If you want to combine the comfortable Southern themes of a rustic design with something that will add a unique personality and substance to your home, look no further than antique barnwood. This specific type of lumber is beautiful and durable, making it an excellent choice from both an aesthetic and practical standpoint. To help you better understand this material, we provide nine unique ways to use antique wood in your home.
What Is Antique Barnwood?
Antique barnwood is lumber that people have reclaimed from old barns and that expert craftsmen have refurbished. This process creates a wooden material that is uniquely beautiful and also incredibly durable despite its age. The key factors that play into these two attributes are age and origin.After being exposed to years of weather and time, the wood develops a unique look that isn’t replicable in any other wood without allowing it to age as naturally as barn wood. This means that antique barnwood possesses a unique design that remains limited because of the aging necessary to create it.
The strength and durability of the reclaimed wood originate from the fact that people made many older barns with lumber harvested from what’s known as “virgin forests.” The trees in them had remained untouched and were thus decades, if not centuries, old. This made the rings in the tree’s wood much closer together and thus much sturdier. Wood from replanted trees often has rings that are wider apart. This is because people harvest them not long after they’ve reached maturity.
Wooden Beams
If you want something simple, exposed hand-hewn barnwood beams make for incredible additions that add lots of personality to otherwise average rooms. Since they provide a rugged beauty, these beams work as accents that add texture to the ceiling. Due to their natural strength, you can also make the barnwood beams act as structural supports. This makes them an excellent blend of aesthetic beauty and practical functionality.Barnwood Floors
Antique barnwood flooring provides the same benefits as bog-standard hardwood flooring but with a more distinct style that draws the eye. At the same time, it doesn’t distract from the rest of the home. The markings, stains, and weathering marks make the patina feel like it’s telling a story of what the wood endured in its past life. Furthermore, antique wood provides a more natural look than laminate wood flooring for a more authentic rustic feel. This appearance contrasts with the image of typical laminate floors.The barnwood can also extend to staircases in the form of strips or stair treads. This is ideal when melding vintage and modern styles, as it compliments glass or stainless steel railings that are much simpler or more minimalistic in comparison.
Barnwood Paneling
Similar to barnwood floors, another unique way to use antique wood in your home is to create paneling for either the walls or the ceiling with it. While the barnwood paneling on the ceiling functions just like it does on the floor, paneling on the wall will pull a bit more attention. It’ll also serve as an excellent backdrop for other decorations, pictures, and furniture you place against the wall.Antique Wood Mantel
Because a fireplace is a centerpiece of comfort and warmth, nothing compliments it better than a mantel of reclaimed wood. The knotty old beams with their storied pasts only serve to further the comfortable and cozy atmosphere. You and your family can then enjoy it well. This is especially true when comparing antique wood mantels to gaudy traditional ones that may feel more off-putting than enjoyable. Sometimes, you just can’t beat elegant simplicity.Wood Wall Accents
Rather than having reclaimed barnwood panels on all your walls, you can have them on a single accent wall. This type of arrangement is sometimes far more powerful. An accent wall is a great way to draw attention to a specific part of your home, a piece of furniture, or anything else you feel proud enough to show off to your guests. It also prevents a room from feeling too “samey” since all the walls do not feature a single continuous color. When in a bedroom, a wooden accent wall also makes for a fantastic headboard that transforms your bed into a beautiful focal point for the room.Barnwood Countertops
For those people who love to cook, reclaimed barnwood is also a strong choice. It combines strength and beauty to make stylish countertops or butcher’s blocks for kitchen islands. You can have the wood pressed together to create a countertop that is unique to your kitchen. Alternatively, you could use it to spruce up your bathroom vanity. This gives the bathroom a more comfortable and higher-quality feel that will, in turn, help you feel more relaxed while you’re there.Barnwood Cabinets
As with the countertops, antique barnwood is an excellent material for cabinets and shelves. It hits that sweet spot of practicality and aesthetic uniqueness. While not in use, antique wood cabinets add variation that compliments the walls. Additionally, you can expect them to be long lasting. So you’ll have more than enough time to enjoy and use them.Garden Planters
Maybe you love your house just the way it is. If so, you could take the antique barnwood outside and use it to build garden planters and boxes. The natural and rustic design is right at home with the organic elements of the outdoors and will blend nicely with whatever assortment of plants you raise. Furthermore, you won’t have to worry about the wood’s condition deteriorating because you know it has stood the test of time and endured the elements for years already!Barnwood Door
Want to try something different? Why not bring in a whole barn door into the house? While featuring the lovely barnwood we’ve spoken about this entire time, a big barn door might be perfect for repurposing into an attractive sliding wall. This will help you divide the house into sections or open it up to make it feel nice and roomy. A sliding barn door may also be a perfect feature for covering up pantries. Moreover, it could provide privacy to a home office so that you don’t have to sequester your workspace away into a cramped space.
