Sky's the Limit

Sky's the Limit By Hannah Stiff

photo credit: Hannah Stiff

Area man creates artistic high-end bunk rooms & floating beds

Jason Clary is one of those people whose career found him unsuspecting. One day, 17 years ago, Clary was driving his Fed Ex truck along his usual route when a customer mentioned a pile of barn wood he was going to turn into a bonfi re. Clary offered to haul the wood away and his customer happily agreed.

Clary couldn’t sleep that night. So, he trudged to the garage and began pulling nails out of the barnwood. After the nails were gone, Clary began adding new ones. By the following morning, the pile of barnwood was transformed into a hutch. After showing off photos of his inaugural woodworking project, one of Clary’s friends who worked at Chico Hot Springs sold his skills upriver. Clary soon got a phone call asking him to create rustic furniture for multiple Chico guest cabins. decided, to quit Fed Ex and pursue furniture making as his fulltime occupation. Word of his craftsmanship spread. Though he never engaged in formal marketing campaigns, fancy websites, or social media posts, business, much like his career, found him.

As his new career kicked into high gear, Clary began teaching himself how to create inventive pieces. He took the hoods of rusty, faded-paint pickup trucks and turned them into the backs of fat bottom chairs. He turned intricate designs on a lathe to form massive bed posts and oversized candelabras. And then, he learned to make bunk beds. Not the hunting cabin, springy cheap mattress kind either. Clary was enlisted to make bunkbeds in the Yellowstone Club. More than utilitarian, Clary began creating whole bunk room scenes.

For one client, Clary replicated an iconic red bus from London. Instead of well-used bus seats inside, he stacked custom bunkbeds. The red bus bunkbeds were positioned in a room wallpapered with black and white London landmarks. For others, Clary has created pickup truck bunk beds, mountain modern

bunk rooms, Victorian styled bedscapes and more. While his customers may not take to Google to leave a five-star review, they do whisper to others about his work. The word-of-mouth reviews that first propelled Clary from a late-night part-time carpenter to a full-time artisan also moved his name to the top of several designers’ shortlists. And while Clary won’t divulge an exact number, he’s created “many” bunk rooms in the Yellowstone Club. Each bunk bed or piece of furniture is one of a kind.

“I’ve built my business doing original work,” Clary says. “Everything is still custom. Some things are similar, but we put a unique spin on everything.”

In addition to the work-of-art bunk rooms, Clary and his team create sumptuous dream beds. Aptly named, the classic fairytale bed, seduction bed, old world bed and dreamy regal bed, conjure otherworldly vibes. The massive wooden posts at the ends of the beds are large enough to double as candelabras for 10 candles. For perspective, an adult model posing on one of the dream beds looks like small child. The wooden headboards and posters are at once rustic and new. The reclaimed oak is polished up with a secret recipe Clary perfected over the years.

While he could begin, middle and end his career on his clever custom chairs and beds, Clary wants more.

photo credit: Hannah Stiff

“What’s the next thing,” Clary asks. “How do we get out in front of it.” Jason Clary

The “we” Clary’s talking about is his staff of nine that work with him in his 10,000 square foot Four Corners shop. The next big “thing” he’s asking about, he may have just created. Clary is on to a big new adventure that involves taking a dream bed and making it float. He’s so serious about the idea, he’s worked out a patent for the technology. He’s figured out a way to make a bed float on three sides, from any height to a 3,000 lb. capacity. That would take many jumping children to drop. And that’s the point. Durability, weight limit and gorgeous design. Clary thinks the idea could be used for his high-end clients, tiny home enthusiasts and the hospitality industry.

Around the base of a bed, for example, Clary points out that there are crumbs and detritus you’d rather not see, or touch. A floating bed allows housekeepers to vacuum under the bed. It also allows for storage. In tiny homes, the floating bed could incorporate pulleys, to store the bed flat against the wall, saving precious space. For Clary’s floating bed, the sky really is the limit.

Clary will take his idea to market with same enthusiasm that has governed his company for nearly two decades. He is excited to see what’s ahead for the Rusty Nail team as he pairs new technology with well-honed craftsmanship.

“I’m forever the optimist,” he says. “I think you have to be to be selfemployed.”

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