WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Luxury in limbs
Member Center:
Photographer Kirk Arneson
Most kids dream of having their very own tree house. The Peterson kids of Onalaska are two of the lucky few who actually do. But not in their wildest dreams did they picture the tree house their dad built.
It's a house And it's in a tree. But to call this a tree house just doesn't do it justice.
John Peterson tells News 19 the tree house is a little bigger than he pictured. On paper, John's plans to build a place for his two kids to play seemed simple. That was three year, hundreds of hours, and many drafts ago.
John's wife Sue says "It's totally over the top. We've got neighbors that bring their relatives and stop over to visit the tree house. So, we're kind of become a tourist site in Onalaska."
No wonder, it's looks like something out of the Swiss Family Robinson. There is a spiral staircase, composite decking, windows and doors. Inside, a trap door, two lofts, and swing bridge connecting the two.
When we say you could live in this thing, we're not kidding. Its 200 square feet. There are eight lights, eight outlets, and two skylights. The only thing missing; the kitchen sink. And, believe it or not, running water was part of the original plan.
John says he definitely thought about it. He had a plan to make it work, but he had to draw the line somewhere. That line was actually drawn by John's wife Sue who told us when she saw him run the trench for the electrical she know she needed to get involved.
You have to wonder how much it cost John to build this place. We asked. John swears he doesn't know. "You know, that was the one thing I decided up front. I wasn't going to keep track. I didn't want to know. So, I don't know how much it cost."
But the Peterson's say whatever the total it's worth it. You just can't put a price tag on family fun.
The tree goes through the tree house, but it doesn't support it. Because the house is so big; John decided to put the tree house on stilts. That way it would be safe and the tree would not be harmed. And, the Peterson's actually had an engineer check it out to make sure it was structurally sound.
