One of a kind. Made by me, or by Mother Nature (or a little of both).

View through the open workshop garage to a saw under the pines

Weathered boards and backlit pine needles, close up

Some places are built.

Others are discovered.

Sky Oak Acres is one of those places.

What I believe

I believe old things deserve new life.

Scrap wood. Rusted metal. Fallen branches. What others overlook, I see as the beginning of something beautiful.

Everything I create begins with that belief.

Weathered scrap boards under cedars among oak leaves

A split weathered beam resting in leaves

Jars of sun tea above a hazy valley view

The place

Eight acres on a ridgeline in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Tucked into California's San Bernardino Mountains, about an hour and a half from Los Angeles, Sky Oak Acres sits on a ridgeline with sweeping views that stretch across the Inland Empire to Catalina Island on a clear day.

It's a place where nature is both workshop and collaborator.

8 acres · Crestline, CA · Est. 2020

The story

The first time I stepped onto the property — in the pouring rain just before Christmas in 2019 — I knew it was home.

It was old.Tired.Falling apart in places.

Perfect.

The journey to own it took nine months and included more than its share of twists, setbacks, difficult people, and moments when it seemed it might never happen. Even after we bought it, my husband wasn't convinced. Years later he admitted he was certain I'd dragged our family into financial disaster by trading suburban comfort for a forgotten mountain property.

But I couldn't let it go.

I wasn't buying a house.

I was buying our future.

Kristen at the miter saw in her workshop

Today

A new season, with room for creativity to breathe.

Today, after years of restoring, repairing, building, and learning, Sky Oak Acres is finally our full-time home. With our youngest son grown and beginning his own adventure, we've entered a new season of life — one where creativity has room to breathe.

Every piece you'll find here reflects that journey.

From overlooked to one of a kind

Where the wood comes from, and where it goes.

Found

Scrap piles, old beams, fallen branches.

Hauled

Rescued and brought up the mountain.

Shaped

Cut and sanded under the pines.

Freshly oiled reclaimed boards glowing orange against deck posts

Revealed

Natural finishes bring the grain back to life.

Stacked reclaimed-wood trays on brass ball feet

One of a kind

Finished, tagged, and ready for a new home.

The work

Handmade. Reclaimed. Shaped by Mother Nature.

Many are a collaboration between the two. Every piece is one of a kind, carrying the marks of weather, time, and the quiet beauty that inspired it.

See all the work →

Oak blocks engraved IGNORING ADVICE and OLDER & BOLDER

Handmade

Engraved words and pieces made start to finish in the workshop.

Reclaimed

Old beams and boards given a second life as trays, boards and more.

Giant sugar pine cones with Sky Oak hang tags

Shaped by Mother Nature

Sugar pine cones, branches and rounds gathered from the land.

Older & BolderOnwardSeek JoyUntamedOn My Terms

Finished the old-fashioned way

All-natural stains, brewed in Ball jars in the mountain sun.

Vinegar and steel wool. Tea. Coffee. Combined and left to steep, they become the stains that bring out the age already in the wood. Some pieces get nothing more than a coat of beeswax and orange oil.

Vinegar & steel woolTeaCoffeeBeeswax & orange oil

Ball jar of homemade vinegar and steel-wool stain with a brush across it

A raw timber block beside a charred block

Dark-stained serving boards with natural knot-hole handles

Canvas pouches with round leather SKY OAK patches

Leather Sky Oak Authentic hang tags from Crestline, California

Sky Oak business card held over the workshop table

Sky Oak Authentic

Every piece leaves the mountain tagged by hand.

A leather tag, a canvas pouch, a card from Crestline. The small details that say this was made with care, in a real place, by a real person.

Welcome to Sky Oak Acres.

I'm glad you found me.

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