Our Tiny Tropical Treehouse is a very special space full of creativity and beauty. Custom built by an artist, this eco-house is flooded with natural sunlight, rich with wood accents, and inextricably connected to nature. It is ideal for couples and individuals looking for a private retreat nestled away in the jungle. Adventurers, relaxers, writers, and artists will enjoy staying here, a mere 18 mi from all Volcano National Park has to offer and 20 mi from downtown Hilo. Tiny treehouse, swinging bridge, and zooming zipline... oh my! This rental is one of a kind. The house boasts an eco-friendly footprint to travelers, budding botanical garden, unique custom interior, and a getaway retreat from busy life. In 2016 Caroline and Melissa embarked upon building this off-grid house. With some serious planning, a hint of overconfidence, and a lot of support, we hit the ground running. At Home Depot we were serendipitously roped into an interview for HGTV's show "Tiny Paradise." The film crew showed up at our door a week later! From then the project took on a whole new energy. We evoked new murals, art projects, and all kinds of visual eye candy to make sure every corner of the house was the highest quality we could muster. We hope you enjoy the finished product and all the love and time that went into custom making every inch of this space! If you want to check out the episode we are episode #2 "Tiny Hawaiian Hideaway" in the HGTV series "Tiny Paradise." Below is a description of what you can expect when you visit: Follow the red cinder trail through the stunning botanical array that envelops our off-grid tiny house. Ascend 8 feet up into the air for the cool breeze and a better view of the surrounding flora and fauna. You've arrived! With a total of 13 windows and glass doors, you enter into the comfort and luxury of the home but your view extend hundreds of feet into the surrounding jungle of Ohia and Hapu'u. Once inside you will see dozens of wood accents, from our high-backed log chair, to our Koa Wood Balinese style couch. The loft is held up with posts made from Ohia trees sourced from our own property. We made the loft handrail, coffee table, and hand-towel hangers from trees that had to be cleared during the construction of our house. Enjoy lounging on the expansive Balinese couch while you bird watch, or kick your feet up onto the trunk as you become immersed in a good read. On your way to the kitchen meander past the stained glass window depicting a cardinal, we coincidentally have two males and one female on the property! Also keep an ear out for baby hawk in the early spring. You enter the kitchen and will be blown away by the design of the floating dish racks. The custom Chocolate Albezia wood slab counter top shimmers, as does the glass sink basin and hand blown pendant lights hanging overhead. Relax at the kitchen bar and sip on your morning coffee as you watch the sunrise strike leaves and dew, setting them off into stunning shades of green, red, orange, and yellow. Eat your lunch while pondering the tiny mushrooms and vibrant moss growing on a nearby tree. Drink a glass of wine while you stare at the milky way and the moon. Tucked away in a dark corner of the house is the lava themed bathroom. Enter the bathroom and feel the cool natural stone underneath your feet, be reminded of that lava tube you explored yesterday or will crawl around in today. The main volcanic mural, created with naturally smoothed lava rocks, will captivate your eyes as you shower. The fiery glass sink, with a rough field of lava swirling around it, is a focal point of the lava spilling into your lavatory experience. A local female artist made the themed art piece hanging on the wall; illustrating traditional canoes, hula, Pele (the volcano goddess) and ancient rituals. The sliding barn door and tinted openable window envelop you in the private surreal feel of the space. Enjoy! It's all yours! Before you head to bed you absolutely must make your way across the swinging bridge to arguably the best part of the house. The treehouse! Supported by two rows of sister trees, the deck is a magical place to lay down and look up at the sun shining through the leaves, get close to Lehua blossoms or a herd of blooming orchids, and watch the stars glittering through the branches. We enjoy eating every meal we can out there and doing work while lounging in the reclinable chair. If you're visiting with a romantic partner (eyebrow wiggle), there was a psychology study that found people misattribute the excitement of a swinging bridge to the attraction they feel for a potential love interest. So go on, get your partner on the bridge with you and spice things up. Get your heart beating faster... is it the bridge?... is it your partner? I guess we'll never know. When all the excitement has passed and you're all tuckered out, climb the space efficient right-left ladder staircase to the loft. Wiggle into the comfort and luxury of our memory foam mattress, feel it envelop your body, and then never get up ;). The loft is cozy, but it's a room with a view. Along the headboard a 10 inch window encourages you to stargaze from the comfort of your bed, at one of the clearest skies in the world! I personally love laying on my side staring out the openable window and looking at the silhouettes of the surrounding forest contrasted against the starry night sky. Under the warmth of the comforter enjoy the cool mountain breeze (1900 feet of elevation) as you drift off to sleep. What else can we say? This place is paradise and heaven on earth and our pride and joy. We hope you will love it as much as we do! ********************************************************** The "Eco" in our house: We hope you will love the artistic luxury of the space and re-define what is possible to create with reclaimed materials and an off-grid lifestyle. We built this house ourselves and one of our main goals was for guests to enjoy being off-grid and see first hand how lovely it can be to go green. We adore nature (if you couldn't tell ;) ) and so it was very important for us to have the smallest footprint possible throughout the building process, therefore we hunted, hunted and kept hunting! All 5 of the huge 4 ft x 6 ft windows connecting the interior space to the natural beauty found outside, were reclaimed. We scored on the 2 glass doors because Ace Hardware in Kea'au was de-installing them from their store front. We managed to give dying surfboards new life in our functional art piece on the treehouse deck. We collected lava rocks from local beaches to create the volcano mural that defines the bathroom and the red cinder trail was locally sourced from a volcanic red cinder cone. The entryway mosaic was made possible by broken tiles that were going to be thrown away at Floor Decor in Hilo. The hardwood floors came from my uncle's hardwood floor business after a sample batch for a hotel wasn't the exact color that the interior designers were going for (lucky us). Our water catchment tank and stove top are second-hand and we are utterly proud of it all! We hope you remember the beauty of this place & bit of land long after you are gone, to us, "eco" can also mean comfy! You have full access to everything this house has to offer. You have the privacy of the undisturbed surrounding forest all to yourself and you can gaze at the trees from the elevation and comfort of the tiny house. Enjoy! PLEASE NOTE: THE HOT TUB IS NO LONGER ON THE PROPERTY. We are happy to do anything we can to help you enjoy your stay, our goal is to make sure your visit to our house is unforgettable. If you have a special request or need you are welcome to call or text us anytime. We live on Oahu most of the year but in the unlikely event that an issue arises, please call us and we will ensure the issue is addressed immediately. We are situated in the Ohia jungle. Throughout a day only a handful of cars will drive by. (Once, we had lumber delivered in the middle of the road because we didn't have a driveway yet.) From the house only one house is visible in the back distance but you can occasionally hear our front neighbors. There are abandoned vehicles down the road but that's not uncommon in rural neighborhoods on the Big Island. We recommend that you purchase groceries in Hilo before leaving town, they will be cheaper than in Kea'au and the closest place to grab a bite to eat is the Cafe Honi Wai which is 15 minutes away. You definitely need a rental car to conveniently explore the nearby areas and island as a whole. The bus only passes about every hour on the main road a few miles away. Even though it is an island... the name does hint that it might be a smidge larger than expected. ;) We are 18 mi from all Volcano National Park has to offer and 20 mi from downtown Hilo. Coastal beach tour or volcano land, the choice is yours! We have a guest book available with recommendations and local favorites. Mahalo for booking! MUST READ THIS SECTION ENTIRELY BEFORE MAKING A RESERVATION 1. Zipline, swinging bridge, and treehouse deck... oh my! Please, please supervise your children as they play on the swinging bridge and the zipline. We want you to have a fantastic time with the adventurous side of this tiny treehouse but you must be aware that there are inherent risks associated with having your children in this space. Children can fall from the loft, stairs, deck, and the back or front landing. They can accidentally let go on the zipline or get a bad start as they push off from the deck, which is 7 feet off the ground. We are aware of these issues and debated whether we should keep the zipline while renting on Airbnb, we also debated whether we should allow children to stay here. Ultimately we've watched many people's face light up as the zip off the deck, we've delighted in the joy this space can bring both children and adults, we've never had an accident, and so we've decided to allow both. Here goes our BIG FAT DISCLAIMER: THE ZIPLINE IS AN INHERENTLY DANGEROUS ACTIVITY. You and your guests ASSUME ALL RISK AND LIABILITY WHEN RENTING THIS HOUSE. In staying here you agree to be responsible for any personal injury or personal property damage incurred on the premises over the duration of your stay. Please make sure you and your family members are physically capable of playing on the features provided and behave safely at all times. Our treehouse is securely lagged into the hardwood of 7 Ohia trees, it has proven itself to hold over 3,000 pounds and our swinging bridge steel cables are rated at 1,900 pounds each. The zipline's safety weight capacity is 200 lbs, please don't exceed this limit. 2. Off Grid Please keep in mind that we are off grid. We only have the sunlight stored in a battery bank, it is enough to power the lights, water, and mini-fridge but be mindful of this limited supply if you are traveling with power hungry gadgets and gizmos. We ask that you turn off lights you are not using and that you be conscientious of your water usage. The water in all house fixtures comes from rain catchment, so it is not potable, however, provide drinking water for you. The pump hums along while in use. PLEASE NOTE: THE HOT TUB IS NO LONGER INSTALLED AT THE PROPERTY, but there’s still plenty for you to enjoy out on the treehouse deck. 3. Loft The loft queen bed is accessible only through a right-left space-efficient ladder staircase (visible in listing pictures). It is safest when you go up and down while facing them, just like you're on a ship's ladder staircase. There is a futon available to sleep downstairs, but that still must be accessed through the front steps and is not as comfy as the mattress. The loft, treehouse, and house in general have minimalist handrails intended to keep adults and supervised children safe. The futon is best for children and shorter adults. The futon sleeper dimensions are: 66.1" long x 37.6" wide. The soft memory foam queen mattress is a standard queen size. This adventurous off-grid lifestyle has it's risks and limitations, but along with that comes all the beauty and wonder it has to offer. Debatably these "risks and limitations" are what make it so magical and unique! When you stay here you can rest assured that your ecological footprint on Hawaii is substantially lower than if you were to stay at a hotel. You can have a blast on your own private zipline, go on it a dozen or 100 times! (My 6 year old niece certainly did.) You can kiss your significant other on the swinging bridge or sun-bathe on the treehouse deck while listening to the birds chirping away.