power of human determination' than a statement that with enough money, you can get almost anything?
@loislane - The Dwell article said they built the house for around 268K, not including the 15K they paid for the property. Maybe bc I live in CA but that doesn't seem all that expensive especially over the ten years it took them to finish.
I'm really curious about their landslide and earthquake preparations. Even if the supports are drilled into the bedrock, I would think that other landslide debris coming from upslope could pose a significant hazard.
It's great that they had the money to make their dream come true, though.