Outside Magazine Features Montana Treehouse Retreat

The Treehouse Mansion of Your Dreams Is in Montana

The Montana Treehouse Retreat has not one but two spiral staircases that lift you up into the treetops.

by Samantha Yadron

original article at Outside Magazine, online.

The Montana Treehouse Retreat, near Whitefish, Montana, isn’t your childhood backyard treehouse. Its creators, Kati O’Toole and Darin Robison, didn’t want their guests to trade creature comforts for time spent in nature. Their cabin is “the best of both worlds,” O’Toole says. Sleeping four, with two spiral staircases, two full bathrooms, Wi-Fi, and a full kitchen, it’s the home base you’ll need after a long day of exploring the Montana wilderness.

Nestled within 7.5 acres of secluded forest, the retreat offers city amenities like bars, restaurants, and shopping within reach—it’s a five-minute trip to Columbia Falls or Whitefish, Montana. If you bring your mountain bike or trail running shoes, the Flathead Valley provides more than 42 miles of singletrack. In summer, the Whitefish Ski Resort metamorphoses into a downhill bike park. It’s also just 30 minutes away from hiking trails in Glacier National Park via the Going-to-the-Sun Road, a can’t-miss scenic drive with views of glaciers and waterfalls.

The largest trunk in the house’s architecture, incorporated into the spiral staircase at the entrance, isn’t native to the forest. It’s a lightning-struck Douglas fir from the front yard of Robison’s late grandmother’s house in Echo Lake, Montana. When his grandma passed, excavating and repurposing the dying tree was how Robison chose to honor her. In addition to the trunk, the cabin wraps around four living trees. 

“He wanted the entrance to the treehouse to be something really magical,” O’Toole says. John Colliander, a friend of Robison’s and one of the craftsmen behind TreeWorks Log and Timber Construction, a cabin contracting company based in the area, bolted each tread of the spiral staircase.

Both artists—O’Toole writes songs and Robison is a painter, illustrator, and sculptor—put other custom touches on the treehouse.O’Toole handcrafted all the shelving and bedside tables from milled remnants of the cabin’s initial build. “Everything has a story and was made by a craftsman,” O’Toole says. “It’s a real work of art.”

Even hardcore adventurers need a soft place to land. For a place to rest after a day well spent exploring the trails, mountains, and waterways of western Montana, book here for $399 per night.

Arboreal Abode in Big Sky: Treehouse Guys Features Montana Treehouse Retreat!

Many have asked where they can watch our episode of "The Treehouse Guys" on DIY Network featuring the Montana Treehouse Retreat.

Click thIS link to watch on Amazon.

Montana Treehouse Retreat Featured in Whitefish Pilot

FAMILY’S TREEHOUSE BUILD FEATURED ON DIY NETWORK

WHITEFISH PILOT: May 30, 2017 at 5:29 pm | By Heidi Desch

Many a child has spent a night camped out inside a treehouse in the backyard. But not too many folks are likely to have spent a night in a luxury treehouse complete with a dishwasher. 

Combining childhood fun with adult amenities is exactly the experience Darin Robison and Kati O’Toole are looking to create with their two-story treehouse constructed on their Dillon Road property. The couple for two years has been talking about, planning, designing and finally constructing the treehouse supported by Ponderossa pines. 

The couple is still putting the finishing touches on the interior, but when completed it will have a full kitchen, a full bathroom with a shower and two bedrooms on the second-floor loft. 

“We wanted to create a little utopia,” O’Toole said. “We wanted people to come and have a real, unique Montana experience.”

The couple had the idea for the treehouse when someone pointed out a listing for a casting call in the newspaper for the DIY network. 

The couple applied and were selected to be part of the TV show, “The Treehouse Guys.” The episode featuring their treehouse debuted this month and will air again on June 2 and June 15. 

For six weeks in April last year, a film crew documented the process of constructing the shell of the treehouse. Collaborating with the stars of “The Treehouse Guys” Robison and O’Toole wanted to make sure the treehouse was comfortable enough to live in including making the loft space with a ceiling high enough to stand in and allow for a sliding glass doors from the loft out to a deck. 

“That upper deck was important,” Robison said. “I wanted a perch where you could sit on and look out while drinking a cup of coffee.”

West Glacier builder John Colliander of Treeworks Log and Timberframe Construction made the 18-foot wooden spiral staircase for the treehouse. The staircase is made of larch treads attached to an 80-plus-year-old Douglas fir Robison salvaged from his grandmother’s woods.

“We really wanted to create a grand entrance,” Robison said. 

The couple, along with help from family and friends, have continued to complete the interior of the treehouse. They hope to be open for rent this fall. 

View more about the treehouse at: http://www.montanatreehouseretreat.com

Link to original article: http://www.whitefishpilot.com/article/20170530/ARTICLE/170539977

Staircase Featured in Hungry Horse News!

NOW THAT’S A TREEHOUSE

May 11, 2017 at 7:04 am | By Chris Peterson Hungry Horse News

John Colliander of West Glacier built the spiral staicase for this treehouse that will be featured on the DIY Network next week.

A West Glacier man played a part in a treehouse project that will soon be featured on the DIY network show, “The Treehouse Guys.”

Builder John Colliander of Treeworks Log and Timberframe Construction, made the 18-foot wooden spiral staircase for a treehouse the show staffers built with homeowners Darin Robison and Kati O’Toole on their Dillon Road property.

Colliander began work on the staircase about a year ago, which is made of larch treads attached to an 80-plus-year-old Douglas fir Robison salvaged from his grandmother’s woods.

Colliander, 37, is a fourth-generation builder. He grew up in Polson and worked trail crew in Glacier National Park for several years before striking out on his own. Trail crews make do with what’s around them, and Colliander brings that style to his own work.

“In trail crew, we use nature to accomplish our building needs,” he said.

He designed the staircase using a freeware program from Google. The four-foot treads are hewn from his own small sawmill and attached to the Doug fir with 1-inch, 6 1/2-foot bolts.

He used a four-foot long drill bit to make the holes and crafted the mortise and tenon joints with a chainsaw.

The end result is a staircase that looks like something out of Lord of the Rings.

Colliander also milled the siding for the treehouse as well. It will be featured on the DIY network on May 15th at 9pm PST. and then as a re-run after that.

O’Toole said eventually the couple would like to have three treehouses on their property as vacation rentals.

“The treehouse has all the amenities of a luxury rental up the trees in your own private area,” O’Toole said.

The couple is still completing some of the interior and finish work and is in the process of getting the necessary county approvals for a water supply system for the structure. They hope to open by this fall, she said.

The house is supported by several Ponderosa pine trees as well as other timber beam supports.

Colliander, meanwhile, is onto his next project. He said he plans on spending the summer living in a tepee with his wife, Michele, and their sons Mason, 9, and Miles, 7, while he works on a home up the North Fork on a plot of land they recently purchased.

View more about the treehouse at: http://www.montanatreehouseretreat.com

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN HUNGRY HORSE NEWS