Treehouse Access: Comps, Cookies, & the Moment of Truth

The Dangerous Book for Boys treehouse plan mentions a trapdoor, but gives (surprise!) very little information about how to go about making one, apart from one small drawing that we swear they printed upside down. So Sunday we went out into the neighborhood in search of egress ideas. Local examples ranged from the elegant spiral staircase to the simple ladder-down-the-side. One of our favorites required entrance via trampoline and balance beam. It also included a fine trapdoor:

And some first-class signage:


In the end we elected to give the trapdoor a try. Framing the hole was harder than we thought (it was back to a board a day for a while there!). But eventually we were ready to cut into our lovely, laborious decking. The folks across the alley offered up their antique yard sale jigsaw, and Bryan went to work.

Then came the Moment of Truth:



Whew! Why did this give us goosebumps? We're not really sure. Maybe it was the stress of staking two weeks' work on a single do-or-die cut. Maybe it was the unnerving concept of making a way out by slicing apart the floor you're standing on. Maybe it was the echo of our favorite "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" verse: "If I get to Heaven before you do / I'll dig a little hole and pull you on through."

Who knows. At any rate, this success elated everyone tremendously. After a little sanding and the quick installation of a couple of hinges, we all ascended through the hole and lowered the trapdoor behind us. It was Linda who convinced us that Heaven includes a plate of lavender shortbread still warm from the oven. We'll save you some.

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