The Barn Wood

This unique Horse Barn Hutch was made from native New England white pine from a beautiful New England barn, circa 1820.  It was one of those outrageous barns that connected to the house so the farmer never had to go outside to feed his animals. This wood tells the tale of the farmers who fed and cared for the livestock, and of the lively horses who made their marks which created this exceptional and charming new Horse Barn Hutch.

 

The Horse Barn Hutch is a perfect example of Staples Cabinet Makers’ furniture art design that is reflective of the Japanese philosophy ‘wabi sabi’ which celebrates the beauty of things imperfect, simple and natural.

On one side of the barn there was a series of stalls where the livestock was kept and fed.  The front of the stalls had a trough filled with grain and hay for the horses, which were filled from a trap door shoot in the ceiling above.  The hay and grain were kept in the shoot above to keep it clean and dry.  Between the trough and the animals were vertical boards with a space through which the animals could eat.  On these boards, remnants of grain, which usually contained molasses coated the outside, making them appetizing to the horses; thus, fair game to nibble.  These nibbled boards were used in making this Horse Barn Hutch.

 

This sculptured furniture art becomes a functional, dramatic focal point in any setting. The interesting design truly entertains the eyes!  The client requested that the bottom section be made deep enough and tall enough to accommodate books of a particular size.

 

What isn’t there

We asked a proud owner of one of our tables what she liked the most about her table, after thinking for a moment she responded, “I think I like most what isn’t there.”  What she meant by this is she loved the very worn out hole in the table top where a knot dropped out many years ago and some of the ends of the boards had pieces missing.  In building this Horse Barn Hutch Stephen Staples lined all the boards in a row from the stalls, as we normally do when building a table, and looked for sequential boards and ‘concentric defects’.  Once the boards could be viewed, we took what “wasn’t there” (the parts that had been chewed away by the horses) and used it to design the hutch.

 

 

It’s in there

Very often Staples sees the finished piece in the pile of random material.  According to Staples, “The Horse Barn Hutch just jumped out at me.”  Two of the tallest boards had very similar chewed profiles lending themselves with their shapely profile to the sides of the hutch. The ring and hole in the doors were there and again, they had spent the last 100 years or so preparing for this day when they would become the door to this hutch.

 

The heavy marked section where the horse back-kicked the boards aligned perfectly as if the horse itself spent years preparing this wood for this day. Again the hand hole at the top of the door was in perfect alignment.  The top cornice molding was used in the stall to brace the boards around the trough.  The oversized nails used as well as the amount of the material available were just right.

 

It’s the flawed perfection in this Horse Barn Hutch that elevates Stephen Staples’ furniture art to the profound beauty of Wabi Sabi.

 

The measurements are 78” high x 58” wide x 22” deep.

 

This piece is priced at $4500.