apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The Treehouse Bed is a beautifully crafted birch four poster bed, that preserves the raw outside of one birch tree, splits it into four and then attaches itself to the four corners to create the "raw forest" bed. The contrast between the natural barky outside and the finely cut, sanded and sealed inside surfaces is mesmerizing. The wood posts are certified sustainably forested in Ontario. The Baltic birch plywood side boards are premium grade furniture ply from Russia.

Designed by Michelle Invankovic at Umbra, I was also able to get in touch with Michelle, and have her relay her inspiration for her bed:

"The inspiration for this project was to highlight the parts of the wood that are normally discarded in the finished product. Somehow detritus always tells such an important story. It's about creating a direct link between the source tree and the final piece which are completely disassociated in our day to day lives.

Simply put: it's a reminder that wood comes from trees."

Thanks, Michelle!

And then there's the headboard. A simple design idea, Kelly uses reclaimed lumber carefully mounted to the wall and endcut to neatly frame the bed to form a headboard. This is a great, DIY idea and one that anyone could copy, using any number of woods or materials. The trick, of course, is finding good wood, and you're probably not going to find it at your local lumber yard. Reclaimed wood can always be found locally, but here are some leads to get you thinking:

>> Urban Hardwoods
>> Old Barn Wood
>> Colonial Barn Restoration

>> Kellygreendesign.net, Silverlake, LA - 323.660.1099