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  • 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


Rustic Bleacher Table

  • By design
  • •
  • 20 Jun, 2019
Rustic bleacher table and matching benches.
Our rustic farm table, decorated in our booth at Pointe D'Vine.

This year at Inspired By The Farm, we’ve been busy getting into the spirit of reusing, renewing, and reliving with our custom furniture pieces. We’re particularly excited to share this project with you because the story behind it brings us close to home. This rustic dinner table was refurbished using only materials either found or purchased second-hand. More importantly, it was constructed using recycled lumber from the bleachers in Dick’s hometown of Sigourney, IA. Follow us through the process and see what makes this table so special!

The white base of the table was actually a found object: a plain wooden table we got from Dick’s father when the Masonic Lodge in Sigourney was being remodeled. It would’ve been discarded if we hadn’t taken it, but once we had it in our possession, it sat in the corner of our shop for three or four years. We weren’t exactly sure what to do with it yet, and as time went on, it became sort of a permanent fixture.

The bleacher wood had a similar story. We hauled it home from Sigourney, too, and while it also had some great nostalgic value, we didn’t know what to do with it, either. But we knew it needed to be something special. So it sat in the shop for a while, too, waiting for inspiration to strike us. Finally, after years of sitting on these great supplies, we put two and two together and decided to make a nice hefty table out of them.

Douglas fir table top.

When we pulled the old white table out, it was in pretty rough shape. The table top was not even close to salvageable, and it looked like the table base had once had drawers in it that were now covered up. The bleacher wood was strong, top-grade Douglas fir, the sort of high-quality material designed to withstand harsh weather and aggressive sports fans. This wood was from an old tree with a tight grain, which meant it was heavy, sturdy, and perfect for our tabletop.

Once the tabletop was planed, sanded, stained, and mounted, we still had a good amount of wood left over but no seating for our not-so-little table. What better use for bleacher wood than benches? We constructed a pair of matching benches to go with the table, and even made new drawers from scratch using old scrap oak we had in the shop. This was truly an upcycle project if we’ve ever done one.
Bleacher wood table and benches in workshop.
While the construction of the table and benches themselves weren’t particularly difficult, the wood posed a few challenges. They were covered in several thick layers of paint, which had to be melted with a heat gun and scraped off. Of course, when we did that, metals from the paint embedded into the wood, and we ruined a good few planer blades trying to plane over this now metal-encrusted lumber. Was it worth it? Absolutely.

We’re happy to say that our nostalgic little piece has a new home at Pointe D’Vine in Quincy, IL.

Bleacher table and benches on display in booth.

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.

Custom Outdoor Kitchen Station

By design • 20 Jun, 2019
Another custom piece from the folks at Inspired By The Farm.

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.

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