Halina’s Triahouse
climb the ladder to somewhere magical
a treehouse on Vashon Island, WA
Built by world-class carpenters, we refer to it as Halina’s Triahouse, in honor of two of my daughters, Halina and Tria
The treehouse is built into a big leaf maple
The support beams of the house are through bolted to the tree. Anywhere that a beam is attached to the tree, the bark and outer cambium layer were removed and painted with a tree sealant.
This allows the tree to grow around the beams as opposed to pushing them apart.
a dream of a treehouse realized
When my second daughter was young, we started building the treehouse. A treehouse for Tria.
So, father and daughter set out to find the perfect tree, one that had clearly grown up to become a house.
The tree was found and a single beam was nailed. As many dream projects go, this one ended almost as soon as it began.
Or so it was thought.
Third daughter, Halina, came along about a decade later. What a shock, I mean surprise.
When she started asking for a treehouse, I faintly remembered a dream Tria and I had about twenty years past.
And so, construction began.
Climb up the ladder, and land on a platform approximately 4 feet below the main entrance to the treehouse. There one takes a seat and removes their shoes. Directly above one’s head is the trapdoor entrance in the floor of the treehouse.
Take a peak out of the Dutch door on the backside of the treehouse. It opens from the waist up. Right outside and slightly above the door there’s a pulley for raising one's treasures up for safekeeping inside.
Climb inside, take a rest on this corner bench and take in the view.
The Triahouse was built to last. It has a stud wood frame structure, it is insulated and has a metal roof.
The electric toilet is all stainless steel and coast guard approved for zero tolerance installation.
The finish of the interior is immaculate; the clear cedar is like a fine cabinet.
If Once You Have Slept On An Island
If once you have slept on an island
You'll never be quite the same;
You may look as you looked the day before
And go by the same old name,
You may bustle about in street and shop
You may sit at home and sew,
But you'll see blue water and wheeling gulls
Wherever your feet may go.
You may chat with the neighbors of this and that
And close to your fire keep,
But you'll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell
And tides beat through your sleep.
Oh! you won't know why and you can't say how
Such a change upon you came,
But once you have slept on an island,
You'll never be quite the same.
- Rachel Lyman Field
If once you have you slept in a treehouse on an island…
The view from the triahouse looks west off of Vashon Island, out over the West side passage and on to the Olympic Mountains centering on The Brothers, a unique set of peaks.
