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Live edge fireplace mantel – What are the wood options

May 31, 2015 by K.Maxwell 6 Comments

A live edge fireplace mantel provides a unique alternative to the typical cut-and-polished style of mantels. While typical mantels are smooth, flat, and may have elegant designs. A rustic mantel maintains the natural live edge wood. Imagine a flat log on top and back for objects to rest on an even surface, also known as live-edge or natural edge. Rustic mantels are perfect for log homes, country decor, beach themes, and almost any home decor. There are several popular rustic mantel wood types and styles to choose from. They also complement our live edge furniture handmade from salvaged live edge wood native to the Pacific Northwest.

Rustic mantel — Reclaimed wood slab mantel cut from a salvaged old-growth redwood harvested from the forest floor. It also is an organic live edge wood slab.

Live edge fireplace mantel

The juniper log fireplace mantels, made from natural twisted juniper logs. While mostly bone-colored or tan-colored, they also have darker knots and twists throughout the log. Their live edges complement any fireplace style and make them stand out in a room. A flat top and narrow-length, twisted juniper mantels are perfect for use over a fireplace with a contrasting color or wood style. The unique twist, knots, and color tone make stunning log mantels. Each unique log mantel is one of a kind and is available in many sizes.

Driftwood Mantels

Driftwood fireplace mantels, made from salvaged driftwood harvested in the Pacific Northwest. They are available in many shapes and sizes, all unique and one of a kind. Reclaimed driftwood mantels come with some slight curves. Their live edges make them attention-grabbing fireplace focal points for any room. Since they usually have dark or reddish colors, these mantels coordinate well with fireplaces with contrasting colors or fireplaces with a type of wood in a lighter shade.

Live edge wood

In addition to reclaimed driftwood mantels, several types of reclaimed wood make excellent rustic fireplace mantels. The reclaimed redwood burl has a light but attractive reddish tone. Another equally attractive appearance is redwood curl. However, it is a rare curly redwood fireplace mantel that can coordinate with nearly any fireplace style and decor in a room. A knotty redwood fireplace mantel is perfect for a country theme with any style of fireplace. A reclaimed hand-hewn beam is another attractive mantel option. It is also a great choice for people who want to keep a country theme but prefer a piece of wood with a darker brown color without a reddish tone.

custom rustic fireplace mantel

When buying a rustic fireplace mantel, think about the desired wood type, color tone, burl wood, curl, and knots to fit your individual style and home decorating preferences. For high-quality rustic fireplace mantels in a variety of styles, woods types, and sizes, visit Littlebranch Farm studio and choose from our large selection of fireplace mantels made of twisted juniper logs, reclaimed driftwood, eastern red cedar, salvaged redwood burl, barn wood, and reclaimed hand-hewn beams.

Rustic Furniture Design: The Creative Process | Littlebranch Farm

January 22, 2015 by K.Maxwell Leave a Comment

Rustic furniture design

Rustic furniture design stems from a menage of design style. Wikipedia: “Rustic furniture is furniture employing sticks, twigs or logs for a natural look. The term “rustic” is derived from National Park Service rustic style of architecture. Many companies, artists, and craftspeople make rustic furniture in a variety of styles and with a variety of historical and contemporary influences.” The rustic furniture style can find its roots in the late 1800’s. It was mainly built with simple unrefined local materials. This was basic functional no glitter furniture.

Live Edge Burl wood coffee table — Buckeye burl rustic coffee table. Seemingly floating in the air is simply supported by 3 forged metal legs,

Custom wood furniture

In the modern world of custom wood furniture design, the basic definition is being stretched! “Custom furniture design is considered a specialist area of industrial design. However, the specific ergonomic knowledge that a furniture designer must apply and the specialized construction methods and pre-manufactured components that undergo constant change in the industry make this a large area of specialization…[furniture designers] are concerned with those aspects of furniture that relate to human usage and behavior, product appeal and fashion.” —www.dia.org.au

Rustic desk — Rustic office desk in redwood burl with two cabinets.

Rustic furniture design process

Designing custom rustic furniture is what we do. We’ve chosen to specialize in natural live edge wood slab “rustic furniture” style. At Littlebranch Farm we have chosen to sustainably source our materials, predominantly comprised of organic materials that have had a prior use and won’t end up in a landfill. It has been said that boundaries breed creativity, and specialization creates superior products. This may be true but we believe boundaries are meant to be stretched. We are committed to finding the boundaries and stretching the outer limits. Our wood furniture is made for human interaction. The natural beauty of the live edge wood slabs, root and logs that we use, combined with expertly designed functionality is the signature of our handcrafted custom rustic furniture. Whether it is a live edge wood slab rustic dining table or a custom rustic vanity or rustic office desk.

Come visit the Littlebranch Farm Studio in Nashville Tennesse, call us on the phone or email us. We’ve started the conversation, and we’re extending the invitation. Let’s talk about custom, quality crafted rustic furniture.

Rustic office Desk with Redwood Burl Top and Redwood Root Base | Littlebranch Farm — Rustic desk with redwood burl top and redwood root base.

Live Edge burl wood bed — Live edge redwood wood slabbed.

Reclaimed and Salvaged Wood: Responsibly Sourcing Materials

December 17, 2014 by K.Maxwell 2 Comments

Reclaimed and Salvaged Wood

Here at Littlebranch Farm, our reclaimed wood furniture is crafted using lumber that is cut into live edge wood slabs, used in our natural wood countertops and rustic dining tables, and root and stump bases, used in our rustic vanities, are all reclaimed and salvaged wood. This wood has seen some initial use prior to becoming rustic furniture. Much of this wood has been lying around since before the 1960’s. Some of the wood that we use originated as dead and fallen trees and now have a second life as rustic furniture. We’ve worked hard to responsibly source the wood that we use in crafting our custom rustic furniture.

Responsibly sourcing wood slabs

What does that mean, responsibly sourcing? The ICC defines responsible sourcing as “a voluntary commitment by companies to take into account social and environmental considerations when managing their relationships with suppliers.” We like to think of responsible sourcing as caring about the community that we live in and caring about the consequences of our actions inside of that community.

Ethically sourced root bases salvaged from the forest floor.

Sourcing reclaimed wood

Even though this is obviously not sustainable, many companies in the United States source their materials in this fashion. We do not do this. We have chosen to only use wood that is native to the United States, thereby putting our actions toward building & developing the responsible wood market on our home turf. Can a company care for the community in which it exists, be environmentally responsible, and be successful? We think it can. We see business as a function of the community, as an opportunity for cooperation that can positively affect everyone.

Reclaimed wood furniture

Littlebranch Farm loves working with reclaimed and salvaged wood and being the leading source of rustic furniture in Nashville, TN. Why do we work with live edge wood in our custom reclaimed wood furniture? In addition to the value of community responsibility and environmental consciousness. Salvaged and reclaimed wood is the best material to work with and the best material for achieving our aesthetic goals. The unique qualities of this material are unlike anything else. Each finished piece of rustic furniture is designed and handcrafted with the purpose of celebrating the amazingly unique qualities different in every tree slab, log, root, or stump. We recycle wood from the forest floor and transform it into dining tables, rustic fireplace mantels, rustic vanities, and natural wood countertops for your home.

Salvaged wood

Reclaimed wood furniture. This custom built-in custom entertainment center. Mid-century decor or rustic modern decor.

Forest data in the United States shows that “About 30 percent of the 2.3 billion acres of land area (745 million acres) in the U.S. is forest today as compared to about one-half in 1630 (1.0 billion acres). 300 million acres of forest land have been converted to other uses since 1630. Predominantly because of agricultural uses in the East. The forest resources of the U.S. have continued to improve in general condition and quality. Measured by increased average size and volume of trees. This trend has been evident since the 1960s and before. The total forestland acreage has remained stable since 1900.”

Littlebranch Farm Studio Tour Nashville, TN

November 26, 2014 by K.Maxwell Leave a Comment

Littlebranch Farm Studio Tour, Nashville, TN, and the adventure begin at the showroom entrance. You’re now in live edge furniture heaven. Immediately to your left is an eight-foot rustic dining table made out of walnut with a metal industrial base with rustic dining room chairs, both standing atop a beautiful American Dakota area rug. Turn to your right, and you’ll see a large sectional sofa, a rustic piece from King Hickory’s upholstered furniture.

Littlebranch Farm Studio Tour Nashville, TN

We’ve chosen to carry premium home decor lines such as King Hickory upholstered furniture and American Dakota rugs. Thus, giving you simply the best southwestern and rustic home decor choices. If you look up, you’ll see rustic lighting (chandeliers) made from mule deer antler, fallow antler, elk antler, and some made from metal, barn wood, and rawhide. As you explore the room, you’ll find everything from rustic vanities to rustic beds. Go all the way to the left, and you’ll find a room with our copper sinks, copper farm sinks, and copper bathtubs. Rustic fireplace mantels display next to one of our two rustic office desks. Make sure to look at our natural wood coffee tables scattered about the room.

Custom burl wood furniture

Rustic bathroom vanity — Simple eastern cedar logs are used in crafting this rustic vanity that is complete with a redwood burl wood mirror. The river stone wall and rustic lighting frame the rustic log vanity. Burl wood furniture

Custom Rustic Furniture

After you’re finished looking around the showroom, ask for a tour of our expensive woodshop. This is where we handcraft our rustic live edge furniture. Check out some of the projects going into production. There are huge stacks of tree slabs, primarily of the redwood, walnut, and maple species to your left. There’s a large amount of twisted juniper ranging in size from a few feet to logs that are l4′ long to the left of the live edge wood slabs. You’ll find the metal racks at the far end of the shop where we store the rustic root and stump bases for our rustic tables and rustic desks—Littlebranch Farm’s custom furniture maker handcraft high-quality rustic furniture. Littlebranch Farm Studio Tour, Nashville, TN, can be seen in real-time at 901 2nd ave south.

Burl wood furniture — Rustic style natural wood coffee table features a salvaged lace burl wood slab supported forged metal legs—floating table. Unique burl wood furniture This live edge table is sold, please contact us about our live edge and rustic furniture.

Live edge wood Furniture

March 9, 2014 by K.Maxwell 5 Comments

Live edge wood Furniture

In the coming weeks, Littlebranch Farm live edge wood furniture will make a major move. Not only will we be moving to our new location in Nashville, TN. In June 2014, we will also open a beautiful new gallery. Where clients and customers can visit to see our beautiful custom rustic furniture and our entire operations.

slab wood countertops — Natural wood countertops with warm natural live edge wood and deep complex burl wood grain patterns. Our custom furniture makers also design and craft live edge wood furniture.

Nashville is an ideal location for Littlebranch Farm, as many of our customers visit Nashville, TN. Our studio/gallery is located in the SoBro district and just a few blocks from lower Broadway and the Honky Tonks. Allowing our customers to take advantage of the many attractions that this great city offers. Also known as “Music City,” Nashville is home to songwriters and musicians worldwide. A plethora of music venues and concerts every day provides options for music lovers. Rolling Stone gave Nashville the title of “Best Music Scene.”

Live edge dining table — While this rustic dining table is functional, it is also historic. This wood slab was cut from a salvaged sinker log cut in the late 1800s.

Live edge slabs

Great places to visit in Nashville include:

1) The Country Music Hall of Fame

2) The Grand Ole Opry

3) The Hermitage, Home of Andrew Jackson

4) The Parthenon

5) Ryman Auditorium

6) ‘Bars or Broadway.

Nashville’s food scene is unparalleled, with major endorsements from Food and Wine and Food Arts Magazine. Bon Appétit Magazine labeled Nashville as the “coolest, tastiest city in the south.” Nashville’s art and culture scene included the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville Children’s Theater, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum, and Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

Handcrafted rustic bed built with old-growth redwood live edge wood slabs. These live edge wood slabs are milled from redwood root salvaged from the forest floor.

Over the next 6-8 weeks, we will renovate our new site and gradually moving our equipment and live edge wood to the new location. Our new site will enable us to store and catalog hundreds of beautiful wood slabs, root bases, and logs in our adjoining warehouse/studio. Clients will be able to work closely with our custom furniture maker in their live-edge wood furniture design process. Our showroom will also showcase examples of our work, including rustic dining tables, rustic bathroom vanities, natural wood countertops, twisted juniper furniture, and rustic fireplace mantels. We also build rustic beds using live edge burl wood and juniper log beds. We will also carry lines of rugs by Amerian Dakota, lampshades, Antler furniture and lighting, copperware, and decorative wood slab art.

An Evolution of Rustic Log Furniture

May 6, 2012 by K.Maxwell 4 Comments

Custom rustic log furniture is the original style of custom wood furniture by custom furniture maker Kelly Maxwell. He also teaches how to build a log bed.

Custom rustic log furniture

Hi, everyone! I’m Cathy…. Kelly’s wife. ‘Incredibly busy’ is an understatement for Kelly these days, so I thought that I would take over management of the Littlebranch blog with a goal of posting at least once a week. Rustic furniture has evolved over the past ten years. At Littlebranch Farm, we take pride in our commitment to not only staying on top of rustic furniture interest-trends but also to being trendsetters for innovative and creative rustic original pieces.

natural wood desk crafted around the natural live edge redwood burl slabs. This artistic redwood burl desk features redwood burl slabs and redwood root base. This rustic desk is in Oklahoma City, Ok

Custom wood furniture

In 2001, log furniture, mainly rustic log beds, was very popular. We would take four or five log beds to various shows, and we would sell out. Rustic cedar log beds, from simple to wild, were favorites. Interest in log-based, stump pedestal vanities exploded as customers wanted a beautiful ‘attention-getter’ for the home. Other log-based items, including rustic dining tables, rustic accent tables, and twisted juniper lamps were also top-sellers.

Rustic log furniture — Handcrafted rustic log beds

Over time, interest in log furniture as the focus opened the door to more innovative designs, including free-form live edge wood, burl wood slabs, root bases, contemporary metal design, and custom rustic furniture.

Burl wood furniture

The use of free-form live-edge in black walnut slabs, maple burls, redwood burl, curly redwood, and quilted maple burl has attracted buyers. The beauty of these pieces lies in the free-form edge itself, as well as the gorgeous grains of the wood species. A single accent piece can truly be the focal point in any room, bringing warmth to any setting.

Burl wood slabs are leading items these days for an array of furniture, including rustic desks, dining room tables, coffee tables, accent tables, and natural wood countertops. Our customers are often awe-struck when they see a wood slab for the first time and realize the charm that it brings to the home. We’ve also seen greater interest in the incorporation of the live edge slab into the work/office setting. A desk or conference table built from live edge redwood or black walnut creates an atmosphere that anyone enjoys.

Natural wood furniture

Root bases can even ‘stand alone’ as a focal point or as a base for that unique piece of art that one wants to showcase. Our root bases come primarily from western cedar and redwood. The character of the wood displays grain patterns that are simply gorgeous and the growth patterns bring intricacies that only nature can display.

Contemporary rustic table features a straight grain redwood slab on a twisted burl wood root base. Simply a classic rustic dining table

About a year ago, we began incorporating contemporary metal design into our custom wood furniture. From a 12-foot solid slab black walnut wine-tasting table to metal base bar stools, we’ve seen a clear interest in a sleeker and more modern look while retaining the beauty and warmth of natural wood. A recent job was for an office desk with a marbled black walnut live edge top for a college professor.

Natural wood rustic log furniture

rustic dining tables — Contemporary rustic table crafted from large slab black walnut. The featured table was custom designed and crafted for a wine tasting room in Tunica, MS and is 12′ 5″ long and over 5″ wide. The metal base completes the simple elegance of this natural wood table.

When it comes to cabinetry in a rustic home, customers realize that they do not have to settle for traditional designs. Custom rustic cabinetry can incorporate live-edge wood doors, mesh-panels, hand-forged hardware, live-edge countertops, and blending of two or more wood species. Favorite woods include recovered barn wood, knotty hickory, knotty alder, cedar, old-growth redwood, black walnut, cherry, and maple.

distressed rustic barnwood cabinets — Handcrafted custom recovered barn wood cabinets

Rustic wood furniture

So… to wrap up…. rustic furniture truly has evolved over the past ten years. We look forward to the future as we stay on the cutting-edge of rustic furniture design. More so, we look forward to continuing to build custom, one-of-a-kind items that bring joy and satisfaction to our customers!

Natures Rustic Furniture

February 6, 2011 by K.Maxwell 3 Comments

Natures Rustic Furniture

When we think of nature’s rustic furniture, Daniel Boone’s and his log cabin comes to mind. The basic of logs being crafted with hand tools to make simple rustic dining tables and Rustic beds. With this mindset, we believe that rustic log furniture is only for log cabin decor, but the world is changing. Nature’s natural distress and raw organic beauty have come to life in rustic furniture.

Rustic furniture can be found in modern decor to rustic decor. This meshing of styles brings the free-form style of natural wood furniture with its live edge and its natural organic beauty and the straight lines and clean edges of modern furniture. Simply adding a live edge wood rustic dining table, rustic beds, rustic lamps will bring nature into your home. Rustic dining tables can be crafted from many species of wood such as redwood burl slabs, maple burl slabs, black walnut slabs. These slabs cut from 2″ to 4″ leaving the natural live edge. Combined with many styles of bases such as redwood root base, metal bases, sculpted iron bases, simple slab base.

live edge wood table — Live edge rustic dining tables designed and crafted from reclaimed burl wood slabs.

There is nothing like sleeping in a rustic bed crafted by nature itself. The natural warmth and beauty of a simple log bed to the artsy look of a rustic bed crafted from raw logs and burl wood slabs. To the rugged beauty of recovered barn wood.

Nature is alive and well, its natural beauty that comes from the stress of daily life that become the beauty of the eye and frees the soul. Custom rustic furniture captures natural beauty on a rustic table and rustic beds. Simply bring nature into your home. Handcrafted rustic furniture by furniture maker Kelly Maxwell.

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Live edge fireplace mantel – What are the wood options