With the holidays upon us, we’re glad to have the kitchen at our primary home in Hingham back in working order.
It was out of commission because we gutted it recently to improve the flow of the room and to lighten the color. We also wanted to take advantage of the sunny southern exposure in order to highlight beautiful wood I’ve milled over the years, some of which we knew we wanted to use in this redesign.
We have a fair amount of land on the property and back in 2011, we cleared a number of cherry trees to make way for other projects – but we weren’t going to waste any of it.
The first big cherry trunk found its way into a rig called the Wood Mizer, which turns logs into dimensional wood, as you’ll see it did here:
Over the years, I’ve kept active with all manner of activities, playing hockey and walking our terrific – and boundlessly energetic – Australian Shepherd chief among them lately. With no shortage of woodland clearing to do on our property, simple wood cutting with an axe has for years been a way I’ve enjoyed unplugging and staying fit.
Often, I cut into a log with a sense of wonder and surprise. What is the color going to be? How about the grain pattern? Will it be highly figured? Having a permanent element inside the house that is such a warm reminder of the backyard it came from brings a surprisingly warm and fulfilled emotion each morning when I see it.
The most critical part of ending up with the result we were looking for was finding a craftsman skilled enough to make the rough-cut planks while preserving the eye-popping grain.
Luckily, I found one. My top craftsman on the job was Nabil Ayoub. A cabinet maker in his native land, he now sculps his magic with wood in my area for homeowners in our area who are looking for something special.
I am very pleased with the results. Mission accomplished on all objectives! For a guy who loves to cook, four months without a functional kitchen was painful but in the end, worth it.
These beams are probably easy for our friends and other visitors to overlook, and that’s okay. There’s an internal satisfaction in knowing this addition to our home was the product of much planning, labor, skill and time.
Still, as much as we’re enjoying the new kitchen setup, it exists for a higher purpose: helping us play host to those we love throughout the year.
Take the time to enjoy the little things about your home, family, friends and love ones. Have a wonderful holiday season; we will see you again in 2025!
