Treehouse

I’m a lover of design and regularly read the blog Houzz. They feature everything and anything about the home and garden, offering traditional, industrial, modern, eclectic styles and everything in between, to delight and inspire a homeowner (or renter).  Their attention to detail is what sets them apart I believe.

Today I discovered a post about tea houses and it was so over the top, I feel compelled to share it with you.

I remember when I first read about Oprah’s tea house and thought it wasn’t what I would create if I had the opportunity to design my very own .  My aesthetic lends itself toward Asian themes so I was especially thrilled to see the Houzz article about Japanese tea houses. I was surprised to find so much content about the history of the tea ceremony and tea rooms along with the details necessary to build an architecturally accurate tea house.  It was the contemporary tea houses that really excited me.

The portable tea houses are inspiring in their design as well as their selection of theme as  “the names of the tearooms are associated with three of the “five skandhas” that constitute the totality of the human body and soul as revealed by the Buddha. These three are vedanā (“sensation,” the things humanity feels), saṃjñā (“perception,” the things humanity thinks) and saṅkhāra(“formations of the mind,” the things humanity does).” The transparency of these spaces is whimsical and innovative.

The most magical tea house that was shown is the tree house. It looks like it should be in a fairy tale, with angels or fairies dancing or flying around the structure. The glass enclosed tea house is also intriguing to me as it allows nature inside the experience.

I’m wondering if anyone in our T Ching community has their own tea house.

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