This was the old barn...it had to go because it became very dangerous.
It was very sad to us, but we saved the wood siding and a few of the beautiful beams that were hand-hewn--before we pulled it down.
But now, we can see it repurposed, reused!
Recently, I've been sifting through my photo files and I've found several stories I never told you.
And this is one of them.
Taking this big pile of old barnwood siding and making it into usable wood for projects for us is my son and husband tackled one really, really, really hot summer afternoon. (In fact, it was so hot, when I took the camera outside from the central air in the house, the lens immediately fogged over and I had to wait several minutes to warm it up!)
He'd bought a new planer and wanted to try it out.
He set up his work area and got busy.
I had to watch!
I loved watching the wood smooth out and clean up.
Even Luke got in on the action!
Isn't it beautiful!!?
So much potential!
The top layers of the wood are very dry, and very splintery, it's difficult to use that way.
Getting at the beauty underneath the dried out surface is where we want to go.
I love the smell of the fresh layer of wood coming out.
The places where the animals chewed up or rubbed are especially wonderful to me. The wormholes, the knots, all of the marks are beautiful!
The piece above here is obviously from a stall inside the barn, and is in very good shape for the barn being at least 115. I love that.
I have uses in mind for this wood, and can't wait until we can see some of it put to use.
We've done one project so far, just a small one; a picture rail.
I can see a beautiful farmhouse kitchen table out of this. I've found some projects online.
(Pinterest is a wonderful place for keeping track of project like this--so you can find them when you need them; have you discovered this crack cocaine of the internet?! WOW!)
Below is the first project we want to do:
Toddler bed
(For Levi when he graduates from his crib!)
And....here are the tables I'm looking at.
Simple and yet beautiful, and even more special because it would have come from our old barns.
These are such exciting possibilities!!
I hope to soon be able to show you the results of our work...which table would you choose?
