Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Field Day at Vintage Lumber in Gay, Georgia


On March 21st, Willis Everett of Vintage Lumber Sales opened his campus to a group of designers, architects and builders to show them how they acquire, process and design and build with antique lumber.  There was a captive audience for Jim Flournoy, THE diver for Vintage Lumber, as he shared stories and images from different diving trips in the southeast.  We were given a thorough tour of the mill with demonstrations of all of their machinery from creating moldings for a stair rail to reducing large heart pine beams into actual flooring planks.
Take a look inside Vintage Lumber......

Vintage Lumber is located in Gay, Georgia just over an hour outside of Atlanta.  Willis Everett decided to open this business back in 1982 when he could not find the varieties of wood that he wanted to use to build his own home in Gay.  He began collecting antique wood, and if any of you know Willis, he is a collector.  Next thing you know, he had collected enough to start his own business.

Vintage Lumber's office building is a collector's item itself.  It was the original bank in downtown Gay and the original safe and cashier window are still there.  When you enter the main office building, you are greeted the many old tools and artifacts that Willis has on display.





The door knocker and door hardware above are two of my favorite pieces on the  wall.


In the library Willis has carefully incorporated sculpture, skulls and pieces of pottery in and around his book shelves.


These bowls are turned out of wood from Vintage Lumber by a wood turner outside of Gay.


The main office space of Vintage Lumber is where we met before beginning the tour.  There are examples of molding, millwork, beams and corbels throughout the space all from different wood and with different finishes offered by Vintage.


Millwork sections on the wall and beam sections to the left keep the eye wandering throughout this space.


Jim did a great job explaining his process of bringing cypress trees out of the swamps of Apalachacola.

The first demonstration in the mill was reducing full size heart pine beams into planks of uniform width and thickness to be used for flooring.  These are the beams before running through the machine.



The beam is guided through a "Resaw" machine that is programmed to the exact size for each of the wood planks to be cut.


Once the plank is sliced away from the beam, it is set aside with the other planks and the remainder of the beam is returned for another slice.




This was the result of one of those massive beams.


A lot of the old wood that arrives at Vintage was once another structure such as an old barn or a church.  This means there are a lot of original nails or other metal which held the structure together.  A metal detector helps locate these nails, and other metal, that are then removed, one by one, by hand.


The Vintage Lumber mill is made up of several large warehouses where they store quite an impressive inventory of antique wood as well as some newer wood.


There are many finishes available for wood flooring, some clients prefer a smooth, stained, hardwood floor where others like more character.  This plank below is being sent through a wire brushing machine that will give the plank a rough finish.  There are two wire brushes, depending the desired amount of texture.  





The next portion of the tour is always impressive.  Vintage has over 500 molding profiles. 



Once they have created a molding template for you, it stays on file in this room.


Willis randomly selected one of the profiles to run through the machine so we could see the process.



We saw earlier how a reclaimed beam is repurposed into flooring but what about when Jim brings Willis whole trees recovered from the swamps.  They first have to be kiln dried and inspected for insects.  Once that is done, these trees get transformed into flooring, millwork, you name it.




Jim first sawed off the rough, uneven base of this river recovered cypress tree.





Then they used a machine that sliced uniform planks, similar to the first demonstration we saw.


The result, a colorful, river recovered cypress plank that could be used for flooring, wall panels, or just about anything.


The last demonstration was by Hugh Patrick whose family has been in the wood turning business since 1949.  




Everyone left with a parting gift: blue bird houses made from river recovered cypress.  There were also some hand-made boxes and sections of the molding that was created right before our eyes.


 I think the most important thing to be learned from a visit to Vintage Lumber is the longevity of the business and the employees, despite the recent economic strain that put so many out of business.  Willis has a staff, in the mill and the main office, that averages 12 years of employment.  Once you experience a tour like this you walk away knowing that Willis will be your antique lumber source.










Monday, March 24, 2014

Recently I was @.....


.......The American Craft Council Event



The American Craft Council recently brought their event, "Make Room: Modern Design Meets Craft", to Atlanta.  The event was launched with a panel discussion at ADAC featuring Bill Peace of Peace Design, Chip Cheatham of Chip and Company, and Tish Mills, of Tish Mills Interiors, who each designed a vignette for the American Craft Council show.  Along with several other local designers, they were challenged with incorporating hand made goods from the exhibitors in the show into their design vignette.  This was not a tough task considering the talented artisans who presented their wares. The discussion was moderated by Monica Moses, editor of American Craft Magazine and it was a fun conversation because the three designers are friends and have great chemistry plus they share a great sense of humor. 




Tish Mills



Bill Peace


Chip Cheatham


Moses asked the three designers questions about where they get their inspiration and how they get to know their clients but the most important question Moses asked was, "What role do crafts and hand made goods play in your design process?"  Chip had a very thoughtful response, "When you add handmade pieces to a room you add a sense of history and humanity in the form of art, utensils, and objects. These things reflect the homeowner’s mood and energy, they also create conversation."


Tish and Bill added that a hand made or collected piece can actually drive their design direction.  For instance, getting to know the client by observing their favorite things in their home and what they collect really helps during the design process.  

What comes to mind when you hear the word "craft"?  Glue guns and DIY projects?
While there are some good uses for a glue gun and some pretty good DIY projects out there, some people don't comprehend the meaning of the word craft. Dictionary.com defines the word craft as "an art, a trade, or an occupation requiring a special skill, especially manual skill:  the craft of a mason."

While I was writing this post, my sister just happened to tell me about a woman named Marsha Gold who wrote a book called, Crafting Life:  Travel through my collection, and I liked what she had to say about crafts.  "There are lots of debates about what craft is, but for me, 'craft' involves objects that are made by people, usually by hand, whether to serve functional purposes or as artistic expression—or both. Collecting crafts has provided me a way to get to know, understand, and support diverse craftspeople and the communities in which they are engaged.  The collection also serves as a vital source of memories that I can revisit and use to bring a smile to my face every day".

The following are some of my favorite hand made items that were used in the vignettes designed by Bill, Tish and Chip, as well as a few of the other designers.



This vessel is a piece of pottery designed by Becky and Steve Lloyd that Tish featured in her vignette.


Interior designer, Jackie Naylor used these tea light holders, by Brooks Barrow, in her vignette.


Lori May, of Lori May Interiors, used artwork by Lynn Pollard.  Pollard creates these by dipping, what appeared to be watercolor paper, into different dyes.


Bill Peace used this stool by Donald Shelton.


Lori May also used this chair by Derek Hennigar.



Chip used this sculpture by David Bryce.



Let's return to the panel discussion.  When Moses asked the panel how they turn off their design switch, she got a brief chuckle followed by all three saying, "you don't".  When Tish isn't designing interiors, she is designing pieces for her lighting line, B5b, or designing jewelry with her daughters.  Chip said he has to keep a notebook on his bedside table to write down his ideas when he wakes up in the middle of the night.  I can certainly relate to that.

One last question that Moses asked was, "what is the most fun about being a designer?"  Bill said  what he enjoys most is the sense of collaboration with artisans, builders, architects, and landscape architects; working together on a project, getting to know those people. Chip said his favorite thing is travel.  "When I was in Java, we were walking through this cow pasture and I saw a stump sticking up, I said 'let’s dig it up'.  Six hours later, this 50” diameter, 28” high, gnarly root is now a table for sale in my showroom.  Finding unusual objects in unusual places is fun to me."

I have the luxury of working with many talented craftsmen and artisans every day.  Follow me and see who they are.