Some of the most enchanting buildings in both real life and in LEGO are tree houses. Although tree houses may not be the most practical, there is something magical about having a house in the trees! Many childhood stories, fantasy novels and movies include tree houses, and most of us have considered living in a tree house for real. Today we will explore the world of LEGO tree houses that come in official LEGO sets, as well as some of the sweetest tree houses built by LEGO fans (tree house below by Legopard). For the purpose of this collection we would consider both dwellings made inside the hollows of trees and houses built in the trees as tree houses. 🙂
➡ LEGO CREATOR TREE HOUSES: LEGO has released a number of tree houses through the years. The #31010 LEGO Creator Treehouse from 2013 is probably the most well known (see below). While the tree in this set doesn’t have a full canopy, it could easily be built up with extra pieces. If you don’t know where to start with building a LEGO tree house, this is an excellent set to start with. Unfortunately it is no longer available directly from LEGO, but you can find it on the secondary market, or just download the instructions to built it on your own. There is another LEGO Creator tree house coming later this year; the #31053 LEGO Creator Tree House Adventures which gives you three different LEGO tree house designs. It should be available this summer.
➡ LEGO ELVES TREE HOUSE: One of the most beautiful and enchanting tree houses that comes in an official LEGO set is the #41075 LEGO Elves Treetop Hideaway. This tree house is actually built on top of two trees with a little bridge in between. The constructions of the tree trunks and the bridge gives you excellent examples of tree-building with LEGO. Here also the canopy is quite rudimentary, but you get some very unusual colored leaf pieces and many other beautiful elements for building a magical tree house. This is another excellent starter set for building tree houses. It is still available under the LEGO Elves section of the Online LEGO Shop.
➡ LEGO FRIENDS TREE HOUSES: The LEGO Friends theme has the largest number of tree houses to date. They are excellent as starter sets for learning how to build tree houses. One issue is that the colors are more in the pink/purple range, but they could easily be swapped out to other colors. The tree constructions themselves are solid designs, and building the tree is usually the hardest part of any LEGO tree house. You can consider getting one of these sets to star out with your own LEGO tree house, or you can just download the instructions for learning how to build them. LEGO Friends tree houses include the following sets: #3065 LEGO Friends Olivia’s Tree House from 2012, #41059 LEGO Friends Jungle Tree Sanctuary from 2014, and the most recent #41122 LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Tree House from 2016 (see below). You can find the currently available sets under the LEGO Friends section of the Online LEGO Shop.
➡ LEGO STAR WARS TREE HOUSE: If you need a lot of parts for building tree houses, you may consider the #10236 LEGO Star Wars Ewok Village. This set is quite unique because it comes with four tree houses connected by an above ground platform, bridges and ladders. If you remove the Ewoks, you can easily turn this set into a treetop village for elves and other forest dwellers. While the trees in this set don’t have much of a canopy and you would have to get pieces separately, there are plenty of brown and tan pieces for building trees, and the constructions methods are very interesting.
➡ OTHER LEGO SETS WITH TREE HOUSES: There are a number of other LEGO sets that come with some form of tree dwelling that you can use for inspiration. For example the old LEGO Castle Forestmen sets from the 1980s contain some of the earliest – and by many, considered the best – LEGO tree houses. The #60071 LEGO City Hovercraft Arrest includes a small, but very nice looking tree house (see below). And you could also consider the hobbit house in the #79003 LEGO The Hobbit An Unexpected Gathering as a great starter set for tree houses.
As you can see, there are a number of LEGO tree houses released by LEGO that you can use as examples, as starter sets for getting the elements you need and for learning various building techniques. But for real inspiration you would want to check out tree houses built by the LEGO fan community. Below are some of my favorites (click on the names for full albums). The first featured tree house below was built by LEGO fan tiberium_blue. It has everything you would want from a tree house; big tree, cozy tree house, and large tree canopy. There are a number of very unique building techniques used here, including the roof and the walls of the house.
We have discussed the LEGO fairy forest previously (see: LEGO Fairy Forest – Enchanted & Magical…). It is a very large diorama with a number of excellent examples for tree houses. You can see more detailed pictures at the flickr album of Siercon and Coral.
Below is Link’s tree house from Legends of Zelda built in collaboration between Joseph Z. and Siercon and Coral. Before journeying off to save the Kingdom of Hyrule, Link lived in a large tree house on the outskirts of Ordona Village. The kids from the village often went visit Link to watch him train and ride his horse Epona. Next to Links house, the Spirit spring of the Ordona Province blesses the area with the power of the Golden Goddess Farore.
Another enchanted tree house by ‘Torgar, inhabited by elves. Besides the beautiful trees, also check out the excellent rockwork and the waterfalls.
David Hensel is well known for his crooked storybook-like houses, and here he shows a good example of a little hut perched on top of a big old tree.
Cesar Soares built his LEGO tree house in a similar storybook style, with little debilitated dwellings all around and up this beautiful autumn tree. It’s a whole neighborhood in the trees!
The tree house below by Legopard is a more modern style that brings back childhood memories. Notice the swing, and the crate to pull up items for a picnic in the trees.
Here is another modern tree house, this time by Blake Baer. It was inspired by the novel The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss. The tree here incorporates an interesting design with studs facing out, instead of bricks built on top of each other.
The following LEGO tree house is a collaboration between BuildFiend and Nunki-psi posted on LEGO Ideas. They wanted to design a tree house that was both attractive, playable, and packed with fun features. If you would like it to become an official LEGO set, you can vote for it here.
The Death Star treehouse is what builder Hen Peril always imagined living in as a kid. It uses a unique technique for the tree canopy, giving the tree a weeping willow type look.
I’m sure you recognize this one; Pooh’s little house in the Hundred Acre Woods, built by JK Brickworks.
Yes, you are allowed to think outside the box! For this tree house by oLaF LM the LEGO house was built on top of a real bonsai.
I hope you like this collection of LEGO tree houses, and they may even inspire you to build your own. What do you think? Do you like any of the official LEGO tree house sets? And how do like the custom tree houses built by LEGO fans? Do you have a favorite? Are there any other ones that you found and really like? Did you ever build a LEGO tree house yourself? Feel free to share in the comment section below! 😉
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