Three birdhouses for Charlie

I live just outside the small town of Palisade, and every year in December they have an Olde Fashioned Christmas festival. They have gingerbread house competitions and other fun stuff, and they always have an outdoor market in the streets downtown. They set up wood burning stoves in the middle of the street and vendors offer free cups of hot chocolate and apple cider, and people are encouraged to dress in period costume from the late 1800s.

I have often considered hawking my wares there. Afterall, what better fit for a celebration of an 1800s Christmas than cards printed on an 1800s printing press, right? But the last three years that we've been here for it, it is has been cold. And miserable. And snowing. So I decided to pass on it this year.

But then Saturday rolled around and the sun was out and it was a glorious day. Figures...

So while the husband was busy entertaining Lachlan, I went down to the market to see if there were any last-minute gifts I couldn't live without. I stopped at the booth run by the local alpaca farmers and bought a few things. And I couldn't resist the raspberry blueberry bread sold by a nearby bakery.

And as I was on my way to buy a wreath from the Boy Scouts, I stopped in my tracks when I saw the most awesome collection of wood birdhouses.

A sign posted on the display said that all the money was going to support a local kid named Charlie who has been selected to travel to Greece and Italy this coming summer as part of the People to People Ambassador program. I overhead the vendor explaining to another woman that he was Charlie's dad, and that he is a "collector" of "stuff" and that he has always built these birdhouses as a hobby. And when people started showing an interest in them, he decided to build some to help raise money for his son's upcoming trip.

I remember my days in 4-H and showing horses as a youth when we were always trying to raise money to go on a trip somewhere. So I'm a real sucker for that kind of thing. Plus these houses were so cool and EXACTLY the kind of rustic and unique birdhouses I've been searching for to add some character to our property.

As I was making my selection, the man came over and told me that it was getting late in the day so everything was 20% off. So I picked out three of the houses and then gave him $20 more than the original price of them. I thought he was going to start crying. I told him I remember being in his kid's position and how hard my parents worked to help me raise money for various things I was involved in. And these days there are so many kids NOT doing good things, that when I come across one who is, well, I want to make sure that I help support them any way I can.

So now Charlie is that much closer to a summer abroad, and I have three of the coolest birdhouses this side of the Mississippi. I'm not sure who got the better deal.

Extracurricular activities

I mentioned the other day that I'm working on another Etsy shop. Here's a tiny sneak peek at one of the things in the "new product development" department...

Giddyup!

Lachlan recently received this gorgeous handmade rocking horse from his aunt and uncle in Wyoming.



It's made of cherry, walnut, and bird's eye maple and is SO beautiful!





It will still be a while until he can ride it, but I fear for Sadie once he can. Have you seen that E-trade commercial with the little boy who is grounded and sent to his crib for riding the family dog? That will be Lachlan, only he'll be in trouble for chasing Sadie around the house and trying to rope her from his new horse. Ha!

Day 422

The reinforcements arrived over the weekend. Tony, a good friend--who just happens to be a contractor who did considerable work on my 1920 Baltimore row house years ago--flew into town for 2 weeks. (Does anyone else think it's crazy that I bring people from Baltimore to help me with my house??)

On Sunday, Tony and the husband replaced our wimpy little white 4x4 porch posts with something with a little deeper voice. Specifically, they put in three old barn beams, probably chestnut, that came from a barn in Indiana.



I love them as much as a person can love an old wood beam.



Now I'm on the hunt for small gargoyles to stick in all the small holes cut out of the posts.

New old wood

Last night we drove to Southern Wood Imports to get three hand-hewn barn beams (probably chestnut) from a barn in Indiana and a big 'ol pile of oak siding from an Amish farm in Kentucky.





These bad boys will soon become part of our new front porch.

Rusty metal

I have lots to show you, but I'm so busy with work right now that I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of the progress we've made!

In the meantime, here are some inspirational photos for what is right around the corner around here...







Images from Southern Wood Imports.

When I grow up

When my letterpress and I grow up and get our own place, I want it to be just like the world headquarters of Parliament.

Found via Design*Sponge. Check out Parliament's website for more photos of the before, during, and after of this awesome space.

Scott Morrison

The post I did on the famous woodworker Sam Maloof piqued my curiosity about fine woodworking. If I could have another life, or just more time in this one, it's a skill I'd like to learn. One of these days I'll drag the husband out to the workshop and make him teach me everything he knows about woodworking. He used to do a lot of it, back before he got interested in welding and before I made him work 24/7 remodelling our house.

But I digress.

While digging around online I discovered the amazing wood creations of Scott Morrison. I almost fell off my chair when I saw his rocker cradle, which is an updated version of a 1700s Windsor Nanny Rocker. This one is made of English walnut. How absolutely clever. I love it.



He also has a walnut cradle that just about took my breath away.



I'm thinking of "accidentally" breaking our bar stools so that I can get some of these lovelies, shown here in Oregon black walnut. Yes, sir. I'll take three of 'em.



And to accompany the dining table that will one day be made from the fir beams from my old Baltimore row house, I'll take 12 of these. In the Oregon black walnut to match the bar stools, of course.

Sam Maloof

The other day the husband came home with the October issue of Fine Woodworking, the cover of which was dedicated to Sam Maloof, who died in May at the age of 93. Maloof was entirely self-taught and is considered one of the world's premier contemporary craftsmen. He was once quoted as saying that he had a desire "to work a piece of wood into an object that contributes something beautiful and useful to everyday life."

I'd say that he accomplished that, and then some.






Photos from Architonic

Zeke Leonard bed

I discovered Zeke Leonard over at Design Sponge.

I am infatuated with his work, which uses reclaimed wood objects and things he finds in dumpsters. This bed is one of my favorite pieces, although some of his benches and lighting fixtures are pretty spectacular, too.



The bed is made of reclaimed red oak that had been church pews, and the headboard is an oak branch found in the woods. The legs of the bed and the reading lamp are made from reclaimed oak from hand-hewn square beams that were made more than a century ago. Love it.

Katrin Arens

I am so in love with all the things that Katrin Arens creates using reclaimed wood. Here are a few of my favorites.

Wood hanging rails and shelves

For the shower curtain in the master bathroom, we've been thinking about using some sort of a system that hangs from the ceiling rather than attaching to the walls on either end of the tub.

I'm digging this hanging wood pole from Katrin Arens, and I wonder if we can get something like this to work.



I also really like the idea of this shelf and rail with iron supports for that bathroom.

Reclaimed wood

This weekend my husband and I worked on building a shelving unit for a space in my office. The story and photos of that will be posted once the project is finished (hopefully this week!).

But the work got me thinking about how much I want to have my husband teach me the finer points of woodworking. I lived in Baltimore for six years and spent the majority of that time completely rehabbing a 1920 brick rowhouse. In that process, I removed several old wood rafters and beams. The wood is simply stunning. I used two pieces to make new handrails for the stairs of that house, but I loaded up the rest of the wood in a U-haul and brought it with me when I moved. I’ve always had plans to use the wood to build something, preferably an old farmer’s style table—one that is very simple, rustic, long, and narrow. For now the wood sits in a pile in our workshop, but the project this weekend has sent me on a new search for inspiring uses of reclaimed wood.

Here are some of my favorite items.


Top row: An old workbench that would be great as a kitchen island, and a flat file that I would love to have for all of my Japanese papers! Both from here.
Middle row: a rock elm trestle table, a heavy pine harvest table with legs, and a lovely farm table. Bottom row: Another neat workbench made of wood, metal and granite that would make a great kitchen island; a great use for an old beam as an outdoor bench; and another table with a really interesting trestle.