In my rustic barnwood furniture creations I use a remnant of an earlier era...the weathered wood reclaimed from old barns and sheds of rural Colorado and Wyoming.

At Stoney Creek Woodworks in Colorado this lodge-style furniture is handcrafted and custom made. Stone tile inlay tops are an artist original as are my rustic barnwood cabinets and painted distressed furniture.

My commitment to you is creating meticulously handcrafted pieces of rustic, barnwood, and western style furniture as art.

So, whatever you dream up for your mountain home, lodge, or cabin, Lesley and I will help you design and take to completion. Your unique purchase will be a lasting treasure reflecting our western heritage whether it be our Snake River dining table, a rustic Ice Box cabinet, or the primitive Lupine Meadows dresser.

In 1994, we moved to Ouray, Colorado, where I began this business of creating rustic style furniture, combining weathered barnwood with earth-colored stone tiles to produce one-of-a-kind hand-crafted tables and cabinets.

As people were introduced to our designs they requested many other pieces including hutches, entertainment centers, benches, picture frames, and bookcases.
During this time of growth we settled for awhile in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, but have returned to live in the beautiful pine and aspen covered mountains of Colorado.

"The Uncompahgre River" An original stained glass by Stephen Burlison.


So how did I become a furniture maker in weathered woods? Well, in the days before Nikita gaveled his shoe in defiance and as the smoke clouds of the Cold War curled up ominously from between the onion domes of the Kremlin, twins were being born in the other Moscow, in Idaho. Okay, what about the furniture? I’m getting there!

My earliest recollections of woodworking included gnawing on the crib to test wood durability and inspecting glue joints by immersing them in drool. Later, at the tender age of seven I climbed our old apple tree, inched my way out to observe a robin’s nest, and promptly came crashing down together with nest and rotted branch. It knocked the wind out of me but knocked some sense into this Idaho boy’s head. I gained a necessary insight into the rudimentary laws of bending moment, shear stress, and structural integrity in regards to wood.

This knowledge was further enhanced by splitting cordwood with my brothers for eight summers. Later still, less crude woodworking techniques were revealed to me in junior high shop. From that point on I was Hooked On Wood. Early adolescence also found me pruning Christmas trees. In later teens I worked summers at the local sawmill pulling lumber off the greenchain. This experience quickly pointed in the direction of higher education, leading to a landscape architecture degree.
In the years following college I favored a move toward carpentry in the landscape. Twelve years of this “hands-on” work gave me ample experience in woodworking knowledge and techniques. It also created too many aches and pains for me to continue. With my wife Lesley’s encouragement I made the transition to FURNITURE-MAKER.


www.stoneycreekwoodworks.com