Standing in the kitchen of their four-story treehouse, Michael Bushilla reached across the granite countertop and clasped his wife's hand. His voice grew earnest as he reenacted his pickup line from two decades ago.
"Excuse me. Does my breath smell bad? I just ate at a Lebanese deli and there was garlic …"
Paula laughed, squeezed his hand and cut him off. "We had a whirlwind two-month engagement," she said as he reached in his wallet for their engagement photo — a sepia-toned picture of their motorcycles parked side-by-side.
Though they admit their own love story might not strike others as romantic, the Bushillas have spent the last few years making their 8-acre property in Cottage Grove into a shabby-chic, romantic venue for new brides and grooms. The "grand finale" of that project is a 1,100-square foot treehouse built around a 150-year-old bur oak.
The treehouse is decorated with 12 species of wood, not including the salvaged barn wood on the sliding doors and the bathroom sink made of petrified wood. Each nook and cranny has a tree-themed detail, from the squirrel salt-and-pepper shakers to the carved branches arched over the two-person Jacuzzi.
"We tried to bring the outdoors inside," Paula said, running her hands over the smoothed stones in the shower. "There's a real connection with nature when you are in a treehouse," she said, looking out over one of the four decks jutting above nearby Ravine Regional Park.
That connection with nature and more than 130 years of the property's documented history is what drove the couple to buy the farm in 2001. Just 20 days after closing, Michael was already starting to restore the barn, a collapsing antebellum structure that was built with jigsaw beams and wooden dowels rather than nails. That barn has since hosted more than 360 wedding receptions.
The Bushillas had no intention of turning the property into a wedding venue. They didn't even know that barn weddings were a new big trend. But in 2012, when their printing company was failing and they were about to lose the property — and the seven buildings they'd restored — to foreclosure, they hosted a prayer meeting in the barn.
Not long after, a bride asked if she could use the barn for her wedding. Paula said no, but then thought about their finances and the time they had driven trucks to make some money. After a few phone calls and more prayers, the Bushillas scheduled their first hosted wedding.
Now their calendar is nearly fully booked through next year, with more 100 weddings scheduled from April through November. As part of the wedding package, brides can choose to spend their wedding night in the treehouse or the restored corncrib cottage.
Had someone bought the property when they listed it — had a friend-of-a-friend not stepped up to help them financially — had that first bride not come around, they wouldn't now be sitting in a $250,000 treehouse with two fireplaces, a tower that rises 40-feet above the ground and a secret room behind a bookcase.
All they can do is say a prayer of gratitude. "You couldn't make this story up — it's really a miracle," Paula said.
The story of the first couple to stay in the treehouse almost sounds made-up too. Charlotte and Fred Herzog, friends of the Bushillas, celebrated their 50th anniversary in the treehouse on July 15.
Charlotte said she doesn't remember much about their wedding day except that it was hot and humid. Oh, and her twin sister got married too.
"Womb-mates married roommates," she said of the double wedding that paired the sisters off with two guys who'd lived together. "It was unique."
Just like the treehouse, she said: "I just can't say enough about how cool it was."
Mara Klecker • 612-673-4753
