TreeHouse Workshop


The TreeHouse Workshop Family Tree Each member of the close-knit TreeHouse Workshop team brings a unique set of skills that allow us to build tree houses that are beautiful and functional works of art, as well as examples of truly fine craftsmanship. We use our collective working knowledge to tackle each unique tree house building challenge. Owners Jake Jacob & Pete Nelson, and The TreeHouse Workshop Family Tree
Pete Nelson: I was born in Mineola, NY in 1962 and grew up in Bergen County, New Jersey. Early on, I had a fascination with and aptitude for working with wood. As a young boy I built a handful of treehouses with my father and my friends and designed my first major treehouse while attending high school. It was never built but the treehouse seed was planted. One fateful day, an old high school friend sent me a little illustrated book on how to build my own treehouse. It inspired me not only to build treehouses again, but to create a treehouse coffee table book. In 1994 Houghton-Mifflin published “Treehouses, the Art and Craft of Living out on a Limb.” In 1997 I opened TreeHouse Workshop with my partner Jake Jacob, and I have written 3 more treehouse books since then, including the latest book, “Treehouses of the World,” published by Abrams in 2004. My most recent undertakings include the Northwest Treehouse School, which teaches hands on treehouse design and construction, Treehouse Point, an environmental treehouse retreat center, and the Tree For All Foundation, a non-profit corporation inspired by the work of Bill Allen of Forever Young that brings disabled people into nature and treehouses.		Jake Jacob: I was born in New York City and grew up in Westchester County, NY. With eyes full of wanderlust, I was off on a ship at sea by age 19. Originally trained as a marine engineer, I spent more than 22 years at sea, mostly on large container vessels. I still hold my chief engineers license. While on land, large wood-working became a passion. and this interest led from simple carpentry, to log joinery, to traditional timber framing to extensive saw milling, to treehousing. I sat on the Board of Directors of the Timber Framers Guild for six years. In 1997 I co-founded, along with writer and builder Peter Nelson, TreeHouse Workshop, Inc., a design/build firm specializing in structures that are truly engineered and situated in trees. THW is located in Seattle, WA. When not surveying, climbing, or building in the trees, I am a fir trader striving to bring the vision of large post & beam projects together with the right source of reclaimed, salvaged, and seasoned timbers. I love to search shut-down saw mills, defunct factories, abandoned waterfront warehouses, and old bridges and trestles, for an interesting supply of wood from which many of our treehouses are built.

Anna	Steve	Bubba	Daryl

Dave	Forrest	Ian	Ron

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TreeHouse Workshop also utilizes the talent of other artists, craftsmen, and specialized professionals to help realize the dreams of each client and their unique vision. Our ability to network with interesting and unusual talents has been a hallmark of some of our best work. Please visit our Resources page for more information.

TreeHouse Workshop   |   Tree house construction & design
PO Box 17819   |   Seattle, Washington 98127
Phone 206.782.0208   |   Fax 206.784.1424

The TreeHouse Workshop Family Tree