We started Two Birds Furniture out of necessity, because we were broke, newly wed and full of ambition to create something special out of nothing. It has been 7 years since we began this journey and we couldn’t have done it with out help and the inspiration we found in these other companies. In saying that we want to dedicate this blog to some of the people we have followed the past 7 years of whom we are grateful for who inspire us daily to be better and push us outside out boundaries. With each social media post, blog, vlog or YouTube update we follow along and are grateful to be able to watch and learn from what we consider are the best in the business. All of these companies and founders share a similar passion in using reclaimed wood to create works of art within their client’s homes and we want to share with you, our readers who we believe deserves recognition.
Porter Barnwood – Phoenix, Arizona
We had the pleasure of meeting the founders of Porter Barnwood, Porter Ironworks and now Our Block Co. last year and they took an entire morning out of their day to show us around and give us the complete tour of their facility. It was an amazing day for us and we are forever thankful for their hospitality and genuine love of what they do! Please if our ever in Phoenix go down and check out their place and see first hand the sheer joy they have in creating meaningful pieces to last a life time. Here’s an excerpt from their website that shows just how passionate they are about reclaimed woodworking and wood working in general:
“ My goal with Porter Barn Wood is to grow as a family business and continue to see these old barns, antiques, and various lumber products become an exciting new way to bring the warmth of wood and nostalgia into homes and businesses. Over the next few years I intend to add products, services, and facilities to Porter Barn Wood that will help us continue to bring high-quality at reasonable prices. I also intend to continue loving it as much as I do now.
If you are in the business of building things with barn wood or are just an enthusiast who loves to work with their hands, we would always enjoy talking with you. Feel free to call, email, text, facebook… whatever. We enjoy hearing from you, receiving pictures of your projects, and seeing what creative things people are doing. If there’s anything we can do to help you, please ask. Thanks for visiting PorterBarnWood.com and we hope to see you again soon! ( https://porterbarnwood.com/about-us/)
Good Wood Nashville – Nashville, Tennessee
We have been following along with Good Wood for as long as we can remember and are always amazed by their team and what they are able to create with reclaimed wood. What drew us to following Good Wood was their story of starting in a garage and working up to having a store front and a facility in which to show case their creations to the world. Its an absolute delight to follow along with their stories and social media posts from up here in Canada and we are envious of the materials they are able to get and use
“I began selling wood out of my garage, and soon my clients asked me to build furniture for them. Then clients asked me to install wood walls for them.
We figured it out as we went, but we enjoyed the process.
Now we are a dedicated team of people who are committed to our craft, committed to learning, committed to heirloom quality work, and committed to our client’s satisfaction” (https://goodwoodnashville.com/about)
Now we have not had the chance to meet the team down in Nashville but it is on our list to visit the next time we are in Tennessee and we are incredible excited to go to their facility and check out all the amazing projects they have on the go and drool over the amazing species of wood they are able to reclaim.
Sons of Sawdust– Athens, Georgia
The story behind Sons of Sawdust is one of straight determination and strength and it has been our greatest honor to watch their business grow and we are still enamored by their amazing dance moves!
Here’s a little history from their website:
“ The Hobbs brothers started Sons of Sawdust after a series of unfortunate events that lead them to desperation and brokenness. In 2011 Matt and his wife, Shayna, lost their once successful photography business during the recession. In early 2014 Ben was working in construction and had a knee injury which left him unemployed and broke.
“In our deepest, darkest moments financially, there were thoughts of suicide,” Matt says. “There were thoughts that we could never rise out of this. I definitely had thoughts of ending my life—the utter despair I felt when we were going through all that.”
Shortly after Ben’s knee injury, he recalls, “I got really depressed, because that was my only source of income. And Matt, being the good brother he is, sits down with me and says, ‘How can we make some money for you? You don’t have to despair, there is a solution out there.’”
Matt had recently built Shayna (his wife) a homemade farm table as a gift. While building the table, Matt had the idea that Ben could build tables and sell the tables on Craigslist to make money until he could get back to his construction job. Matt shared this idea with Ben while sitting on his back porch just feet away from the freshly built farm table. This idea was the catalyst of the Hobbs brothers venture into woodworking as a profession.
Within a few days Ben got a call from a guy who was tearing down an old house and wanted to get rid of the wood, so the brothers jumped on what looked like a good opportunity. ”We just put two and two together and got the load of reclaimed wood, built a table or two, put them on Craigslist and orders just started flying in. It didn’t really start slowing down, so we figured we were on to something,” Matt says. And thus, Sons of Sawdust was born.” (http://sonsofsawdust.com/story/)
Urban Timber – Edmonton, Alberta
We met Darren from Urban Timber almost 6 years ago when we first started up Two Birds Furniture. Since then we have been following them on social media and have had the chance to meet a few of the other vital members of the Urban Timber team and we just can’t say enough good things about them.
Family owned and operated and a Western Canadian success story its pleasure to see all the great pieces, projects and designs they are able to create though hard work and collaboration. Here is a snippet from their website about their team.
“Urban Timber was built on passion and drive and a love for wood. We are a family owned and operated small business in Western Canada and we still believe that a handshake is as good as a written contract.” https://www.urbantimber.ca/new-page-2
In final, we just want to thank these people who are behind these great businesses for their daily inspiration and to keep on doing what they do!
Thank you!
Cheers
The Two Birds Furniture Team