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

Montana Treehouse Retreat Featured in Flathead Beacon

Castle in the Sky

Whitefish couple's new luxury treehouse retreat featured on DIY Network's television show

BY TRISTAN SCOTT // FLATHEAD BEACON//MAY 18, 2017 // PHOTOS: GREG LINDSTROM

Kati O’Toole and her husband, Darin Robison, have transformed their lofty dream into a reality with their new business venture at Montana Treehouse Retreat, a unique backyard escape that spirits guests into the treetops.

Literally.

Campers looking for an outdoor experience that transcends pitching a tent or renting a cabin in the wilderness will get a thrill out of the latest trend of lodging — a vacation rental in the sky.

Located on the couple’s wooded 7-acre property off Dillon Road near Whitefish, the retreat incorporates the growing popularity of custom luxury treehouse dwellings with the mountain allure of Montana.

Professional treehouse designers have capitalized on the trend by building everything from breweries to recording studios, but a rising number of backyard escapes are cropping up across the nation, advertised as guest rentals on the online hospitality service Airbnb.

The couple’s treehouse made its television debut on May 15 on the DIY Network’s show “The Treehouse Guys,” whose crew visited the Flathead Valley to help frame the structure, which spans four trees — three larches and a ponderosa.

In addition to showing the early construction of the treehouse, the segment also features local activities and amenities of the Flathead Valley, and will re-air next month.

From the moment that O’Toole and Robison purchased their property five years ago, they’ve entertained visions of building a treehouse in their expansively forested lot, but with a growing family, full-time jobs and a basket of home projects, they were short on time.

“We’ve always wanted to build a treehouse,” O’Toole said. “It’s been a dream for a long time. But never in our wildest dreams did we think it would look like this.”

Both fourth-generation Montanans with a passion for the outdoors, their passion project was sidelined as they worked to keep up with their 3-year-old son, Rowan, and newborn baby, Ry.

When a friend pointed them to a casting call for the television show, they navigated a series of lengthy interviews and were selected for an episode.

O’Toole and Robison applied for and received a conditional use permit for their property, with the county Board of Adjustment granting approval for up to three high-end treehouses available for nightly rental.

The build crew with the Treehouse Guys — B’fer Roth and his team of “tree muskateers” — completed the frame of the treehouse in about six weeks and provided their expertise, while Darin and a crew of friends and family helped build a giant log spiral staircase, milled the siding and interior paneling, and anchored the structure to the trees.

Because it’s not connected to the earth, the house moves with the trees during high winds and as the trees grow.

The 18-foot wooden spiral staircase leading up to the entrance of the treehouse wraps around an old Douglas fir that had been struck by lighting on Robison’s grandparents’ property. The top blew off in the wind, leaving a 60-foot stub that Robison thought was perfect for his treehouse.

“It was definitely the right one for the job,” he said.

The maximum size of a treehouse is determined by the number of trees available to serve as its foundation. A single large, healthy tree can support a 350- to 400-square-foot treehouse, according to the builders, while two or more trees can hold a 700- to 800-square-foot structure.

O’Toole and Robison plan to begin renting their treehouse in November once they’ve completed the finishing touches, and construct two additional custom treehouses on their property in the coming years.

The two-story treehouse features all of the amenities including septic and sewer, a small kitchen on the lower level, as well as a living area and full bath. It rents for $500 a night, with a minimum of three nights and discounts available for weekly rentals.

O’Toole said she has already begun receiving inquiries, and predicts an uptick in interest following the airing of the show.

“It is a luxury experience. There’s nothing primitive about it,” O’Toole said. “It’s nicer than the home we live in and I think people are really going to enjoy staying here.”

For more information and to book a getaway, visit http://www.montanatreehouseretreat.com/ and to learn more about The Treehouse Guys check out http://www.diynetwork.com/shows/the-treehouse-guys.

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE IN FLATHEAD BEACON: http://flatheadbeacon.com/2017/05/18/castle-in-the-sky/