Our farmhouse table

This is a table I made for my lovely wife. I must commend her for her patience because it took me nearly a year or more to put the time into it. It is made from pieces I had laying about the shop, some for several years. It is so hard for me to throw wood away just for this reason, someday I will find the perfect thing to make with it.

The center piece is a two foot wide slab that I purchased right around the time I met my wife about four and a half years ago. My lady loves simple rustic design so I left as much gray aged wood visible as I possibly could. 

I glued two 8" boards to the sides for extra width, hand planed all the edges and put a couple of coats of shellac. It was a nice departure from the complex, labor intensive work I usually do.

There are 117 apparent growth rings in the slab. The heart is right in the middle. It is usually the most  unstable parts of the tree, but this one only had a few small fractures. 

olde world inspired

We have put some time and energy into our bathroom over the last month.  Mayan green pigmented plaster, earth toned slate, reclaimed mahogany trim, scraped and sealed original door trim, handmade french doors with a solid antique cypress door.  It is coming together beautifully. A great representation of both our styles and inspirations.

a handcrafted bar room

A bachelor's retreat. It's all in the details.

Plastered walls with added earth pigment for color.  Hand selected local Cypress crafted into bar tops with the utmost care and skill paying great attention to detail and the natural beauty of the wood.  Handcrafted cement counter tops made with the meticulous artistic touch of John Finley at Arcadia Studios. A removable cutting board, inlayed fleur-de-lis, stone and his signature fossil add elements of detail throughout.  Hand carved superbowl champions into the large beam installed overhead.  Hand hammered copper bar backsplash, brick veneer accents and the plaster applied to the original brick fireplace really bring home that authentic New Orleans bar decor.

A few extra touches still need to be completed but it is coming together nicely.

Thanks to TJ Gray and Lenny for helping with many of the special details.

You can find another one of our handcrafted cypress bars here.

salvaged cypress beams

What are we gonna do with all these beam ends? My friend Noah Mudge and I rethunkit into a little extra work space in our kitchens. A butcher block of coarse.

The cypress was green and it cracked alot when we brought it in the house. A little character never hurt anybody.



We rubbed in a little pure linseed oil. The top has a velvet like feel and it sucks up oil like a sponge.



The angle cuts are the cut-off side of a long scarf joint.

It is amazing how a little space makes a big difference.

Complete kitchen makeover

Next we removed the floor in the kitchen. Under linoleum there was particle board nailed to the original white oak floors. Evidently, a fridge or two had defrosted after power outages leaving a black spot about 4' in diameter. Despite the cosmetic damage the floor was still in fairly good shape structurally. A quick sand and a couple coats of water based polyurethane brought the old floors to life with beautiful patina. The cabinets are happy with a quick coat of paint and a thorough cleaning for the moment, but the old hood vent must go. Again in an effort to brighten things up we decided on drywall and plaster opposite our windows, but this time Momma J painted on coffee instead of using mineral pigments. The effect was truly astonishing! The brushing action revealed the mica in our mix giving our plaster a shiny texture. Plaster soaks up oils readily so we wanted something a little more durable surrounding the stove. Donated tin from Mr. Noah Mudge and a cypress frame fit the bill perfectly.

opening up our small house

One of the first things we did to our little house was open up the wall between the kitchen and living space turning it into a demi wall with a bar on top. We lightened up the walls opposite our windows with ivory lime plaster, and reinforced the load bearing wall using 200 year old cypress donated by our dear friend Guillaume Alis. He even came to help me install our little piece of Louisiana history. The plaster dies into the timber with a large thumbnail that crooks around the extending headers. My wife and I are doing most of the work ourselves with a little help from our friends when need be.

king post with through tenon

A collaboration of work from Joshua Morvant of Revival Timberworks and TJ Gray of Southern Living Solutions.