What is “Barnwood”?
The term “Barnwood” is one of the most popular ways rustic furniture is advertised. For many of us it brings to mind a certain weathered aesthetic that has become popular thanks to a few shows on HGTV. In other words its simply a style of furniture. This is emphatically not what we mean by “Barnwood”, so what do we mean?
Let’s begin with a definition. Barnwood furniture is furniture made with reclaimed lumber from old homes and barns, typically around 100 years old. Hence the name “Barnwood”. We prefer hardwoods for our furniture and stay away from old pine flooring and siding. Not that there is anything wrong with pine siding and floors, but in our experience it tends to be far more rough and prone to splintering. Plus, hardwoods are far more durable and are better suited for table tops and bed frames. No one wants to slide there hands across their table hand come back with a handful of splinters.
Example of a piece of furniture advertised as “barnwood”, but is made of particle board.
Beware of Imitations
With reclaimed furniture becoming more and more desirable it is no surprise that many companies have attempted to capitalize on the on the theme by taking shortcuts. There are myriads of companies that advertise their products as “Barnwood”, but are really selling a style, a look, or a color option and not reclaimed wood. If you search hard enough you can usually find the actual materials used in the item on the specifications page. For instance, as I write this I’m looking at a piece of furniture sold by Home Depot that is advertised as Reclaimed Barnwood Farmhouse Barn Door Accent Cabinet. It turns out that “Barnwood” is the color/finish style and the cabinet is actually made of particle board. Just google the name above and see for yourself. This type of marketing is all to common these days and leads people to believe they are getting something reclaimed when in reality it is a cheap veneer.
Others seek to call their products Barnwood because technically the wood that they are using is reclaimed. They’ll make furniture out of pallets or something similar. Again, there isn’t anything wrong with selling or purchasing furniture advertised as reclaimed, even if its not old, so long as you understand what you are paying for.
Our “lookalikes”
We offer two different lines, our Rough Cut Oak collection and Timber Frame collection, that could technically be considered Barnwood lookalikes but we don’t advertise them in that way. We reserve the term “Barnwood” for our items that are truly made from old, reclaimed materials. Both collections have a similar style to our Barnwood collection featuring saw marks, imperfections, and irregularities, but they differ in that the wood is new.
Authentic Barnwood
True Barnwood is one of a kind precisely because of its source. No two homes are identical and this is especially true of homes and barns build 100 years ago. With that in mind we often speak of purchasing items from our Barnwood collection as a gamble. What we mean by this is that unless you buy an item off the floor, you never know what the piece will look like until it is delivered or picked up. Just browse for a few minutes in our Barnwood collection and you’ll understand what we mean. Some pieces are heavy on saw marks and are quite dark, others are relatively smooth with few saw marks and are light, some have nail holes all over, others have chunks missing. The beauty of Barnwood is that you never know what you are going to get, and no one will have a piece that is exactly like yours. All of the variation you see in our Barnwood products is natural. We don’t stain or distress any of our Barnwood items. If that makes you nervous check out our Oak and Timber Frame furniture which yields much more consistent items and comes stained any color.
So What is Barnwood?
To sum it all up, Barnwood describes any item that is made from wood that was sourced from an old structure, such as a home or barn. Barnwood is not a color scheme, a certain style of furniture, or furniture with saw marks and distressing. It’s that simple: Old and repurposed. Don’t believe anyone who tells you otherwise.
