Favorite Projects of 2019 / January 9, 2020 by Kathy Hochstetler

slidingbarndoor — Favorite Projects
of 2019

The year was full of many projects. We find great joy in creating the custom furniture that you dream up. Here are a few of our favorite projects of 2019. Each one is unique, just like each of you.

olivetreetrunkbartable — Olive Tree Trunk Pub Table

This table right here….it’s a show stopper! In the planning stages of the custom project project, the customer stated that they want this piece to be a statement, something different from the rest of the furniture in their home. John showed them the olive tree trunk as an option. This became the natural choice. You see, they fell in love with the ancient olive trees that they saw on their recent trip to Israel.

When it was time to design the table, John knew that the table top had to be simple. The tree trunk had to speak for itself. Glass was the best solution and the table top supports were kept very minimal.

This dining table project was fun. The walnut slabs used to create the book match table have a family connection for the customer. They saved the wood from a tree that was cut down on their grandparent’s property. John worked with them to design a table base that best fit their modern style.

Let’s take this moment to talk about something. We are constantly asked if we can use some wood that has been stored in a barn for 50 years or a tree that was just cut down. There is a process that wood has to go through to make it suitable for furniture. It must be air dried for a period of time and then dried in a kiln. This process can take up to a year, year and a half. Even if wood has been air dried for 50 years, it still needs to be kiln dried to make sure the moisture content is right on the interior of the wood.

While their new home was being built, the homeowner new they had to have a large statement dining table to fill this dining space. They fell in love with a dining table that was on display in the studio but needed to have it customized. This is what John came up with for them, altering the original design to accommodate the 9 foot by 6 foot table top. Wow. This is, definitely, one of the largest dining tables that we have created.

IMG_3105 (1).jpg — Custom Walnut
Dresser

This was a challenging, yet fun project for John. This dresser project all started when the customer provided inspiration photos. They could not find this style of dresser with the type of wood they wanted so they contacted us. I love the combination of the steel base with rich walnut wood tone and the modern, clean lines.

This piece was shipped off to California, along with a bed frame with drawers for much needed storage. You heard that right, it went to California. We work with a local company that provides home delivery all across the US. Keep that in mind if you have are in need of custom furniture. Getting the furniture to your home is no problem.

Thank you for supporting us. I’m looking forward to the projects that 2020 will bring our way.

Cheers,

~Kathy

Change is all around us / August 2, 2019 by Kathy Hochstetler

Summer is flying by…it seems like we just celebrated our 5 year anniversary and that was a month ago. I hope you plan on soaking up each moment of summer that we have left, John and I are planning on it.

We are constantly creating and adding new creations to the studio. Here is a glance at what we’ve been up to lately.

Do you know what this flea market find was before we got our hands on it? A warehouse cart. Most of the warehouse carts we find end up becoming a coffee table but I had a different vision for this one. You see, it had those “ladder” sides on it when we found it and that gave me an idea…to transform it into a tv stand. That seemed too permanent so John helped me come up with a better solution. He created adjustable shelves out of locally salvaged chippy barn wood. This way it can be whatever your heart may desire: tv stand, bookshelf, kitchen storage, and the list goes on. When we put our heads together, you never know what will happen.

How cozy is this space? John used one of our reclaimed barn beams as a mantel for this makeshift fireplace. We went round and round with ideas for this space and this is what we came up with. The wall under the mantel was painted with chalkboard paint. Each brick was then chalked in to create the brick pattern. A little time consuming but I love the result.

We have a stock of barn beams to choose from to create a mantel just for your space and if we don’t have what your looking for, we’ll do our best to find it.

Are you a fan of sliding barn doors? This one features local barn wood with a special finish to show all the character. We love to use vintage track and hinges to finish off the look. Why would you want to use mass produced hardware when you can use vintage patina hardware like this? The amazing thing is that this door slides easily on the vintage track.

We would love to help you come up with a custom door design to fit your space and style. And of course, if you want to use reproduction hardware, we have a source for that.

Well, there you have it…a little glimpse into what’s new at Studio 4. Thanks for following along!

Much love,

~Kathy