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Commuter Cuts Carbon, Calories With Gorgeous Treehouse Office

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Here’s a great way to cut the carbon and the calories at the same time. Work at home to cut the carbon of the commute, and build your home-office in a treehouse to climb up into, to cut those calories!

Peter Frazier, a customer experience consultant, had put on fifty pounds from working in an office, and was getting fed up. Finally he decided after years of gaining weight with the typical sedentary lifestyle, to make a radical change. He built his own very simple treehouse office in the woods, complete with green roof on top.

To justify the building expense, he designed it to do double duty as a guest bedroom as well. Sited as it is in the forest overlooking Chuckanut Bay in Washington, it is, as he says:  “a guest house that keeps ’em coming back, and an inspired meditation room.”

As he puts it, his motivation was:

“Like many in the computer industry, I graduated from college thin and fit, but since then, through years of all-nighters, sitting in front of my screen for long hours, and a rich diet I became overweight. I went from 190 to 242 pounds as I grew into each role: graphic designer, user interface designer, customer experience researcher, businessperson, husband, father, and community member. Last Fall I said, “Enough already!”

Recently I decided that working standing up would help me live a more active life. It’s worked. Along with meditating, running, hiking, and kayaking, working standing up (with hourly interludes of push-ups, sit-ups or yoga) I’ve dropped 30 pounds. My thinking is clearer for longer and you’re more likely to find me with things in perspective.”

Although it is a treehouse, this freestanding office is actually downhill from his house, sited so that it is part of the view from his living room. So he put a green roof on top to make it blend in beautifully into the forest, as well as to help keep the indoor climate temperate, summer and winter. What a terrific office!

+ Peter Frazier’s Flickr Stream

Via habitat