Saturday, May 7, 2016

Photo: Duggar Tree Fort

For those who have asked to see a photo of the Duggars' finished tree fort, your wish is our command! The fort was built by the older siblings and sits in one of the ditches in the family's yard.

Complete with real glass windows, this is one fancy tree fort. The inside features a play kitchen, purchased by the Duggar sisters at a local thrift shop, and space for a loft.

If you watched the first season of Jill & Jessa: Counting On, you may have noticed how thrilled the younger Duggar kids were to enter the fort for the first time. Parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar beamed as they saw the joy that their older kiddos had brought to the little ones.

Did you have a treehouse as a child?


Photo courtesy TLC

44 comments:

  1. Wow. I'd love to have one of those. Great job and even handicap accessible.

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  2. No, but one summer (in the 70's) there was a canvas tent set up in the yard, in an area with lots of trees, for us to play and sleep out in.

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  3. Really neat! Sometimes I wonder why there is a homelessness problem in the world. It seems like if kids can have this everyone should have some little place at least.

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    1. Zoning rules keeps towns from having pop-up "shelters" like this built any old place. I recall one place trying to use old shipping containers refitted as homes for the homeless, but there was a hitch in that plan due to zoning and codes. Zoning is there for everyone's benefit, and variances require public hearings. If zoning didn't exist, your next-door neighbor could end up being anything from a shipping container to a factory to a Wal-Mart.

      You'd also need a "shelter" like this to be inspected and up to local building codes for residency, which is different than codes for things like sheds or playhouses.

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    2. Most rural areas allow you to build what they built on their own property. Building codes and permits normally are only sought if plumbing or electricity is added.

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  4. Wow! That looks so cool!

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  5. I didn't have a tree house, but I always wanted one, what a perfect place to read a book! I think it would set the imagination of a child free.

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    1. I didn't think these children were allowed to have "free" imagination. Or to read many books, because most are too "worldly."

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  6. I've never had a treehouse as a child. My parents said the are not safe.

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  7. I would love to see more pictures of it. Inside etc. Did you end up adding plumbing and electrical?

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  8. Replies
    1. A fan of the Duggars and the Bates.

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  9. I'd never heard of the word "kiddos" until I started watching the Duggars.

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    Replies
    1. On HGTV, on Fixer Upper, Joanna Gains always refers to her kids that way.

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    2. I love Fixer Upper!

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  10. Beautiful job! It's so good to see siblings care so much for one another like the Duggar's. As a child I don't have a tree house but my sisters and I would always create our own play activities using blankets has hammocks and scrape wood to make a small house on the ground.

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  11. Wow! that truly is a Duggar-sized tree fort!

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  12. Amazing! I am so happy for the Duggar children!


    ~reader for 5 yrs.

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  13. That is so awesome!

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  14. look good wish i had something like that when i was a kid

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  15. no i never had a tree house and not one that nice. that one most have cost a fourtune? love how this family says they save money and shop and theift stores but spend money on fancy tree houses?

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    1. I think they're probably past "buy used and save the difference" at this point.

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    2. Not really sure why that bothers you. They save money by purchasing others' castoffs because buying those items new would not bring them any more pleasure than buying used. Because of that lifestyle, they have more money to spend on what really matters to them. How could they have gotten this treehouse any cheaper? They only paid for the supplies, then did the work themselves - it's not like they could buy a used treehouse.

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    3. If they ultimately paid for those supplies themselves, I'd be very surprised. It was a 2-week feature of the show so either TLC picked up the tab as part of a production cost or the home builder pulled some strings. I wish they would be up front about these details because they sure make the public wonder what's going on.

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    4. I don't really wonder how they paid for a tree house. So not my business.

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  16. I love this tree house! This puts to rest (it should!) the cruel posts seen that say the Duggar kids are ignorant and can't earn a living. How wonderful these kids can design and build, from the ground up, a wonderful structure like this. It will be even more beautiful when the trees have leaves. I'd like a real house with that walk bridge and loft. (add elec and plumbing ha)It's awesome. I'm sure over the years, the Duggar kids will paint, add tiles, curtains, etc. What a wonderful place for kids & grandkids to enjoy for generations.

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    1. They had a professional house builder & his guys helping them. They showed them & named them on the program. The kids didn't do the structural engineering part at all. They just said they wanted "a treehouse" and you see what happened, through the magic of television.

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    2. Obviously they didn't do it all by themselves. They had professionals.

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  17. Fine work. It will be fun to see when they finish it out with sheet rock and the loft they are talking about. It must have been a great feeling seeing the little ones running up the ramp for the first time.

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  18. Yes I had one but it was not that big or that nice. The Duggar tree house is beautiful. Great job Duggar kids.

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  19. Cool treehouse. Looks like fun !

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  20. I think a tornado shelter shoud be next on the list, they could do it easily.

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  21. Maybe they shop thrift stores to be able to spend money on tree houses. A smart choice, IMO. You'll get a lot more years of joy out a treehouse than a two hundred dollar pair of shoes.

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  22. One of my favorite children's books is the Boxcar Children. It is a story about a family of orphaned children in the early 20th century who make a home for themselves in an old abandoned boxcar in the woods. What makes the adventure so appealing to kids is that the Alden children create a home entirely on their own. There is a lesson that should not be lost on grown ups. We shouldn't deprive even young children of opportunities to build, create, and explore on their own. Sometimes, our good intentions are lost on them. It appears as though it was the older Duggar kids who planned, built, and searched for things to put in the fort. The little ones had no vested interest in it. Half the fun of having a fort of any kind as a kid is planning and building it yourself, even though it would be a far cry from the deluxe Duggar fort in the end. (Of course, I am not advocating that an adult shouldn't check things over for any glaring safety issues.) It is something uniquely special because you have ownership of it, from every nail to crooked board.
    I hope this project was not primarily an effort to provide TLC film footage and airtime. I also hope the Duggar little ones can make this fort their own in some way and enjoy it for a good long time.

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  23. It needs some more trees planted around it. Now it's a fort on posts. More trees to make it a treehouse. Maybe plant some fruit trees. Free apples, peaches, and plums for the family in a few years!

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  24. Wonderful project. Having a place to build dreams is the way for building a positive future. Great job.

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  25. Yes..I had a tree house until a playmate fell from it and broke his arm..next day the tree house was torn down.

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