Wood Barn

I became interested in working with wood for several reasons. One of them is that I can’t find what I’m looking for online or in the shops. That frustration motivated me and drove me to create these Hall Light covers for example. I wanted raw, simple, textured lights with character. Not old, not faux antique but modern and contemporary. The process involved the idea, planning, measurements of scale to look proportionate to the room, and some patience. Every step represented a steep learning curve for me.

They’re constructed very simply out of sawn oak boards but look amazing in the space.

I found a sawmill not far from our new house and made an appointment to go and see them. I took my friend with me who knows way more than I do about all things wood.

Just visiting the store was exciting for me. The smell of fresh wood, the vast array of timber available in this huge barn was thrilling and awe inspiring. I learned how the mill only dealt in local timber that had either fallen or he’d milled as part of managed woodlands. We asked about Oak and he even told me where the tree had come from for the boards he showed. They were perfect for me and exactly what I’d imagined. Roughly sawn, imperfections including water marks all added to the charm and character I wanted. We paid for the number of boards we needed and drove them home. We were delighted that the widths and thickness were perfect at 140mm x 20mm.

Firstly, we cut the lengths to size. Next, we joined them simply with small wood blocks blocks on the inside to screw into. Finally, we added little metal L brackets at the top to fix them to the wall. An hour or so later, we had 8 beautiful wall light covers to place over the existing fitments of up/down lighters already fitted in the walls.

The beauty of this first project is that we got lights that we really wanted, couldn’t find anywhere else and cost just £60 in total for all 8 lights. Compare that to nearest thing I could find online. They were far from what we wanted and priced at £80 per light. We’d saved £580 (in my head)! A great first win!!