Sometimes a project comes along that reminds us exactly why we do what we do. The Peterson family's farmhouse renovation in Clear Lake, Iowa is one of those projects.
The house was built in 1893 — a classic Iowa farmhouse with good bones but decades of questionable renovations layered on top. The Petersons bought it in 2022 with a vision to strip it back to its original character while updating it for modern family life.
Their architect contacted us early in the design process, looking for reclaimed white oak flooring and exposed ceiling beams. We supplied over 4,000 board feet of reclaimed white oak: 2,800 board feet of tongue-and-groove flooring in random widths from 4 to 8 inches, plus six ceiling beams ranging from 6x8 to 8x10, each 14 feet long.
The flooring came from a dairy barn in Winnebago County that was being deconstructed. The oak boards had spent over a century as structural framing — exposed to seasons of heat and cold that gave them extraordinary stability. After milling into flooring profiles, the wood showed beautiful tight grain with scattered nail holes that the Petersons chose to leave unfilled.
The beams were sourced from a different structure — an old grain elevator near Albert Lea, Minnesota. These Douglas fir timbers still bore the marks of the circular saw that milled them in the 1910s. The Petersons chose to leave the saw marks visible, giving the beams an authentic industrial character.
The installation took about three weeks. The flooring was finished with a matte penetrating oil that preserved the natural color variation between boards. The beams were sealed with a clear satin polyurethane to protect them while letting the grain and patina show through.
The result is a home that feels like it has always been there — because in a very real sense, the materials have been part of Iowa's landscape for over a century. They've just been given a new address.