Treehouse B&B Opens in Union
Date Posted: January 3, 2023
Posted In: News, Projects,
From emissourian.com: There’s a dead-end road in Union where, if you turn just before the road stops, you will be transported to a land of fairies and hobbits.
Marsha Conley was going for a fantasy feeling when she designed the Enchanted Forest Treehouse, a bed and breakfast that opened Monday, Dec. 19.
“The theme of our whole business is where the mermaids meet the fairies,” she said.
Conley, who worked as an artist before becoming a surgical assistant for Mercy Hospital for 25 years, and her husband, carpenter Darryl Moses, landscaped the 3.5 acres around the treehouse for four years, and built the structure, which is supported by two oak trees that are each three feet in diameter, over the past two years.
“We don’t have any additional structures supporting us,” Conley said. “So we are truly a treehouse.”
Conley said many retreats that advertise themselves as treehouses have supports other than trees.
While Conley’s design gave the treehouse its charm, including an inner rotunda above its queen bed, Moses built the structure and its supports.
They went to Oregon to learn the ins and outs of treehouse living from Charles Greenwood, an engineer who has been involved with treehouse projects across the country.
Treehouse guests can sit outside and take in views of the surrounding forest from two decks. The treehouse features a queen bed, full kitchen, a bathroom with a shower and a large tub that looks outside. Some of the tables were carved by the couple using frames made by Washington blacksmith Pat McCarty, one of several local artists and artisans to collaborate on the project.
“The theme was fairies and mermaids and dragons, and the dragons are right up my alley, one of my specialties,” said McCarty, owner of Washington Forge off of St. John’s Road. “I made quite a few dragons for her.”
They include a dragon on one of the tables he made, posts outside the treehouse with torches and a dragon that holds a decorative tree trunk that runs through the center of the building to the floor.
“I really appreciate that she contacts local artists to do that kind of thing for her, instead of just going online to try to buy something to try to make it work,” McCarty said. “That’s, kind of, my specialty — that I can make things fit a certain area.”
On the ground at the bottom of the stairs is a covered hot tub that can be used all year.