New Pieces from Old Wood at Deer Ridge Farm

For those of you who have been wondering where I've been - we've been in Toronto the last few days. Alan was taking a course and I took advantage of this time to visit with family, spend a day with some good friends, complete some retail therapy and generally get my fill of the big city. Before I went away last week, I visited my friend Bill at Deer Ridge Farms. Here's the story:

Last year, we stumbled upon Deer Ridge Farm after spotting an ad in our local paper for a "Christmas Open House". Little did I know that by the time we arrived to this 3 day event on the last day, 95% of the decor items and ALL of the furniture items had been sold. There are two sides to this homebased business - Connie does all the decor items - small pieces, candleholders, florals, ornaments and some fashion items. Bill does all the carpentry in the back shop where he makes new pieces from old.

Taking worn out, vintage pieces of wood and furniture, Bill transforms them into new headboards, side tables, shelves, bookcases, farm tables and even kitchen islands and cabinets. His storeroom is filled with discarded table legs, sideboard bases and scrap pieces of wood which he collects all over Southern Ontario and the Northern U.S. Stripping them down, Bill then finishes the newly assembled pieces by painting them all a fresh white.

sideboard made from an old window and beadboard

He only sells by word of mouth and at local fairs  - he was in Peterborough and Milton in the past little while and has completely sold out AGAIN. I was lucky enough to catch him at the Christmas open house and ordered a queen sized headboard, a bench and a farm table from him. I'm still waiting for the farm table - bases are hard to come by.

We've struck up a bit of a friendship over the months of me harassing him for my table. Today I was there again and came home with a couple of old window frames, two iron finials shaped like fleur-de-lys and 4 wooden chairs from a local church (you can see them hanging from the wall in the top of the photo above). These are for the yet to arrive table which will go in the kitchen. One day, one day.

An assortment of items from Bill's workshop include corbeils perfect for kitchen renos or bookshelves as in the photo on the middle left, cupboards, sideboards, bookcases and even custom made kitchen islands - the one above is an example of Bill's customer work.

Deer Ridge Farms is located in Innerkip, Ontario - just outside of Woodstock. If you are interested in visiting the farm, you must call ahead to book an appointment or get lucky and see their booth at a local vintage/antique show in Southern Ontario.

Here's Bill's contact information:

Dear Ridge Farm
826036 Township Road 8
Innerkip, Ontario
519-469-3746

Tell him Heather from Tillsonburg sent you. And have fun. And bring lots of cash because you won't go home empty handed.


I'm linking with Little Red House for Mosaic Mondays and