It takes a special kind of craftsmen to make a boat and its simply incredible how the skills needed to make a seaworthy vessel translate at the intersection of art and architecture in the form of a treehouse.
If you have an extra 30 minutes, I suggest you make a cup of coffee, put in earphones and enter Tom Chudleigh’s mystical world of spherical treehouses on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. You can rent these treehouses, but they are pretty much booked solid through the next 3 months. New favorite term “Man year’s work”:
Ever since seeing Jacques Cousteau emerge from a globular bathyscaphe, Tom Chudleigh has been fascinated by spheres. A few decades ago he designed a orb-shaped houseboat and began building a prototype, only to decide it would work better hung in a tree. After a successful summer sleeping in the dangling globe as on-site housing for a construction job, Chudleigh began to rent it to out for overnight stays.
Today, he has four suspended spheres at his Free Spirit Resort on Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada) where guests can spend a night or two swaying in the forest, 15 feet off the ground. Each sphere is suspended between three trees (with three nearly vertical ropes) and accessed by a spiral staircase. With whimsical names like Eryn, Eve, Luna and Melody, the tree bubbles have been compared to Ewok and Hobbit housing and are booked months in advance.
It took him about 2000 hours just to create the wooden shell for his first build, Eve. He has since switched to fiberglass construction which takes about a week to create. Before devoting his time to spherical construction Chudleigh built and lived on sailboats and even learned to do his own metal forging while building a boat in a remote town near the Alaska border.
He applied his diverse crafting experience to his sphere construction creating custom four-latch, curved oblong doors and forging double-articulated window latches. Chudleigh continues to build and sell spheres to treehouse fans around the world.
Chudleigh’s designs were inspired by nature: “The spherical nut shape is certainly well adapted to life in the forest. The suspension concept also reflects biomimicry. The network or web of ropes used to tether the sphere vertically and laterally function much like a spider web… The supporting web also mirrors our connectedness to our eco-system.”
These unique dwellings are available to rent. Find all info HERE. 
“Whether we’ve been on your Pacific Northwest bucket list for years or not, look no further for the one of a kind adult only getaway of your dreams. Our cool, quirky and truly unique spherical treehouses offer an exquisite combination of back-to-nature experience with the trendy phenomenon of ‘glamping’.
This world renowned unique accommodation experience is set among the coastal rainforest of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Come spend a night or a week up in our trees, and you will find the peace and relaxation which you seek. Alternatively, our exceptional, exotic hotel makes a perfect base from which to explore all that our magnificent island has to offer!”