Greetings! At PrairieBench.com we make benches and so much more…
We find wood with history and design furniture with a story.
Moon Tables
24-BL-10-11 & 25-BL-10-11
Can’t just make one. These little Moon side tables constantly get the comment, “Aah, cute”. People want to adopt them. They are made from reclaimed spruce and fir, so the tone and grain of the legs and tops vary with each table, giving them individual personality. Each table creates it’s own little world with two levels for display or serving. They are very sturdy with a unique support through a low center of gravity. Around 16″ tall, they can double as extra seats.
Many of our fun ideas start with lumber ends that want to be useful.
They are called Moon Tables because they are ideal for watching the full moon in the garden. These two had a little moonlight bath before oiling. Each were made under the good ol’ willow tree that has a propensity for wishes.
Outdoor Bistro Counter with Shelf
The Bistro Counter is designed with a ‘live edge’ cut top, shelf, and legs, as well as two sculpted stools for intimate outdoor patio entertaining. The style could work as a breakfast nook. It’s designed in reclaimed spruce and fir with a coat of oil based polyurethane for a water seal and easy maintenance. It’s a fun, in a woodland style, and the chairs fit under the table in a compact eye-pleasing arrangement. All left over wood eventually gets used up!
The table is set at 36″ high (a traditional dining table is around 27″) with a width of 21″ and length of 42″. Design number: 50-BL-12-11, stools are 51, 52.
Cottage Kitchen Counter
A kitchen cabinet we did for a rustic country cottage with some onsite pine stock. The entire assembly can be detached from the wall using six screws. Finished in butcher block and poly surrounding the sink. Sink is top mounted, siliconed, and strapped. Tile is sandstone and mixed pencil tile. The counter frame is spruce with laminated pine and spruce on the top. Doors are pine and spruce framed, finished in polyurethane. Handles are natural pieces of mountain ash. Total cost of materials including taps, $150. The stool was a fun extra because we were designing chairs for another project: spruce, a dark stain mix on the legs, finished in poly and topped with a waterproof satin finish.
First Day of School
Spring is when school starts around Prairie Bench. We live on an ecological reserve, so May is a very busy month. Not only are we rushing to get all of our seedlings in the ground, we are also mindful of school crossings… like the old footbridge, the meadow entrance, and the forest trails.
The bears actually arrive first and move into the forest trails and the deer follow about ten minutes later. In the afternoon, they return in the same order. All the animals are very respectful and share the meadow together. The momma bear is teaching her cub to avoid us humans, and we encourage the distance so the cub grows up safe with no human interaction. The deer, however, are more curious and know us very well, often watching us work in the gardens. Sometimes the deer will leave the young fawns with us like we are on-call babysitters. They run around and try to get us to play hide and seek. Once, one of our designers took the bait and followed three young deer down a trail. They hopped over an object and stood behind it, teasing the human. The object they jumped over was a sleeping bear. Very funny, but no chance the human was going to follow.
So much to learn… like the fact dandelions tickle the nose.
Old Wicker Fence
Deep in a thicket of Western Spirea and blackberry bushes we found an old wicker fence made of spirea. Local birds feed off the millet sized seeds of the spirea and the berries in the brambles. The thicket provides a good nesting ground and the brambles offer security. The fence was likely created to protect a garden from deer on three sides and the brambles protected the other.
The spirea twigs are pliable and dry into sturdy sticks. They are easily woven when cut fresh. We’ll preserve the site and leave it as we found it. We did find some oregano, mint, and a few wild potatoes.
