Fond memories of her own childhood treehouse prompted designer Martine Ilana, of Temescal Creative in Franklin, to design and build a backyard getaway for her 7-year-old twins, Opal and Oscar. “I absolutely loved my treehouse,” she reminisces.
“It was a calm, comfortable, and simple space — close enough to my family’s house so that I was safe, but it also gave me room to be creative and enjoy nature. I believe the time spent outdoors in my treehouse during my childhood gave me a heightened appreciation for the natural world. My treehouse was where I could do a million different craft projects, and it was a fun place to bring friends, too.”
While she had the same goals in mind for the outdoor space she envisioned for her twins at their Bloomfield Hills home, that’s where the similarities end.
“My goals were to push the reclaimed treehouse concept, its design, and eventual sourcing of the materials to be as sustainable as possible,” she explains. “I wanted the space to connect the twins to nature and make sure it was designed and created in a sustainable way — not only with the material selections [reclaimed and recyclable materials] but also to allow [their treehouses] to grow with them as they got older, instead of growing out of them, as they do with many of their toys.”
When she couldn’t find anyone whose products met her criteria, she decided to do it herself. “I wanted to personally design, draw the plans, and source every component,” she explains. “My intention was for 85% of the materials to be sourced locally and then for the 15% that was not locally sourced to be recyclable. Nontoxic materials include salvaged woods, metal roofing, and low-VOC [volatile organic compounds] paints.”
Set inside a circle of 100-year-old maple and oak trees near Sodon Lake, the two A-frame structures are connected in the middle by a large swing bar. “This visually represents the unique relationship of twins,” Ilana explains. “[They’re] separate but always connected.” Her hope was to have the treehouses be a visually appealing addition to the landscape and look like sculptures in the backyard.
Constructed with the ability for the parts to be disassembled and then reassembled into different forms as the twins grow, the design allows for a Phase 2 that might involve taking the slide off and adding a second room off the back, or even a Phase 3, which could transform the space into an accessory dwelling unit for an additional on- property living space. “I [purposely kept] the design modular and easy to work with in the future,” she adds.
Accessible year-round, the structures are used in both sunshine and snow. “This is where they go to play charades, bring their friends, dance, read books, color, and have snacks,” she says. “It’s their calm space, where they can regroup and relax after racing around our backyard.”
The designer would welcome the opportunity to create similar projects for other homeowners. “It was incredibly fun and rewarding,” she says, adding that the twins are fans, too. She and her children “watch a lot of Treehouse Masters with Pete Nelson,” Ilana says, referring to the Animal Planet series. “[We] get inspiration, and [Nelson] offers many Phase 2 construction ideas.”
This story originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Hour Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our digital edition will be available on April 7.
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