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 really evolved over the past 10 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 trend-setters 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

In 2001, log furniture, particularly 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.

Handcrafted rustic log beds

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

The use of free-form live-edge in black walnut slabs, maple burls, redwood burls, curly redwood, and quilted maple 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.

natural redwood burl rustic dining table. This burl table is crafted from a live edge redwood root slab

Burl 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 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 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 wants to be in.

Root bases serve as the foundation for stump pedestal vanities, dining tables, and accent tables. Root bases can even ‘stand alone’ as a focal point or as a base for that special piece of art that one wants to showcase. 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 root base. Simply a classic rustic dining table

About a year ago, we began incorporating contemporary metal design into our 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.

Contemporary rustic tables 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 complletes the simple elegance of this natural wood table.

When it comes to cabinetry in a rustic home, customers are realizing that they do not have to settle for traditional designs. Custom rustic cabinetry can incorporate live-edge 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.

handcrafted custom recovered barn wood cabinets

So… to wrap up…. rustic furniture truly has evolved over the past 10 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!

This rustic table crafted out of a curly redwood slab sits on the base of a western cedar root. The simple natural beauty of nature's organic beauty in natural wood furniture. Simple rustic elegance.

The simplicity of organic, natural being one with nature is at the basic roots of life. It is all around us in the spring morning air, the crisp dew filled mornings nature is alive. Our love afar with nature has evolved for the outdoors to the indoors, in natural wood furniture. The simple raw beauty of a live edge rustic table crafted from a recovered redwood tree, black walnut tree. The use of these unique woods cut into 2′ to 4″ slabs natural wood furniture is born. The treasure is found in the roots of these trees with there twist and turns burl and curl patterns thus creating natural burl furniture. In the hands of a master craftsman the raw slabs and burls mold into unique burl furniture that will create rustic elegance in any home decor.

Kelly will show how to:

• Select the right trees in the woods
• Take off the bark and prep the wood
• Cut appropriately sized parts
• Cut mortise and tenon joints
• Assemble a headboard and footboard
• Construct and attach side rails
• Choose an appropriate finish

Come by and say hello.

Event: Log and Timber Home Show
Date: February 24 – 25, 2011

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 rustic table, rustic bed, rustic lamp will bring nature into your home. Rustic table 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 rustic table designed and crafted from redwood burl slab.

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 barnwood.

Rustic log furniture meets burl furniture birthing this unique rustic bed. The stability of red cedar logs and the warmth of redwood burl meets natural wood furniture comes to life in this rustic bed. This rustic bed is a king size bed the price is $5000 the headboard is 75" high. We will be happy also design a queen to meet your needs

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 sole. Rustic log furniture captures natures beauty in rustic table and rustic beds. Simply bring nature into your home.

Natural wood furniture is the cover for many styles of furniture. Burl furniture is one of these styles. What is a burl and where does it come from? Burl wood is a type of fast-growing, abnormal growth found on some trees. Burl wood grows because the tree has experienced some sort of environmental stressor damage.  This is often caused by either a fungal attack or an attack by insects. Many of these burls are hidden in the root system.

This burl wood is highly desired by wood artist around the world.  Burl wood such as big leaf maple burl, Cherry burl, black walnut burl, old growth redwood burl are some of these highly desired burls. These artist use these burls in wood turning , handcrafted rustic tables, rustic beds, rustic chairs. The natural hidden beauty comes out giving life to the hidden secrets of nature. That is art of burl furniture.

Kelly Maxwell