Well, why not more Old Hickory? I found two chairs and a table on Craigslist for a reasonable price. They were in Larkspur about an hour away, but it was a lovely day and I enjoyed the drive. I think they were “finds” that were resold and not used by the owner. But I will use them! I may end up recovering them someday–although cow hide patterned material is a nice touch.
Chair and table
Although authentic Old Hickory, the scale of these chairs is a bit larger than the obviously older ones at the table. Not a huge problem though.
Arm chair at dining table
I probably am running out of room to add more Old Hickory furniture. But I can use the side table in the bedroom with the handcrafted bed that I bought this summer but still have to move out here. The bed was made by our Spencer, Indiana neighbors, brothers Lewis and Steve Fender. They have created a park like shelter at their lake with log furniture in it, several beautiful carvings, turnings like bowls and ladles, pine cone sculptures, and all types of wood furniture.
Queen sized Log Bed with Dave and Lewis
The center log section is what inspired the bed. It is a special maple grain that is rarely seen. So Lewis and Steve chose several types of wood from their Indiana forest to create the headboard: black walnut, ironwood, poplar, oak, hickory and probably a few more. The footboard is covered in poplar bark, the arch is oak and the posts are sassafras. The bolts holding the rails are hidden under iron leaves cut out and shaped by hand.
Log Headboard
The rear of the headboard shows how the log sections were glued together with small wood tongues.
Headboard Construction
I fell in love with the bed when they first made it but they had an offer for $2500 that I could not imagine paying. I found out later that offer fell through and I was reluctant to offer much less. But it turned out that they donated the bed to the Owen County Historical Society as a fund raiser and to get it out of their workshop to make way for other projects. As a donation to the Society I offered $500 and they accepted!
Moved to Spencer House
Boy was this thing heavy and getting it to our house was quite a feat. Thank goodness Lewis helped us and we used his truck. We will have to drive our truck out or the RV with a trailer to get it home but I’ve done that before, right?
I’m thrilled to add this to our home and my friends are glad we are going to use their creation in our master bedroom. It is unique and beautiful–truly a work of art! This is a carving they made about the same time of an almost life sized cowgirl. I think the fish and steer on the walls are theirs too. Very talented guys.
Cow Girl Statue