Inspired by the Farm logo
  • Our Next Shows:

    Junk Jubilee

    Iowa State Fairgrounds

    Des Moines, IA

    April 26-28


    That Flippin Market 

    Flippin Furniture

    Carthage, IL

    May 4


OUR NEXT SHOWS:

September 22
That Flippin’ Market
Carthage, IL

September 29 & 30
Main Street Vintage Market
Hannibal, MO

October 20 & 21
Fall Pickers Market
New London, MO

Give us a call or send us a message anytime. If you’re interested in a custom piece, have old materials you’re not sure what to do with, or just want to learn a little more about Inspired By The Farm, we’d love to hear from you! 
CONTACT US
  • Our Next Shows:

    Junk Jubilee

    Iowa State Fairgrounds

    Des Moines, IA

    April 26-28


    That Flippin Market 

    Flippin Furniture

    Carthage, IL

    May 4


Custom Outdoor Kitchen Station

  • By design
  • •
  • 20 Jun, 2019
Custom cedar outdoor kitchen sink cabinet.
The old deck becomes part of the new deck.
One of the most rewarding parts of running Inspired By The Farm is designing custom pieces for our friends. While every piece we create is unique, the ones we make for our friends are particularly special to us because we get to see them enjoy it. A pet project for us was a custom outdoor kitchen station designed and built for a cycling friend (“bike buddy”) of ours.
When we first started out with this project, we were asked to build a sink cabinet for our friend’s new deck. He told us he had a water hookup, gave us the dimensions he wanted, and asked that it be ready to go for his daughter’s graduation party. So as we were hauling away the lumber from his old deck, we thought, “Why not use the old wood to make something new?”
Old cedar lumber before restoration.

Now, here’s the thing about this lumber. It had definitely seen better days. It was all cedar, and it was significantly weathered. Significantly weathered. So weathered, there were concerns that the cabinet would be too rustic if we used this old ratty wood. But at Inspired By The Farm, we love a challenge, and this was the definition of a challenge.

Before we started any work on the cabinet itself, we drew up a quick sketch for our friend, who gave us complete trust in making this for him. Then it was time to salvage this old wood. Some of the pieces were hulking 6”x6” behemoths, which we had to cut down and plane to get to the fresher cedar underneath.
Cedar wood after restoration.
Talk about a makeover!

Once all the wood had been cut and restored, we fabricated the frame, each as separate pieces, and assembled them using mortise and tenon joints. This process has been used by woodworkers for centuries and basically boils down to this: the tenon (a square peg built into a board) sticks into the mortise (a square hole cut into a board). That’s it. It’s simple, but it’s strong.

Cedar cabinet frame under construction.
Once the frame came together, we built doors for the bottom of the cabinet and a tip-out trash can door, which was really fun to play with. As you pull the door out, the trashcan tips forward and when you close it, it slides back down, almost like a sleeve. It’s not rocket science, by any means: just one of those simple things that are kind of neat to watch happen over and over again. We then glued the countertop on, put on a cedar backsplash, and installed the undermount sink our friend supplied us. Undermounts are a little different than drop-in sinks and require special fasteners.
Cedar cabinet with trashcan door.
We sanded the whole cabinet, applied four coats of spar urethane to protect it from the elements, and hauled it over to our friend’s house, where he helped us cut holes for the plumbing and hook it up to the water source. “Team work makes the dream work,” as they say.

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful little piece, and was finished just in time for the party (by about two days). We put a lot of love and care into this project, and we’re happy to see it go to such a good home.

Cedar cabinet outside on deck.
In all its crowning glory.

10 Farm Finds for Your Landscaping

By design • 26 Jul, 2020
Get inspired with some outdoor decor ideas for your landscaping straight from the barn.

What Is It About Canning Jars?

By design • 17 Jul, 2020
I'm obsessed with canning jars!

Three Keys to Growing Garlic

By design • 05 Jul, 2020
Learn to grow your own garlic with these three easy steps.

Aunt Fannie’s Pies

By design • 22 Jun, 2020
Aunt Fannie, flour-flying pie baker, and her glazed strawberry pie.

It’s Strawberry Season!

By design • 12 Jun, 2020
There aren't many things better than homemade jam! Find out how to make your own.

Farm to Mountains: IBTF Takes Colorado

By design • 19 Jul, 2019
A trip to the mountains for the ride of a lifetime.

Rustic Bleacher Table

By design • 20 Jun, 2019
A rustic farm table near and dear to our hearts.

Spring Floral Ideas

By design • 27 Feb, 2019
Spring is in the air, and we've got some tips to help you spruce up your home with seasonal florals!

Custom Barn Quilt Chairs

By design • 03 Feb, 2019
At Inspired by the Farm, we love creating custom pieces for our clients. Not only does it give us a chance to exercise our creative muscles, but it also allows us to work directly with our customers to create something unique that we know they’ll love.

Back to the Basics: Farmhouse Style

By design • 20 Sep, 2018

In this, our very first blog, we…admittedly struggled to settle on a topic. We have all these big ideas that we can’t wait to share with you, from gardening tips to recipes to decorating ideas and everything in between. And yet, we couldn’t decide what story we wanted to tell first.

Well, we were getting way too far ahead of ourselves, and we realized that the best place to start is at the beginning. So we’re going all the way back to the first lesson: Farmhouse 101.

What is farmhouse style?

“Farmhouse style” means different things to different people, of course.

For us, true farmhouse style is authentic, original, and straight from the barn. Some of the pieces we get literally come straight from the barn (dust and all), some are made from barnwood, and some we find along the way.

When we think farmhouse, we think:

·      Raw wood

·      Corrugated barn tin

·      Galvanized metal

·      Gingham

·      Burlap

·      Twine

·      Cotton

·      Wheat

·      Warm rustic colors

·      Natural distress

·      History

That’s not to say that manufactured pieces, crisp white everything, and replicas of old farm-inspired items are bad. They’re just a little more modern and urban. Hence the term “modern farmhouse.” Imagine having pristine white furniture and coming in to relax after working the fields outside all day! My grandmother would’ve had a fit trying to keep a modern farmhouse clean.

We just prefer to focus on genuine craftsmanship and unique pieces with unique stories that we can share with you.


I like farmhouse style, but it doesn’t match the rest of my décor. How can I incorporate it into my home?  

Start small! Try dedicating one room or area of the house to the farmhouse look. The laundry room, guestroom, or even home office are great places to start. They’re fairly unassuming spaces that are often overlooked when it comes to decorating. In these rooms, you can take a few more liberties since they don’t necessarily have to match the motif of the rest of your home. That unfinished basement? Deck it out and make it a canning kitchen or a farm-inspired entertainment space.

Outdoor spaces also naturally lend themselves to farmhouse décor. Decorate your landscaping, porch, patio for any season or holiday with staple pieces like milk cans, galvanized buckets, or wagon wheels. Then, mix and match seasonal florals, vegetation, and fabrics to give them a fresh new look!

Do I have to cover my entire house in shiplap?

Only if you feel so inclined.

Share by: