In 2021, we heard that the “Barnwood Builders”, a popular DIY television show, had come to our area to assemble two salvaged timber barn frames. How exciting! I’ve watched that show for years and love their retrieval of antique barns. They filmed the episode and stated that the use for these two barns will be a wedding venue, a chapel and a cottage.

When they came, a friend of ours contacted the owners telling them that we could build furniture and that they might consider using us for their project goals. We never heard from them and just assumed they had their own builders.

Late last year I built two benches out of some antique headboards and placed them for sale on our local swap shop.

Very quickly, someone responded letting us know they wanted to buy the benches. When a lady arrived to purchase them, she mentioned she may use them for her wedding venue. I asked if she was the one using Barnwood Builders! She said she was and we talked about her project. She then asked us if we could build her some benches for the chapel. I told her that our friend had mentioned her and we laughed at the serendipitous meeting that day.

So, she sent us pictures of the type of bench she wanted us to build. After working on a design, we all agreed on the plan.

We built her 20 benches. We used “coral board” from our local home store. This is a weather treated wood that has wonderful saw kerfs and a beautiful grain. We sanded the wood tops and finished them with an all weather exterior gray stain. Our goal was to make them look as much like weathered wood as possible.

She was very pleased with the outcome!