Our Story

You must be thinking, how does one come to building furniture out of pallets? Well I have to thank my beautiful wife Nicole for that one. She came to me around four years ago with the idea of having me make a pallet shelf. I looked at her with a confused demeanor, as if she just asked me to do the stupidest thing ever... She went on to explain how it was gaining popularity on pinterest and that it would look really good in our home. She has a great design sense and has decorated our home beautifully. So with an unmotivated but willing heart, I caved and built the shelf. Now for my first work and the easy level of difficulty, it came out great and added a nice accent and conversation piece to our home (pictured here). 

So begun my pallet journey. I then went on to an exploratory phase of seeing what people were building out of pallets. It was eye opening and exciting all at the same time. You see, my childhood contributed greatly to this excitement. I grew up outside playing and building things. It fostered an environment for creativity and for me to discover my gifts. My friends and I made tree forts, soap box cars, bike jumps, etc... I was operating a power saw at age 12, making things that shaped how we spent our time outside. And I can't forget about legos. I would play for hours making the most unique vehicles and buildings, never following a kits instructions. Building things makes sense to me, it's how my mind thinks. That was my childhood. Those years shaped so much of who I am today and what brings me joy. 

After seeing this new pallet world, I started building. I made some benches, outdoor chairs, and a potting shed. After receiving a lot of positive feedback from friends and family that what I was building looked cool, I started to think about selling it. Now what better way to test the market than to enter a local artisan fair? I entered, got accepted and setup my 10x10 tent. People really liked it all and I even sold something! I walked away from that experience excited but I knew there was much I needed to learn.

I continued to build some things here or there but running my landscaping company took priority. In August of 2013 my wife and I bought our first home. I finally had a designated work shop and space to store the wood. At this point it had been a few months since I made anything. To be honest, some of the passion I had earlier was gone. But that December, something cool happened. We went out to the sticks of New Hampshire to buy a farm beam to install in our living room. Afterwards, we stopped at this barn that sold local vendors foods,teas,drinks,etc... As I was walked around the corner, I saw this three tiered shelf i had made for a local soap maker. I had met her at the fair I did and built her this piece. What are the chances that I would come across this piece out in the middle of nowhere? When I got back into the car, I knew in my heart that it was time to start building again. The passion was fully there and I was excited for what was to come. 

That winter I built some new things but really started to focus on dining room tables and benches. My sister at the time was working in the wedding industry in Australia. She had observed that there were no rustic tables available for rent out there. She told me about the idea of doing it here and I began my research. I was hesitant at first. However, as I began to speak to people in the wedding industry, the idea became more of a reality to me. I still had the 2014 landscaping season ahead of me, so I put the dream on hold. The winter came and we spent our time building our inventory for table rentals. So begins Ingrained. There is a journey ahead and I'm so excited to see where it goes!