Willow & Twig

This story of found treasure starts back in 2012, when we bought our first house for $79,000. Yes, that’s seventy-nine-thousand United States dollars (the only perk of the recession). But, then again it looked like it should sell for $79k. When I took my comfort-prone grandma to see it, she cried, and not the happy kind. Money was tight but we were so excited and ready to DIY anything from plumbing and electric to flooring and furniture. That slanted, paint-soaked historic house was the renovation we cut our teeth on.

In 2013 we brought baby Emerson home from the hospital. It snowed all weekend, the roads were terrible and we were mostly stuck indoors. Somehow, Simeon had noticed the construction on the beautiful old church around the corner had begun. A developer was turning the nearly 100-year-old beauty into apartments, and these hand-carved panels just happened to be peeking out of the dumpster. Immediately we had a case of “one man’s trash is another‘s treasure”.

I remember Simeon walking into the house cold but bright eyed with excitement. We LOVED finds like these: old, beautiful and free. Since I was essentially out-of-commission (re: our infant child), Simeon single handedly hauled the three solid wood panels out of the dumpster and carried/pushed/pulled them three snow-covered blocks to our house.

That’s where the story seemed to stall, until last weekend. The panels have moved with us five times over the past seven years, and they are perhaps the only thing we’ve brought with us all five moves. In May, as we were moving our family yet again, Simeon declared it was the last move for the old wooden relics. His ultimatum? Time to use them or get rid of them. So Sunday afternoon, he disappears to the garage only to re-emerge with this:

Up to this point the project had cost $0, as we had everything needed (wood for reinforcement, screws, paint, etc.). Today we bought a $200 slab of butcher block from Menards (before the $11 rebate 😉 and Simeon cut it to size. Ready for this?? Really. Are you ready for this??

I mean… the original craftsmanship! Ahhhggg, it’s making my eyes ache with appreciation! As for the inside of the island facing the stove, we plan to add two more Ikea cabinet bases paired with the semihandmade fronts and frame them to sit perfectly inside the box frame. The timeline is TBD on this stage two, as I’m still relishing the 24 hour turnaround on the island exterior. Lesson learned? Wait seven years and you’ll have no choice but to move fast.