Lots of kids dream of having a tree house. My husband decided the grandkids needed a tree house to dream in.

For many months he has been working in his spare time on this beautiful bunk bed project. It started last May with cutting and stripping the maple trees (which is an art in itself). It all has to do with cutting at the right time with the full moon and the sap flowing so the bark will strip off easily. Our garage became a forrest of drying branches until this fall when he started trying to figure out which branches would work for which parts of the bed. If you think it is hard to build with straight wood, try building with wood au naturel. He said it is like putting together a very complicated puzzle from the back.

As the bed began to take shape in our garage, he sent pictures to our grown kids who were excited and a little jealous. They wished he could time travel it back to their childhood.

After getting the pieces cut and fitted together the sanding began. A job which is not easy to do on round, knobby, curved wood. Then came coats of urethane on each piece. Since the arctic air descended on the midwest this January, the pieces had to be brought into our house for finishing.Finally the parts were transported to the bedroom of two sweet little princesses and assembled, glued, bolted, and given final coats of urethane. Now the tree house bunk bed is ready for mattresses, bedding and sleepy kids. It might be hard to find kids who want to sleep instead of play!