Locally Sourced Black Oak Trees for a Laguna Beach Home

I talk a lot about hand selecting the lumber for everything we make, custom mixing of the dyes and finishes I use, texturing and carving and painting art glass, and hand forging the hardware for my projects. In this project we took it one step further.

I know someone in Julian, California, (in the local mountains) who has a large property with very large old black oak trees. Many have died because of a blight that is affecting California and Oregon. I drove to the property and selected about ten black oaks that had died for cutting down and milling into lumber. After getting the lumber back to my shop I air dried it for almost four years.

Back to the job in Laguna Beach. The client is a woman who was building her dream home in a country-traditional style who also has a home in the Colorado mountains. She was very excited to see what I could design and build for her, and so I started on rough sketches and then a final full-scale drawing right away, which she approved.

We made everything out of the black oak from Julian, hand forged the hardware including a large pocket door track, cast the texture in the glass, finished and then installed everything.

I am very happy to say this was a beginning-to-end project, using locally sourced wood, without cutting any live trees.

Locally Sourced Black Oak Trees for a Laguna Beach Home

Julian, California: Bathroom and Night Stands