I’ve been working with reclaimed cedar for several years now, it was how I entered the world of woodworking. I’ve been constantly trying to find ways of using the material. It seems such a waste to discard it. Until now one of my favorite projects was my shop workbench. I think the barn doors and feature wall I recently installed may now be my favorite.
The first one I built was a large door that spanned a six foot opening. The design was a little different than what you see on most barn doors. This door was made from smaller cedar stock, regarding width, and the contrasting colors really made the design stand out.
The second project was a barn door and a feature wall. This was a more rustic theme and used reclaimed cedar for the material as well. The boards for the wall were prepared using a variety of different methods including shou sugi ban, a method of preserving wood my charring it. I wasn’t trying to preserve these boards, but the color it give s to the reclaimed cedar is amazing. It looks like a different species of wood. If you take the time to select boards with a lot of cathedral grain pattern the results are even more pronounced. With the combined methods you get a feature wall that has different colors. The results can be seen below:
There are a variety of styles of barn doors and feature walls. If you are interested in having one built or purchasing the material for a DIY project feel free to contact me.