repurposing

If you know me well, you know I haven't fully bought into the idea of being green, but I do appreciate repurposing materials - especially if that material is vintage barnwood.



When our barn was taken down, most of the wood went to a hospital in Nashville, but Greg worked a deal to keep some of the barn-doors.

For a month, they all sat leaning up against the fence for the cows to admire and to irk me as I drove into our property.

We discussed lots of things we could do with the barn-wood and decided to use some of it to make a table for our back porch at the farm house.

Greg traveled to Paducah, which is a 2 hour drive, 3 times in the past 2 weeks to make this table with his 89-year-old grandfather. His grandfather has made almost every piece of furniture in his house (granted that was about 50-60 years ago), so making this table was no problem at all plus it was good bonding time for Greg. Not only did he learn about the engineering of this table, but he got to spend time with his grandfather and do something they are both passionate about.

He also learned about the facts of life as you grow older: more frequent breaks to rest, making decisions based on ease of completion rather than design, more frequent potty breaks (via a can in the corner....ick!), having to yell questions so his grandfather could hear (hopefully that will remind Greg to wear ear-plugs), and small meals.

Whatever the case, he learned so much, got to spend time with his grandparents, and I love that he loves me so much that he would go to the trouble of making something special for me.


I plan to pair this table with these chairs from Pottery Barn. Our back porch will be an entirely different color, so try not to let the red and white porch sway your opinion of these chairs.

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And, on the post below, I added the sources for the gifts I listed. Sorry I didn't include them in the first place. Lesson learned :)