Houzz TV: Cool Reclaimed Wood Projects Fill a Craftsman’s Home
Using barn wood, beadboard and beams, this homeowner has crafted furnishings and features for his family’s Chicago home
Mitchell Parker
December 31, 2016
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
Raun Meyn comes from a long line of craftsmen. His grandfather was an architect and a cabinetmaker; his father was a welder and gearhead who restored old cars. “I was always right there next to my dad grabbing tools,” Meyn says. His dad would also hoard old sheet metal and rusty angle iron behind their garage for a project that might come along. Meyn picked up the habit, but instead of steel, he scrounges, collects and traffics in reclaimed wood. Lots of it.
The Chicago home he shares with his wife, Morgan Lord, and their daughter is filled with the results of his tinkering — custom framed art, a console made from Douglas fir, a feature wall covered in old siding, a birch and beadboard bunk bed and more. In his eyes, the older and grittier the wood, the better. “I’m drawn to decay, and the wear and tear of stuff,” Meyn says. “A building halfway falling down covered in graffiti is beautiful to me.”
The Chicago home he shares with his wife, Morgan Lord, and their daughter is filled with the results of his tinkering — custom framed art, a console made from Douglas fir, a feature wall covered in old siding, a birch and beadboard bunk bed and more. In his eyes, the older and grittier the wood, the better. “I’m drawn to decay, and the wear and tear of stuff,” Meyn says. “A building halfway falling down covered in graffiti is beautiful to me.”
Watch now: Take a video tour of Meyn’s wood-filled home
Houzz at a Glance
Location: Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago
Who lives here: Raun Meyn, a custom framer and woodworker; Morgan Lord, a journalist, an actor and an improvisationalist; and their daughter
Size: 1,000 square feet (92.9 square meters); two bedrooms, one bathroom
Meyn’s Chicago wood shop, housed in an artists’ incubator space called Bridgeport Art Center, is filled with old barn wood, beadboard and hundred-year-old structural beams. He uses the material to make custom frames for art and mirrors, as well as custom furniture and feature walls for local homes and restaurants.
The home was a typical 1990s remodel with run-of-the-mill cabinetry and basic finishes. He and Lord thought about moving, but with the market value of homes in the Logan Square community increasing as new coffee shops and restaurants popped up around them, they decided to stay put and make it their home.
Meyn made many of the furnishings in the living room. He framed the mirrors on the wall in mosaic scrap pieces of old trim, floorboard and molding. The mirrors hang over a record console that he built from reclaimed Douglas fir; it sits on rusted cast iron legs from an old stove. On top of the console sit vintage Appalachian clay whiskey jugs.
For the coffee table, he added a wood panel from the inside of an old door to an old metal pedestal topped with glass.
The couple’s dog, Huckleberry, named for Huckleberry Finn, sits on a chair the couple found at an antiques mall in Aurora, Illinois.
Houzz at a Glance
Location: Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago
Who lives here: Raun Meyn, a custom framer and woodworker; Morgan Lord, a journalist, an actor and an improvisationalist; and their daughter
Size: 1,000 square feet (92.9 square meters); two bedrooms, one bathroom
Meyn’s Chicago wood shop, housed in an artists’ incubator space called Bridgeport Art Center, is filled with old barn wood, beadboard and hundred-year-old structural beams. He uses the material to make custom frames for art and mirrors, as well as custom furniture and feature walls for local homes and restaurants.
The home was a typical 1990s remodel with run-of-the-mill cabinetry and basic finishes. He and Lord thought about moving, but with the market value of homes in the Logan Square community increasing as new coffee shops and restaurants popped up around them, they decided to stay put and make it their home.
Meyn made many of the furnishings in the living room. He framed the mirrors on the wall in mosaic scrap pieces of old trim, floorboard and molding. The mirrors hang over a record console that he built from reclaimed Douglas fir; it sits on rusted cast iron legs from an old stove. On top of the console sit vintage Appalachian clay whiskey jugs.
For the coffee table, he added a wood panel from the inside of an old door to an old metal pedestal topped with glass.
The couple’s dog, Huckleberry, named for Huckleberry Finn, sits on a chair the couple found at an antiques mall in Aurora, Illinois.
For the side table next to the multicolored chair, Meyn cut an old telephone pole to size, then sanded and sealed it. Below the window sits an antique milking stool from North Carolina covered in paint and milk. “It’s very old and rickety and perfect,” Meyn says.
He added bluish-gray pine siding panels from an old house to the window frames. The porcelain pull-chain sconces are from the 1920s. The blue chair to the right is one of Meyn’s favorite pieces of furniture. He and Lord found it at a local thrift store.
He added bluish-gray pine siding panels from an old house to the window frames. The porcelain pull-chain sconces are from the 1920s. The blue chair to the right is one of Meyn’s favorite pieces of furniture. He and Lord found it at a local thrift store.
Meyn and Lord sit in the living room with their daughter and their cat, Al. “I’m drawn to stuff with history and a backstory,” Lord says. “Now I have that in my home.”
Watch now: See the family in their Chicago home
Watch now: See the family in their Chicago home
Above the electric fireplace hangs a large 5-by-5 beam that once was a porch support for an old house. It shows layers of five or six colors of paint added to it over decades.
On the far left of the mantel sits a family heirloom sculpture depicting a hollowed-out tree trunk that Meyn’s father made from a piece of iron. The artwork is a paint-by-numbers piece on felt that Meyn bought at Woolly Mammoth and framed in redwood from an old Chicago water tower.
To the right is an old set of Russian nesting dolls with most of the paint and lacquer peeled off. “It’s the perfect combo of dilapidation and bright color,” Meyn says. Al the cat, who has 11 claws, loves to knock them over.
On the far left of the mantel sits a family heirloom sculpture depicting a hollowed-out tree trunk that Meyn’s father made from a piece of iron. The artwork is a paint-by-numbers piece on felt that Meyn bought at Woolly Mammoth and framed in redwood from an old Chicago water tower.
To the right is an old set of Russian nesting dolls with most of the paint and lacquer peeled off. “It’s the perfect combo of dilapidation and bright color,” Meyn says. Al the cat, who has 11 claws, loves to knock them over.
Meyn fashioned the dining table from an old workbench that someone used while fixing up an old motorcycle. He trimmed the legs to get it down to table height and added a piece of blue trim. He then cleaned, sanded and sealed it in Polycrylic. “I could make something that looks like it with old wood, but it’s cool that it was actually used,” he says.
The lamp is a miniature potbelly cast iron stove the couple had in a retail store they once operated. It sat in their store for two years. “It was meant to be in our home,” he says. “The stuff we loved in our shop stuck around for some reason and eventually came home with us.”
The lighter grayish-blue pieces on the reclaimed-wood feature wall came from the same house siding as the window panels, and are mixed with sun-bleached pieces from an old barn. When creating a feature wall, Meyn often draws on his studies for his degree in graphic design to play with the layout, color and symmetry.
He says he never glues boards to walls, preferring thin finishing nails. Since his reclaimed-wood boards don’t come from a manufacturer, but rather from old homes and barns, Meyn removes all the nails himself, then runs them through a planer before squaring them with a jigsaw.
The chairs are vintage school chairs.
The lamp is a miniature potbelly cast iron stove the couple had in a retail store they once operated. It sat in their store for two years. “It was meant to be in our home,” he says. “The stuff we loved in our shop stuck around for some reason and eventually came home with us.”
The lighter grayish-blue pieces on the reclaimed-wood feature wall came from the same house siding as the window panels, and are mixed with sun-bleached pieces from an old barn. When creating a feature wall, Meyn often draws on his studies for his degree in graphic design to play with the layout, color and symmetry.
He says he never glues boards to walls, preferring thin finishing nails. Since his reclaimed-wood boards don’t come from a manufacturer, but rather from old homes and barns, Meyn removes all the nails himself, then runs them through a planer before squaring them with a jigsaw.
The chairs are vintage school chairs.
Meyn built the record stand seen here from old-growth Douglas fir, leaving its unstained natural chocolatey-brown color. The unit, which holds the couple’s extensive collection of classic rock, punk, dub, country and psychedelic rock records, serves as a separator between the kitchen area and the front entryway.
The wooden head on the shelf is an old milliner’s form from a 1920s or ’30s Chicago hat shop.
Watch now: See more on how Meyn creates wood furniture
The wooden head on the shelf is an old milliner’s form from a 1920s or ’30s Chicago hat shop.
Watch now: See more on how Meyn creates wood furniture
Meyn framed a large hallway mirror in wood from an old door he had lying around. He and Lord call this their dog wall, because the boxes that Meyn built hold little dog-themed trinkets and sculptures.
You can see a snippet of the kitchen to the left of the mirror. The couple is in the process of replacing the cabinets. Lord’s mother gave them the butcher block island. It was cracked and splitting, and the legs weren’t attached, but Meyn brought it back to life in his wood shop.
You can see a snippet of the kitchen to the left of the mirror. The couple is in the process of replacing the cabinets. Lord’s mother gave them the butcher block island. It was cracked and splitting, and the legs weren’t attached, but Meyn brought it back to life in his wood shop.
What Meyn calls a feather board hangs above the couple’s bed. He made it by piecing together panels taken from the interiors of old doors.
Feather pillow: Target
Feather pillow: Target
A bunk bed built by Meyn from reclaimed birch and blue beadboard has turned another bedroom into a guest room, an office for Lord and a nursery. Meyn custom-made the frames for the art pieces. The desk is an old drafting table; the chair is a bent-plywood model given to Meyn by a friend.
Meyn custom-built this changing table to fit the space between the bed and wall. The piece can transition into a dresser later on.
Here’s Meyn in his Chicago workshop. “I have always been into building and making stuff, and have had a fondness for old junk,” he says.
Watch now: Take a tour of this wood-filled home | Get tips from Meyn on selecting and working with reclaimed wood
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Watch now: Take a tour of this wood-filled home | Get tips from Meyn on selecting and working with reclaimed wood
Browse more homes by style: Apartments | Barn Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Floating Homes | Guesthouses | Homes Around the World | Lofts | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Small Homes | Townhouses | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | Vacation Homes
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Any advice on how to fill the knots and/or finish the wood? Would like to retain the matte natural look, while making maintenance easier.
Thanks!
Pat H.