Twelve years ago, Matt McClain built a tree house for his kids with the hope they would use it for years to come.
“They lived in the tree house and still enjoy it now,” says McClain, whose kids are now in high school. “It will be a place for all of us to hang out when they come home from college. We just have so many memories in it.”
His backyard quickly became a neighborhood attraction, and McClain started fielding requests for unique tree houses. Now his company, Treehugger Customs, builds tree houses that are only limited by his clients’ imagination. The houses can feature bathrooms, kitchens, electricity, wrap-around porches, vaulted ceilings, and suspension bridges.
“We started out building backyard tree houses,” says McClain, “but they have progressed to full-scale Airbnbs. It is cool to build a tree house where you can wake up forty feet in the air looking out at Table Rock.”
The Treehugger Customs Approach to Treehouses
Whether it faces Table Rock, overlooks a lake, or is a quiet spot in your downtown backyard, a Treehugger Customs creation is something the entire family (and neighborhood) will want to use.
“When people see our work, they get inspired,” says McClain. “We all have a little kid inside us. Having fun is such an important thing for health and a tree house provides such an escape. Even if it is just in your backyard.”
A backyard oasis is exactly what Kathryn Wilkins wanted. TreeHuggers Customs built Wilkins’ tree house with vintage double doors, mountain laurel railings, and a vaulted cypress ceiling. It looks like it has always been sitting next to the serene koi pond, surrounded by foliage and flowers.
“I loved our backyard and I wanted the kids to have a space out there, too,” says Wilkins. “I had no idea it would end up being my favorite space as well.”
Tree houses have always been a favorite space for McClain, whose passion for being high up in nature is rooted in exploring his grandfather’s 2,000-acre farm in Missouri.
“My grandfather built tree houses to observe wildlife,” says McClain. “He had some amazing tree houses sprinkled around his property. One had a couch and a huge window where he would journal about patterns of nature.”
Every tree house showcases McClain’s reverence for nature. He uses sustainably sourced, reclaimed, and recycled materials; in his massive woodworking shop off Poinsett Highway, century-old salvaged equipment sits next to huge tree trunks and stacks of old doors and windows, just waiting for his next idea.
“Whether it is a dining room table, a bar at a restaurant, or a tree house,” says McClain, “all that we build is about finding a connection to nature and to the past.”
Photography by Jessie Yun
