I have been involved in woodworking all my life and for my peace of mind, after attending Indiana University majoring in Mathematics, I had to choose woodworking rather than teaching as my career. I am completely satisfied with the choice I made.

My love for the American Arts & Crafts Movement came from working in Restoration and finding that there were no kitchen cabinets to fit into a remodeled kitchen that did not ruin the “look” so I began designing and building them myself. Since my youth I have always been involved in refinishing antiques to maintain the integrity of the piece (such as working on an original G. Stickley chair) but after developing a design with kitchen cabinets in a restored period home, I began making furniture.

As a cabinetmaker I could custom build whatever the client wanted and it opened many possibilities for design work and I found myself not only building and designing the cabinets but the kitchen as well. In the early 80’s, many people were building “new-old” homes and we worked with their particular time period of influence and accent or reproductions.

I have worked with clients providing advice or color schemes and anything else they wanted. I work with an interior designer on some projects or alone. My wife and I thoroughly research the project from all aspects to arrive with a design that maintains the purity of the period, as well as appeals to the client’s taste. This work has not been exclusively in the area of A & C but began in restoration of the Victorian age and has involved everything in-between. However, the American Arts & Crafts Movement, centering on Greene & Greene, has stolen my heart.

I have acted as consultant on many kitchen design projects as well as complete homes, but not solely as a consultant. I have built all the furniture and done all the woodworking on a project that took two years to complete due to my clients desire to have the exact “Faithful Reproduction” of various aspects of the Gamble House and the Thorsen House in California.

These are specifically Greene & Greene homes from the American Arts & Crafts Movement and the Gamble House has a website you can visit to get an idea of the unique craftsmanship and design of Charles and Henry Greene if you are unfamiliar with it.

I am the son of a Traditional Master Carpenter whose father was a Master Carpenter as well. I have over thirty-five years experience, our woodworking shop is on 89 acres of beautiful woods, where my wife of 20 years and I are raising our children. Due to the small operation, we are able to overlook each project, working with the customer at each level of development for a perfect outcome, meeting everyone’s satisfaction.

As well as being a cabinetmaker, I have also been a builder in the late 1970’s before going into restoration. Basically, there isn’t too much in the business I am not familiar with since I come from a woodworking family.

We have a reference list of previous customers.

Dale Barnard