Design Happens

I didn’t have a treehouse when I was growing up, but I noticed one in the backyard of some of my neighbors that never seemed to be used. The couple built it for their son who had long since gone off to college, leaving the fort abandoned. They kindly told me I could play there whenever I wanted, and I didn’t have to be told twice. Seeing this piece in The New York Times‘ Home & Garden section about the treehouse Alexandra Meyn built behind her Brooklyn apartment brought me right back to those days.

This structure is architecturally more sophisticated than the fort we played in (French doors!), but still has an air of youthful whimsy about it with the eclectic furnishings. And though it’s in an urban space, the worn wood and mulberry tree foliage lend it a natural rusticity. Meyn and I are neighbors of a sort, since we live in parts of Brooklyn that border each other. I wonder if she’d work out the same visitation arrangement with me that my old neighbors did. It’s worth a try, right?