Handmade

When I look around our house, I realize that so many pieces of furniture we own were made by my parents.  My father was a retired engineer who became a gentleman farmer and woodworker, and my mother was his ever present faithful sidekick who painted and finished many of the beautiful pieces that he built.

The two of them were quite a team, traveling all over buying wood, and there really wasn't anything they couldn't make together.  We would find a picture of something we loved but couldn't afford and they would make it for us.  A handy thing to have when you're a newly married couple with no spare change for fine furniture.

For the first 10 years of our marriage we never had a real bed.  We had a frame and a mattress and box springs.  Not because we didn't care about having a bed, but because picky me could never find something that I liked or if I did, we couldn't afford the high price tag.  I wanted solid wood, preferably natural cherry and a tall 4 poster, but not a tester or a rice carved bed, and I wanted it to be tall enough to need steps to get into it!  See what I mean about being picky?!

So finally I just made up my own design and gave it to my mother and father.  I said I wanted a heart shaped headboard and lots of turning on the posts.  I also wanted it to have some "weight" to it, but didn't want it to be too massive and imposing!

So, almost 14 years ago this is what he built for us and my mother then helped him finish it.  After my father built it, my mom applied a Briwax finish to it which gives it a subtle sheen.  The cherry wood doesn't have any stain on it, but it's aged beautifully over the years and I love the patina it has developed.  They also made the cherry tavern table that I use as a night stand on my side of the bed.

Ignore the poorly dressed bed, like me it's not perfect, but at least it's made right?! :-)

And in this picture you can barely make out the matching cherry steps my parents built for the bed.  And what's that big hunk of cardboard under our beautiful bed you ask?!  Well that was from the days when I obsessed over our new wood floors and the fact that our Border Collie loves to scramble underneath during every thunderstorm.  You can read about my floor obsession HERE!

Every night when we climb in to our solidly built bed, we are reminded of the love and labor that went in to its making.  And even though my parents are no longer with me.  I can walk around my house and see little pieces of them everywhere in the special things they made for us.


To see other great furniture pieces be sure to head over to Miss Mustard Seed's  for Furniture Feature Friday!