Photo by Sarah Finnegan
Chelsea residents David and Suzanne Brogdon had a treehouse built in their development, The Highlands, through the Animal Planet TV show “Treehouse Masters.”
David and Suzanne Brogdon’s treehouse is more than just a few planks built on a backyard tree.
The 600-square-foot house has bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen and even a secret door hidden in a bookcase, all suspended among the trees near the Brogdons’ Highlands neighborhood development, between Pelham and Chelsea.
When your treehouse is built by the crew of an Animal Planet show called “Treehouse Masters,” it inevitably turns out a little more luxurious.
The Brogdons’ treehouse had its TV debut Sept. 14 on Animal Planet, in the show’s 11th season.
Though “Treehouse Masters” may give their treehouse a temporary spotlight, it’s still a secluded family hangout for the Brogdons, a place where they’re as likely to watch a movie in the compact living room as to watch deer wander by on the hillside below.
Suzanne Brogdon arranged for “Treehouse Masters” to surprise her husband with the build, since he is a fan of the show. The crew came to Chelsea for about a month, from January to February, to complete the treehouse. She said it seemed like fate when the crew arrived on her husband’s birthday and wrapped up construction on her own.
“It was pretty shocking,” David Brogdon said of receiving the call from Animal Planet. “It was something we always wanted to do.”
Photo by Sarah Finnegan
Suzanne and David Brogdon inside their family treehouse near the Brogdons’ Highlands neighborhood development between Pelham and Chelsea.
“It was shocking because I never pull anything off,” Suzanne Brogdon joked.
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of a show like that, the Brogdons said, that never makes it on the air. They had to evaluate several sites in the woods between the Pelham and Chelsea parts of the Highlands before an arborist found a group of trees, set off a dirt path, that could support a treehouse without significant damage.
Tents and materials were set up everywhere around the site for the construction crews and the staff filming and producing the episodes during the rainy and cold month. And, Suzanne Brogdon said, there were more re-shoots than she expected, with the production team having them repeat their reactions or wear the same clothes on multiple days to get everything just right.
There was also the challenge of paying for the treehouse by the time construction wrapped up, David Brogdon said. It cost about $325,000 to build, plus about $50,000 in electrical, plumbing and other costs, and he said no bank is likely to give a mortgage for a treehouse.
“Everything has to be to code, just like a house,” Suzanne Brogdon said.
Though it was hectic, she said they enjoyed the experience of working with the Animal Planet team and getting to see the episode air.
Other “Treehouse Masters” episodes in this season include treehouses built in Hawaii, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Washington, with everything from a crow’s nest to a hot tub built into the various designs.
The finished Chelsea treehouse draws on David Brogdon’s love of James Bond for its design inspiration, from the British flag refrigerator and thumbprint door locks to the bookcase that opens to reveal the steps down to the master bedroom. He wanted to add a drawbridge to the walkway that leads to the house, but the “time crunch” of filming made that impossible.
“David is a huge James Bond, espionage-type movie fan, so that’s what we did,” Suzanne Brogdon said.
“I wanted to do a theme that was our style and we would live with.”
The treehouse is set on a rocky, steep hillside, with two of its main support trees coming up through the floors of the front and back deck. The back deck also features a scenic telescope, similar to ones at tourist spots and lookout points, for visitors to take in the view.
There’s a lot packed into its 450 square feet of interior space. The treehouse has a bathroom with a full shower and a kitchen, two bunk beds and a platform bed in the main level’s bedroom and a master bedroom in the “basement” suspended below.
Photo by Sarah Finnegan
There’s a lot packed into its 450 square feet of interior space. The treehouse has a bathroom with a full shower and a kitchen, two bunk beds and a platform bed in the main level’s bedroom and a master bedroom in the “basement” suspended below.
“We have three grandchildren, so we were excited to get a bunkroom and just a place for them to have sleepovers when they’re older. The oldest one’s 3 [years old] right now, so we’re a little ahead,” Suzanne Brogdon said.
The main living room’s ceiling is made of interlocking wooden beams to support the roof and a center skylight. And, of course, there are plenty of windows throughout to show off the house’s unique placement.
“At night, it’s so cool, all the lights they just sparkle through that glass,” she said of the skylight.
The treehouse has running water and a generator to provide electricity and air conditioning, though Suzanne Brogdon said they haven’t been able to use the refrigerator so far and have been, comparatively, “roughing it.”
The Brogdons have stayed overnight in their treehouse a number of times since it was built. Suzanne Brogdon said they’re considering allowing a few people to tour it if there’s interest after seeing their “Treehouse Masters” episode, but primarily it’s meant to be a place for family and for their grandkids to play when they’re a little older.
“Usually, like Sunday afternoons, we’ll come watch movies, and we’ve spent the night here and our kids have spent the night here,” Suzanne Brogdon said.
Since so many members of their family are part of the Brogdon Group or Brogdon Properties businesses, she said it’s nice to have a place completely separate from work life.
“We’re a whole family business and all we do is business. And it was just nice to do something different, you know, have it for the family,” Suzanne Brogdon said.
