Luxury treehouses don’t skimp on the ammenities

Kit and Karen Sickels’ whim resulted in a 980-square-foot treehouse with plumbing, electricity, heat and air conditioning, 10 feet off the ground, on their northern San Diego County property. It also features a brick fireplace.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Skylights brighten the Sickelses’ treehouse. Lumber came from standing dead oaks on the owners’ property and from demolished buildings in Seattle.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos

For a peek inside more Southern California homes, go to our Homes of The Times gallery.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Mike Caveney and Tina Lenert’s Craftsman-style perch invites reverie, Lenert says.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

A verdant view from the porch of Caveney and Lenert’s Pasadena treehouse, above.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos

For a peek inside more Southern California homes, go to our Homes of The Times gallery.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Andrew Fisher wanted his Napa Valley treehouse to “fade right into the trees,” he says. He hired a professional arborist, who spent four months working on the 400-square-foot pinetop hideaway.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos  (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)

Fisher’s Napa Valley treehouse has running water and electricity. He and his partner host cocktail parties there, and sometimes offer it as a romantic getaway for newlyweds. Fisher, an interior decorator, built some of the “make-believe” furnishings himself.

New Treehouses of the World: A book preview in photos

For a peek inside more Southern California homes, go to our Homes of The Times gallery.  (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)