What to Know About Reclaimed Wood

It might not take long when driving around in the country until you find an old barn, fence, old gym bleachers, wine casks, or even an old house that was built out of beautiful wood panels.

While you might not want to salvage the wood yourself, you can recognize the beauty of the texture, the various shades of red, brown, and even blue, and you want that look in your home! The great part about reclaiming old wood is repurposing it to create barn wood furniture, including cabinets, tables, benches, wine racks, a paneled wall, floors, chairs, and the list goes on!

What is Reclaimed Wood?

Many typical furniture manufacturers create pieces from wood that came from a forest and was properly treated in order to be durable and last for years in your home. The other side of the industry is when wood has been taken and transformed into something new. Therefore, in order to qualify as reclaimed wood, it must have served a prior purpose to becoming the new barn wood furniture set or bookshelf in your home.

Even though it might seem simple to stop by the side of the road and grab a few 2x4s, creating a beautiful and fashionable piece of furniture is a bit more complicated than that. Oftentimes, the old pieces of wood have been warped by weather or time and need to be refinished in order to become something usable in the home.

Where Does Reclaimed Wood Come From?

Companies who sell the wood or create pieces of barn wood furniture first have to find a source of wood. They often look to government agencies, historical societies, or other contractors who may have access to reclaimed wood. When they have found a potential source, they must inspect it to ensure it is quality wood. There is the possibility that the wood contains lead paint or other preserving chemicals. This may make the wood great for an outdoor project, they should probably not be used on the interior of your home.

Once the wood has been deemed suitable for home use, the deconstruction process takes place. This can also be a tedious process to ensure that the wood is removed without causing any damage. A final inspection of the wood will take place after deconstruction that will ensure any nails or metal have been removed.

Is Barn Wood Furniture Valuable?

If you’re shopping around for reclaimed wood furniture, the price tag may be a bit surprising. This is mostly due to the difficulty in finding, recovering, and finishing the wood; however, there are many benefits to using this material in your home.

• Sustainability: Unlike your typical furniture that is made from a tree plantation whose purpose is to mass produce furniture, barn wood furniture is created by using wood that came from a structure that is no longer needed or in use. By choosing to use reclaimed wood, you are foregoing using wood that came directly from a forest, which is an unsustainable method of attaining wood.
  
  
• Strength: Wood that was sourced from a tree plantation is processed in order to endure heavy use. However, wood that has been used in old buildings has spent it’s life air drying, giving it added strength, stability, and durability that new wood won’t have.
  
  
• Character: Even though some furniture makers are highly experienced at getting an old wood look with freshly cut wood, a majority of our readers might be able to recognize the difference. With barn wood, there is a distinct character that the wood has gained throughout it’s lifetime. The texture, grain patterns, and natural wooden patina that develops gives a unique appeal to the pieces you use in your home.
  
  
• Size: If you need tall panels of wood to finish a feature wall in your home, you might want to look for reclaimed wood. In the past, construction projects used wood directly from the tallest trees. Today, there are laws and regulations that prohibit wood from being harvested from old growth trees.

At Roughing It In Style, we want to give your home a beautiful look and feel that can only come from reclaimed wood. The barn wood furniture that we create is built with craftsmanship that will ensure you can use the piece for years to come. If you’re shopping for cabinets, kitchen countertops, tables, or anything else for your home, get in touch with a designer in your area.