How They Pulled It Off: An Octagonal House Built Around a Redwood Tree

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

Interior designer Bret Rossman and his husband, Phil Zimmerman, discovered their love for the California coastline when they got married in Big Sur. After a friend tipped them off to a quaint town with a population of 600 called Mendocino, a former logging region that has since been revitalized as an artist colony, the couple chanced upon an unusual gem for sale: an octagon-shaped house built around a centuries-old redwood tree. Dubbed the Mendocino Tree House, this 1,500-square feet structure would offer the former Minnesotans a rare opportunity to own a tiny piece of an enchanting forest.

"I’m a firm believer in ‘everything happens for a reason.’ We literally bought it in less than 48 hours of it being listed," says Rossman.

There’s not much known about Jim Hunt, the architect, except for what the couple’s contractor, Terry Tidwell, has shared. (Tidwell was hired by the previous owners to bring the Tree House up to code in 2015; Rossman and Zimmerman hired him for their own renovations in 2024.) What they do know is that the house was designed in 1971, built in 1972, and that "Hunt was really inspired to blend the building of the home as an accoutrement to nature, not the other way around," Rossman recalls. "People get very much into the spirit of the tree. We call her the keeper of the house."

As lovers of the outdoors and luxurious experiences in equal measure, the couple’s vision for the Tree House was to turn it into a memorable vacation rental. First, they made some modern updates to the bathrooms, such as including a rainfall shower head. A wall was slightly lowered to make way for a new horizontal window that looks out to the tree, so that it’s visible even when guests are showering. A carport has been turned into an outdoor entertainment area with an eight-seat table and a bistro set.

Outside on the property grounds, the couple opted for a zeroscape aesthetic to drive home the one-with-nature theme—the edging comprises wood planks, plant beds replace cement pavers, and grasses are pulled in favor of mulch. "The vegetation is native and not heavily manicured, so it blends naturally into the rest of the redwood forest," says Rossman. 

How they pulled it off: Maintaining a rental house built around a tree

• Keep things au naturel: "The home is meant to be very sustainable, low touch, and built so that there isn’t a ton of upkeep," says Rossman, who removed any unnatural hardscape from the grounds. As for the redwood tree in the middle, the redwood needles that naturally drop are cleared once a year, and taken care of organically.

• Don’t resist nature: The centuries-old tree is still alive and growing, says Rossman, so "the decking has had to be cut away from the tree, I think three or four times," prior to the couple buying the property. The previous owners had even considered removing the tree to avoid this issue entirely—needless to say, Rossman and his partner were relieved to have bought the house, ultimately, saving the tree.

• Get rooted to a vision: "Not a lot of Airbnb owners have a passion for styling," says Rossman. "I didn’t want this to feel like a vacation rental. I wanted it to feel like your best friend’s house." The guests, he points out, tend to mention "the details," such as the thoughtfully considered linen bedsheets, wool rugs, and other higher-end "materials that you seldom would find in a short-term rental because they need care." For Rossman, those touches elevate the experience.

• Consider the community: Opening a destination vacation rental, especially in a micro-town like Mendocino, has to be thoughtfully considered. For Rossman and Zimmerman, they were adamant about having the Tree House rentals directly support the small businesses—they say that over $70,000 in revenue has gone back to the neighboring towns through curated guest experiences, collaborations, and private partnerships.

The final touches come from Rossman himself, who decorated the house with midcentury-modern and bohemian-style furniture and decor that he thrifted, to make the stay feel like "your best friend’s house who’s an interior designer," he says. "There’s books and old encyclopedias, things that make an adult feel like a child again, because you want to go up to these shelves and touch everything."

Project Credits:

Original Architect: Jim Hunt

General Contractor:  Terry and Laurel Tidwell, Tidwell’s Construction

Landscape: Oliver Hernandez and Rafael Cen, Cen’s Landscaping

Interior Design: Bret Rossman, Rüt Design

Kitchen/Bath Cabinetry Installation: Tidwell’s Construction

Bathroom Tile: Fred Bowman

Spa Design: Ron Hals, Blue Sky Home Designs

Spa Engineer: Tim Twomey, BESC Inc

Spa Construction: Tidwell's Construction

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