My North Dakota Wood

A few years ago, when I started building, I primarily used common boards from Home Depot. I'd build and design using the dimensions of these easy to obtain woods. This was great for learning and I still find myself using them often--however, as I started to experience the 'building high' and built a bit of confidence in my ability to create, I branched out to using whatever wood I could get my hands on. I learned that I love to create furniture and home decor that has a rustic, reclaimed look. I started tearing apart pallets I could find for cabinet walls, I put my girls to work roughing up new boards to make them look old any way we could think. My daughters favorite activity during COVID days was 'doing rustic' with me. (**Quick side note---kids are naturals at destroying things so this was an EXCELLENT project for them.***) I found I wanted more character and uniqueness to what we were building. And I need more wood!

So--imagine the excitement (and imagine my husbands lack of....) when my Dad casually mentions that he has a pile of wood in North Dakota that had been saved from when they tore down the first home my parents had bought when they got married. It was in a pile at my grandmas house and they were working on selling the property--it needed to go somewhere.

I had a few ideas...

Realizing that anyone reading this probably has limited interest in the origin of dirty old boards, I'm keeping this short and sweet. This blog is as much for me (maybe more so) as it is for anyone interested in reading. But if you're at all interested in the source of the woods that create the products you see surface on the website, I wanted it out there. The story behind these old woods is a big part of why I love to create with them. They serve as a reminder that there was life and there were stories long before I was creating them with my family--and it helps to keep those stories alive in a unique way. It means even more knowing that the wood in this pile came from the home my brothers were born in and where my parents began creating their life together. So cheesy or not, I love it.

With the help of my husband, my dad, and my brothers, I was able to load up this wood into a UHaul trailer a few weeks ago and drive it from North Dakota to Wyoming. Now it sits in an amazing trash style pile next to my shop just waiting to end up on a wall or a table... This is where custom orders are fun!

Just look at this beautiful pile of wood...