The Treehouse-Inspired Airbnb At The Top Of Our Vacation Bucket List

Nestled in the Swannanoa Valley, about 15 minutes east of Asheville, North Carolina, you'll find an Airbnb unlike any other. More than just a vacation rental, the Nook (@thenookavl on Instagram) is an invitation to a slower, more intentional way of living. Mike Belleme and his partner Kristin crafted the "obsessively handmade hyperlocal" space with the help of local artists, craftsmen, and nature. Nearly everything you see in the Nook is handmade, often from materials sourced from the surrounding woods. Here, Mike walks us through the tiny home in the trees and points out the details that make it so special.

As a documentary photographer, I have spent many years working on personal projects having to do with living in more connection to the natural world and using your mind and body in a way that feels healthy and connects us to our deeper animal humanity—our humanity before we decided that we are something different and separate from everything else on Earth. 

The Nook was heavily inspired by the treehouse and the teachings it offered us. The Nook is an art project first and foremost but also a way of letting area visitors get a glimpse of a different way of living and thinking. The Nook was a very collaborative project. We worked with over 20 local artists to hand-make every piece of the house, starting with our good friends Rob and Karie of Shelter Collective, who designed the space. Building the Nook took a year, wrapping up in the fall of 2019.

Connection, intention, hyperlocal.

Visitors may not fully understand all of the pieces that come together to tell a story here, but no matter what your entry point, there is something very different and almost jarring about seeing a space where everything was made by hand, slowly and intentionally. It's an act of rebellion in a world of immediacy, and people respond to that even if it's on a subconscious level. 

Basically, we indoctrinate our guests with a bit of our philosophy by forcing them to slow down and act with intention. 

Perhaps most of all, though, is the diorama that we commissioned Haley Nocik to make. Haley is a local (she has since moved away) fiber artist who uses felted wool to make incredible sculptural lifelike figures. I've always admired her work and decided to work with her on a piece for the Nook that told several stories about our animal neighbors.

The second story is when my friend and builder, Jesse, and I were walking down to the site and heard a squealing sound. Looking around, we saw a baby and mama bunny hopping away. I followed the sounds into a thicket where I found a black snake with a tiny baby bunny halfway down its throat. I extracted the bunny and relocated the snake. Later, I went back to the abandoned bunny burrow and saved the soft fur that the mother uses to make the nest cozy. I gave the fur to Haley, and she incorporated it into the scene with the bunny family hanging out in an underground burrow. 

All of the wood used in the interior is from wood that I gathered myself from already dead trees. Every tree species used in the house can be seen alive outside of the house immediately surrounding the Nook. 

The main things that had to be purchased were light fixtures, appliances, plumbing fixtures, etc. In the rare instances where we had to buy non-local, it was mostly places like Anthropologie and West Elm. 

Well, we are actually in the process of trying to do that in our own home now. Some things are very difficult to figure out after the fact when you aren't designing from the beginning, like having an abundance of natural light. I think light is the most important piece of what makes a space. Light quality, quantity, and temperature affect us deeply on a subconscious (and sometimes conscious) level. We are about to do a pretty multifaceted shift to the layout of our home with the primary goal of inviting in more light.

The other main thing is finding ways that you can feel personally connected to your space. Try making something yourself. Even if it's not the prettiest object, it will have more emotional resonance than anything you could get from a store. When you do buy, see if you can find someone local and watch their process, so you feel like you were part of it. The more connected you feel to the space and objects in your home, the more it will feel like home and bring joy.

Outside, the cool air under the canopy has that impossible-to-describe "woodsy" smell, with the occasional pop of cherry from the wild cherry trees.

As I mentioned earlier, the project was intended as an art piece, so the guests' experience is a fundamental part of its purpose. Those rare transformative moments are really what the whole thing is about.