Creative Wood Designs

story by Maria Fleck photos by Melanie Sioux Photography

path. Now their sons are continuing the family tradition, including their oldest Nick who now owns the family business. With a rich family history of bee keeping, it is no surprise Kris and Kevin wanted to incorporate a part of that history into their home. “We were trying to do something different, and no one puts bee boxes in their house,” says Kris. Kris and Kevin took actual bee boxes that they use for their commercial beekeeping business, stamped with their business’ name, and with the help of Creative Wood Designs, turned them into truly custom bathroom cabinetry. Turning bee boxes into cabinetry proved an interesting challenge for Mike Ness and his team at Creative Wood Designs. As the boxes were constructed for bee keeping, trying to figure out how to make a bee box fit as a drawer was a challenge. Ever a problem solver, Mike figured it out and was even able to make the drawers soft close.

The other extra challenge was making the bee boxes look distressed. “They gave me nice new bee boxes and wanted them scuffed up to look like they were used,” describes Mike. “They transport the bees across the country from here to California, so we were trying to get that wear and tear on them. Originally, we were distressing them the way you normally would. I texted them a picture, and they went, no that’s not quite it.” This lead to Mike employing a more unusual technique.

Danielle Kemmesat, Draftsman and Design Consultant at Creative Wood Designs, recalls,

“I went out in the shop that day to ask Mike a question, and he’s out there standing on the bee boxes on the concrete floor, and he’s skiing across the floor, twisting them. I’m like what in the world are you doing? ‘Oh, I’m distressing the bee boxes.’ What? I’ve never seen that technique before,” she says, laughing. The extra effort paid off, and the bathroom cabinetry looks amazing. The bee boxes fit seamlessly into the bathroom but are still clearly the focal point of the room.

The bee boxes are not the only thing Kris and Kevin repurposed in their home. For instance, they also repurposed old kitchen sinks as their master bathroom sinks and the current kitchen sink has also been repurposed from its original state. “We only bought one new sink in the whole house, and that one cracked already,” says Kevin. “But the one we got out of a horse pasture is A-okay.”

As always, the passion of Mike and his team at Creative Wood Designs is apparent in the finished product. An incredible amount of work and attention to detail went into this project. Even just getting all the cabinetry to match took a lot of patience. Through trial and error, the team was able to match the wood tones of the bee boxes and the surrounding cabinetry. The finished product speaks for itself in terms of Creative Wood Designs’ skill at creating a beautiful, unique, and meaningful product. “We love it,” says Kris. “It’s one of the coolest parts of the house.”

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