Tree Transformation

I'll just get this out of the way: Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted.  We have actually moved into our house and the process of getting settled has been all-consuming.  Projects are still being completed, boxes are still being unpacked, and we are slowly getting things put together.  So I have a TON to share here but I will have to do it a bit at a time. 

Today I want to share a project that has been in the works for many, many months.  Nine months to be exact. 

And NO, I am NOT pregnant.

Prior to building our master suite addition there was a sun porch at the back of the house.  And beside the sun porch was a set of concrete steps and a huge black walnut tree covered in ivy.  All of that had to be removed in order to build the addition.

In the photo above, the sun porch had already been removed.  You can see the concrete wall that supported one side of it and a pile of wood debris on the driveway.  But we are going to focus on the tree.  That big tree you see in the middle of the photo is the star today. 

As you can see, it was big, had lots of dead looking branches, and was completely covered in ivy.  We couldn't see the actual trunk of the tree because of all of that ivy.

We felt a little bit bad about cutting this tree down, but it was necessary in order to build our bedroom.  And while the tree was very much alive, it was also not in the best shape thanks to the thick ivy that was slowly strangling it.

During this entire project, Cory and I tried to either reuse things, give them away, or sell them to be used again.  We filled countless dumpsters with plaster and crap from demo phase, but we really wanted to save anything that still had value.  This tree definitely had value.

So the first thing that had to be done was obviously cutting down the tree.

We didn't tackle this project ourselves since it's a big tree at the top of a hill.  We are not that brave.

But the guys who did it were able to cut the tree so it fell along the side of the driveway.  Perfect.  And after a short time all the ivy leaves died and fell off so we could really see the tree underneath.

It's amazing how ivy can take over a tree!  It is thick and stuck so tightly to the tree that there is no chance of prying it off.

But underneath all that ivy was a gorgeous black walnut tree.  Simply gorgeous.

Eventually, the tree was moved to our front yard where it laid in the grass for a long time.  It was cut down in April and I don't think it left our property for at least two months.  Then my awesome brother-in-law Jason came with his farm truck and a cattle trailer and hauled it away.

This could be where the story of the tree ends.  It gets hauled away to rot in the woods or gets chopped up for firewood . . . thus ending the life of the tree.

But Cory and I had another plan.  A plan to reuse the tree and make it something really cool and useful.

So we asked Jason to take it to a cabinet maker who has a huge kiln for drying big pieces of wood.  This man, Luke, cut the tree into planks and put it in his kiln where it spent about five months drying.  When it was dry we had three twelve foot long planks of wood. 

Our vision for this tree was to turn it into a solid dining room table.  The table we had been using since getting married fifteen years ago was my great-grandparents' table and it was in sad shape.  It needed to be replaced, and what better way to replace it than with a table made from a tree right on our property?

Cory and I each visited Luke's workshop to discuss the plan for the table and what we wanted it to look like.  While a twelve foot table sounds awesome, it would have been far too big for our dining room.  So we had it cut down to eight feet.  The remaining pieces of wood will be made into a sideboard.

After going over all the details with Luke, he finished the table top and then had an iron worker create the legs and skirt of the table.  And it all came out perfectly.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you our family dining room table, made from a Chambersburg native black walnut tree:

The top is two inches thick.  Luke is a master and filled in all the cracks, grooves, and seams with a clear resin so it looks like a solid piece of wood.  We opted not to stain it and instead had a clear poly put on to bring out the natural richness of the wood.

The legs and skirt are a dark metal.  The combination of the wood and metal makes for a very heavy table indeed.

Cory and I couldn't be happier with how this project turned out.  We are so happy that the tree that had to be cut down was given new life in our home.  This table isn't just a piece of furniture we bought at a store. It has a story, a history, a life.  It is the perfect modern-industrial look we love, too. 

Our hope is that we share countless meals together on this table and make memories with our children.  And one day, we hope our kids fight over who inherits this piece.  We think it will serve our family well for a very, very long time.