Treehouse Masters

Pete Nelson Takes a look at some of the best tree houses that he has come across

Just one day of Christmas cheer isn’t enough for a real-life Santa and Mrs. Claus, who celebrate the season 365 days a year in Southern California. Old St. Nick and the missus call on Pete and his crew to spruce up their yard with some holiday magic. Pete creates a treehouse workshop complete with Santa's red chair, a naughty-or-nice drawbridge, a secret elf trap door, a candy cane and holly access bridge and some miracle Christmas snow...in the California desert!

Treehouse expert and visionary Pete Nelson explores the evolution of treehouses through delving into the many shapes and vast variety of functions they've served throughout the years. “Ultimate Treehouses 2” features a Papua, New Guinea, high-in-the-sky tribal treehouse built by hand, the world’s oldest backyard treehouse (more than 200 years old), a luxury treehouse gem in New York and a re-purposed airplane fuselage in Costa Rica. The special also spotlights fully suspended biospheres in the wild skies of British Columbia. Follow Pete’s jaw-dropping journey into the past, present and future of treehouse design.

Tree-house designer Pete Nelson builds arboreal getaways that are large and ornate or small and simple in this series, which begins with a ranch-style structure in several hackberry trees on a property near Waco, Texas.

A Celtic-theme cottage in an olive tree in California features a circular design that includes a fireplace and a rain-maker to mimic damp Irish weather.

A spa retreat on a ranch in Texas presents Pete with several plumbing challenges when he makes room for a steam shower and a Japanese soaking tub.

Just one day of Christmas cheer isn’t enough for a real-life Santa and Mrs. Claus, who celebrate the season 365 days a year in Southern California. Old St. Nick and the missus call on Pete and his crew to spruce up their yard with some holiday magic. Pete creates a treehouse workshop complete with Santa's red chair, a naughty-or-nice drawbridge, a secret elf trap door, a candy cane and holly access bridge and some miracle Christmas snow...in the California desert!

Pete builds an incredible, adventure-themed treehouse for a young, exploration-loving family in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. The family calls Pete and his crew to create a massive, two-story jungle masterpiece packed with secret doors and hidden passageways within a cluster of cherry trees! Pete delivers not just one but two bouncy suspension bridges, a daring rock-climbing wall anda living wall containing more than 700 live plants for this colossal treehouse, which overlooks a deep gorge. With a secret sarcophagus entrance, a second-sleeping loft and loads of adventurous novelties, this treehouse is sure to bring the family hours of fun, especially when Pete reveals his tailored, sentimental surprise: a tribute to the family’s beloved grandmother.

Two sisters who run their family’s rural inn in Farmington, Pennsylvania, present Pete with a bear of a task: build an observation treehouse on their 1000-acre property, where they can watch the black bears roaming the land. Pete is a little nervous at first when it comes to his team building in the midst of these wild beasts, but he turns his fear into inspiration by creating his first-ever mid-century decagon treehouse with walls of glass and windows, a wrap-around deck, cathedral ceilings and a closed-circuit bear-cam tracking system nestled among three white oaks and standing more than 20 feet from the ground. For the interior, Pete incorporates mission-style furniture, a roaring fireplace and a handmade oak bar.

A Texas Dad wants a mancave so he has somewhere to bond with his grandson. Pete builds a 600 square foot Western-style mancave treehouse with cigar humidor, meat smoker, flat screen TV, bathroom, stone walls, and can sleep 5.

A Kenyan born author wants a African themed hut in Washington. Pete uses handhewn rustic cedar to build an African-inspired circular hut treehouse complete with aerial walkway, spiral staircase, and thatched roof.

Pete revisits his former home – a site where he built his very first treehouses. Revamping old treehouse building techniques with new and improved methods, the team fuses traditional wood with the power of steel, making these Nelson classics brand new.

A 500 square-foot ski lodge treehouse with a stainless steel candy kitchen and wine bar, 11 feet in the air and among 14 camphor trees is the gift Santa Pete wants to give the candy and wine making Splinter family of Northern California.

A couple who live in a one-room yurt in Portland, Maine, want a space for entertaining, so Pete builds them a tree house 19 feet high that features a rooftop crow's nest, a copper roof and a wall of windows that offers scenic New England views.

A Seattle couple want a space for meditation, so Pete uses a pair of maples to build a tree house 20 feet high that features curved walls and views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, as well as three flights of animal-friendly stairs.

Pete Nelson uproots an existing treehouse from the family-owned bed & breakfast Treehouse Point to build a custom-made treehouse as a housewarming gift for his daughter, Emily.

Pete gathers up the posse to build a Wild West-themed treehouse in North Bend, Washington; they build a horseshoe-shaped construct with a bedroom, county jail loft, and genuine copper ceiling set 15-feet high in a solitary Douglas Fir.

Pete finds inspiration in old tales to build a mesmerizing treehouse, with a curved turret that soars two stories high and a deck to take in the amazing sights, over the stems of a twisty silver maple on the shore of Lake Chelan.

Pete and his crew are tasked with building a nature center, 14 feet off the ground at 10,000-acre nature preserve, Dogwood Canyon in Lampe, Missouri, established by Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris, for the company's upcoming Christmas party.

Pete and the crew round-up the magnificent seven of cypresses alongside the Frio River and mosey on down to Leakey, Texas to build a gigantic, Texas-sized treehouse with the longest bridge in NT&S history.

Pete and his team embark on a quest to an idyllic farm in Waxhaw, NC with orders to craft an elegant English retreat with a hanging bed fit for a queen. But one thing might stand in the way of Pete and his holy grail of pastoral treehouse builds...goats!

Surrounded by fields of red poppies and intertwined within a giant live oak, Pete creates a dining room tree house with a Provence countryside feel as part of a French restaurant.

Pete and the NTS gang embark on an epic quest to give a thrill-seeking couple the treehouse of their dreams -- an adventure headquarters in the sky sitting 16 feet high in 3 cedars with a wraparound deck that provides 360 degree of stunning views.

Pete constructs a tasting room, high above the apple orchards, for Walden, NY hard cider company Angry Orchard.

Pete and his merry men trek to the Blue Ridge Mountains to build a treehouse for one of their own: carpenter Mike Reynolds. Sitting 16 feet high, it will be the perfect rustic guesthouse to host friends and family.

Pete journeys to the pine-forested splendor of Scandinavia to explore Norway's magical TreeTop Hotel and Sweden's floating Treehotel, with tree homes suspended by cables and accessed only by retractable ladders.

Pete and NTS build a tree house for the For-Mar Nature Preserve just outside Flint, Mich.; the 5-platform nature headquarters serves as a positive addition to a community still reeling from the water crisis that began in 2014.

Pete takes on his first international tree house in Norway; working alongside a local builder named Frode, the one-of-a-kind, 24-foot-high retreat accommodates eight and allows for stunning views of the nearby lake.

Pete and his gang ride out to the Lone Star State to build a double-decker hideout in Texas Hill Country; Pete creates rustic perfection in six live oak trees with a saloon-style first floor for sippin' sarsaparilla and a glass floor for views below.

The NTS team leave their tents behind and head to New Jersey to build a campers' retreat for an outdoor-loving couple; with a screened-in porch, floating barbecue deck and cozy hanging bed, this Adirondack style tree-cabin puts glamping in the trees.

A couple wants a treehouse inspired by a children's book with a grown-up twist, and at the same time, Pete and the team build a whimsical Tudor-style theatre treehouse.

Pete creates an off-the-grid escape that's all about peace, love, and treehouses, man; building a stunning treehouse made from re-purposed materials, while the client, Sarah Jay, adds her own touch - a massive dream net hammock in the trees.

Pete and the team travel to Trempealeau, Wis., to build a rustic river shack-themed tree house for two parents who yearn for an easy escape after a long day.

Pete journeys to Kauai to build a sky-wave treehouse for a couple who ditched the mainland for a laid-back lifestyle and transforms a bohemian treehouse for two former professional surfers into a masterpiece with a crow's nest 60 feet off the ground.

Pete's fun-loving friend is the lucky recipient of a treehouse built strictly for good times; the team builds a dream of a treehouse complete with a wine bar, a loft, and their first-ever hot tub in the woods of Western Washington.

Dreams are coming to life in Oregon as Pete builds for Marlene, an 81-year-old woman who is finally getting one of her greatest wishes fulfilled: a treehouse; Marlene is giddy with excitement for this new adventure.