Adventure Indoors recently moved from the West Bottoms to 20th and Washington (Cross Roads District). Still a little pooped from the move, but many new opportunities have risen. One has been a chance to participate in Kansas City’s First Fridays. This is a great social and cultural event for KC located just south of downtown.  Dozens of businesses (primarily artists, architects, painters, photographers and woodworkers) open up their doors to show off recent products and mainly to just have a good time! Our first attempt, last Friday, was a huge success. We estimated nearly 200 people came through our doors. It was also a blast to get several other artists and young professionals displaying their creations at our location. We had a metal worker, photographer and cement top furniture guys that all contributed to one awesome evening. Enjoy the pics and we better see you next time!

You have probably noticed in previous blog posts that Adventure Indoors has begun partnering with Brian Holland, owner and CEO of B. Holland & Co.  We both have a passion for reclaiming and rescuing wood.  My focus is midwest barns and Brian loves ‘log chasing!’This past Saturday we had a blast getting some massive walnut logs milled up that were rescued from a KC golf course. Brian and I hope to use these slabs for tables, benches, fire place mantles or anything you can dream of.  Walnut is currently one of North America’s most valuable hardwoods and the fact that it is ‘urban reclaimed’ makes it even more special.  We are in the process of drying pine, sycamore and walnut slabs that will be ready in anywhere from 2 months to a year. If you would like us to build you a piece, contact us asap!

Adventure Indoors was privileged to have recently been featured in the House & Home section of the Kansas City Star.  This product was specially designed by Kyle Blake as a Christmas gift for his wife, Jessica Blake. The table and benches were crafted of 90 year old Southern Yellow Pine from a Nebraska barn. The top is finished with danish oil to draw out the natural grain and aged patina. The white painted, tapered legs help bring together a rustic – modern mix.  All nail holes were filled with a clear epoxy to maintain the ‘nail hole look’ while preventing leaks from the inevitable spill! Thanks, Jill for the great interview and wonderful article! Read the article online at:  http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/10/3362856/green-home-reclaimed-wood-adds.html#storylink=misearch

One benefit of being in our new West Bottoms location is that we have been able to build friendships and collaborate with some of the best craftsman in the city. My building currently has 1 cabinet maker, 1 mill-worker, two furniture makers and one design and build architecture company.  Brian Holland is the founder and owner of B Holland & Co. He builds amazing, high end furniture. I don’t think there is anything he can’t do! Recently I was privileged to team up with Brian to craft a piece for my client that simply said, “be creative!”  This bar is for a world class hunting resort in Fort Scott, Kansas. We call this bar the beginning of our “mod-ic” series. This is simply the integration of our two passions. Rustic and modern woodworking.  Everything is unique and truly one of a kind about this bar. Several highlights are the book matched rails and stiles on the doors revealing old nails buried in the wood for nearly a century. The panels are mill sawn White Oak. We branded the letters ourselves and had a local mirror artisan hand etch the mirror. The project took about a week and a half. “Thanks, Brian for sharing your talents and passion for unique and quality wood working with the next generation! I had a blast!”  Check Brian out at http://www.bhollandco.com/

Johnson, Nebraska is the home of this beautiful two story barn. We had the privilege of ‘rescuing’ some of the wood before it soon gets burned to the ground. This beast was close to 8,000 lineal feet of Southern Yellow Pine. It was originally built in the early 1900′s and used for cattle and hay storage.  As farming practices have changed over the years the functional purposes for this barn have become obsolete. We absolutely love opportunities to prolong the life and character of old barns as we craft the wood into furniture that will last another hundred years. The history behind our Midwest barns is truly amazing, especially if you have a rich family heritage of farming! If you would like us to build furniture out of wood from your family barn please let us know! Also, if you like this post then you will love this book on amazon.com called, “Barns: Preservation and Adaptation” By, Eric Endersby. A very special “Thank you” goes out to the Neddenriep family for the salvage rights to their family barn. Our first project using this material will be a custom bar for new hunting lodge in Ft. Scott, Kansas.

Using our talents to impact and change lives is when we really get excited.  Recently we partnered with a wonderful organization called Set Apart KC and over 15 artists to bring hope and healing to hurting city. Painters, designers, wood workers, metal workers and sculptors all combined our talents to put together what is called, “The Hope Memorial” for a city that was recently devastated by a tornado. Below you can see the general scope of the project and all who were involved. We began over three months ago with debris from a Salvation Army thrift store.  Several artists then put together the concept sketch (pic is below) and then the work began! Nearly the entire 15′ x 10′ piece was crafted from reclaimed rubble.Through countless hours of work and many late nights, our hope is to show Joplin that through love, hope, prayer and perseverance, something beautiful really can come from a mess. This piece was delivered on November 12 and will be permanently displayed at the new Salvation Army thrift store in Joplin. We won’t forget you, Joplin! (Search ‘Set Apart’ on Facebook for full story)

Last weekend I packed up my chainsaw and headed out to the wonderful Rocky Mountains of Colorado! About a year ago our company began using ‘beetle kill’ lodge pole pine logs for our furniture. These logs are beautiful and full of character, perfect for the ‘one of a kind’ look we strive for. These logs come directly from over 3 million acres of Colorado forests that have been killed by the Mountain Pine Beetle.  These logs are excellent for furniture and log homes, but come at a tremendous cost to local residents in Colorado.  I saw the devastation first hand as entire mountain sides are either dull brown or completely bare! The beetle is the strongest insect in the world and it doesn’t take long to do their damage.  Many locals are saying that warmer winters than usual have not killed off the beetles but allowed them to spread rapidly. Some relatives of mine own 10 acres right in heart of the ‘beetle kill zone’. That is where I come in! At AI Log Furniture, we love re-purposing materials, whether it be old barns or dead trees!  Current information indicates that once trees die and the beetles leave, the wood will still retain its commercial value for 12 years!  Many environmentalists believe that dead standing timber is the best wood for commercial uses as it drastically reduces the negative impact on our environment produced by kiln drying.  And don’t worry, beetles from these logs are long gone! The character they leave behind will WOW you!  Check out the pics below from my weekend in the woods!

For many reasons, I love to hunt and fish. However, I often manage to be the guy that catches the smallest fish or the shoots the smallest deer.  I’m not real sure why that is.  Maybe I’m just unlucky, maybe I don’t have enough patience or maybe it is because I was raised by my dad to love and appreciate the outdoors, not just go for the kill.  Through my company I have had incredible opportunities to meet some of the best and most accomplished outdoorsman there are! These guys plow through North America in search of world record size game! I’m currently working on a display case for two massive 10 and 11 pound Walleye! The picture below is ranked #9 in the Midwest for a bow kill!  I’ll probably never be the guy that catches a world class Walleye or shoots a top ten buck….. but I love the fact that customers come to me to help preserve once in a life time memories through building one of a kind taxidermy display products.

Yahhhhhhhhh! Adventure Indoors finally made the move from our shop in Gardner, Kansas up north into the city! We have now been at this new location since early May. So far, we’re lovin’ it! We are renting about 1300 square feet in the West Bottoms District of downtown KC. Back in the 1930′s and 1940′s this area was booming with business’ like John Deere and Columbia. In the early fifties a massive flood and the end of World War 2 meant thousands of jobs lost and many companies scrambled to stay alive. For nearly 50 years the area has struggled to make a comeback. However, over the past 10 years some new companies have moved in and have brought some major pushes to bring this area back and turn it into a Kansas City art district. My building is full of other wood workers, artists and an architect!  Come check out our new shop that will soon have a showroom with some of our latest products! (Pictured above is our building, we’re on the third floor and have a slight view of downtown KC!). Special thanks to Ryan Edick Photography for the amazing photos!

This cabinet is a completely custom design that you won’t find in any store! We crafted this cabinet according to the exact desires of our client. The cabinet features ‘beetle kill’ lodge pole pine logs from the Colorado Rockies. The door handles are real antlers from a yearling buck and the inside of this cabinet features lights to help display your prized gun collection. This will surely be the center piece of any room in your home. This cabinet will hold 10 guns and is 64″H X 42″W X 24″D.