Reclaimed – it’s certainly a buzzword in design right now. Reclaimed wood, reclaimed beams, reclaimed shelves. It’s also the name of a fantastic handcrafted furniture company based out of Crystal Lake, IL.  Reclaimed.

I recently had the pleasure of working with them to design a new table and bench for my kitchen and I am so thrilled with the result, I just have to share it with you.

Reclaimed sells many ready-made pieces: tables, shelves, desks, beds – you name it – but if you have something very specific in mind, they can do a custom piece for you as well.

I, of course, had something very specific in mind.  You see, our kitchen/breakfast room is definitely the largest area of our house. The dining room, not so much.  It is a tight squeeze to get 10 people in our dining room.  Really, this is fine because we don’t have sit down dinners for more than 10 all that often but it occurred to me that we actually have the space to do a large square table, one that could seat 12-14 people right in our kitchen area.  I don’t need it to be that big all the time, but it would be so ideal to have a regular table that could expand with a leaf width-wise, into a square, instead of length-wise into a longer rectangle. Plus, as with most families these days – dining and parties have become a lot more casual with more kids, etc. – and I’d rather have everyone in the kitchen/family room area. It really is the heart of the home and my favorite part of the house.

Anyway, as hard as I searched, I wasn’t finding this type of table anywhere. I had been following Reclaimed on Facebook and in early September they posted about it being their final week to get custom orders in for Thanksgiving delivery. They were scheduling both in-person and phone appointments so I decided to sign up for a phone appointment since I couldn’t squeeze a trip up to Crystal Lake into my schedule that week.

The appointment went great. I was able to describe exactly what I wanted, go over measurements and then agree to send in inspiration photos of the look I was going for.  Here are some of the things I sent them.

My rough conceptual idea:

Design styles I liked:

After talking it through, we realized that in order to pull apart the table in the middle, we couldn’t have the base or legs in the middle of the table. Hmmm. Plan B. These were the next images I sent:

Perfect – this style would work and I decided I really liked the clean lines and simplicty of this style, especially with the bench paired with it.  So many different styles of chairs could work with it too if I wanted to change things up down the road. (My husband cringes when I say that! Ha.)

So we signed off on everything and it went into production.  I would select the stain color as it got closer to completion.

One day when I was at one of my favorite stores (610 Home in Geneva) I saw this table with these cool metal rivets along the side.

I snapped a couple pics and sent them along to my friends at Reclaimed. “Can we add something like this to my table and bench?” Done.

I also like the look of the metal cap along the edge but decided the crevice between it and the wood would become a catchall for crumbs and food and I would become obsessive about having to clean it out. The rivets would be enough to give it the industrial edge I was looking for.

Finally in early November I got the call that they were ready to stain. The finishes they offer (from top to bottom) are: Natural, Provincial (left), Gray Wash (right), Dark Walnut (left) and Gunstock (right).

I chose the Natural stain as I really wanted to keep it a light as possible. They said this is their most popular choice.

Ok, ok – so that’s the backstory.  Are you ready for the actual pictures of MY table?  As promised they delivered it on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  Now the area is all decorated up for Christmas and I couldn’t be happier.

The wood is so pretty with lots of natural movement and markings. They told me that the wood used to make my table and bench came from an old barn in Wisconsin called The Grainery.

And I got my rivets!

I got these seeded glass candleholders from GrandinRoad. I love the jute handles.

For the holidays I filled them with faux snow and mini metallic ornaments I got at Homegoods.

Here is the table on delivery day … with Cody and Brad testing out the leaf.

It’s quite a sturdy contraption!

And here is the table with the leaf …

And here are the awesome Cody and Brad after all the heavy lifting. (This table is heavy!)

I cannot say enough about my new friends at Reclaimed – Cody, Brad, Brett, and Krysten. Their customer service is phenomenal and they really take great pride in their craftsmanship.

Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way – their success has allowed them to unveil a new retail store, double in size with a great second floor. Here they will offer a great selection of their handcrafted grab-and-go items as well as displaying some of their custom pieces. I am dying to get up there myself – I am still waiting for that “slow” week. Ha!

Anyway – our new table has already hosted several game nights, a Progressive dinner with my son’s Youth group and will be the spot for Christmas Day dinner with my family.

For chairs, I chose the Remy side chair in Burnished Metal from Restoration Hardware. I wanted comfortable but sturdy and wipeable 🙂 and this is such a classic industrial style that pairs so well with a big farm table. With a wood table, I love the idea of using NON-wood chairs.

If you are in the market for a new special piece made of reclaimed wood for your home, I can’t recommend Reclaimed highly enough. They can turn your wishlist into reality. Please tell them I sent you!