Beloved Old Tree comes from 30 years of designing and hand-making furniture.

Over those years, I refined my sense of what each client valued — not just hand craftsmanship and good design, but the story behind the wood, and how the piece would be used. The full story of each piece of furniture includes many layers of beauty, usefulness and personal connection. The most successful pieces balance each into an object beloved by many. Many projects began with a downed tree in a yard, and a plea from the owner not to see it wasted. Others begin with a need that can’t be found in any retail store.

Beloved Old Tree has been my vision to bring environmental stewardship and personal connection to a wider audience of schools and companies. (Please read see the Testimonials).

Now, getting close to retirement, I only make small items from my small shop in Chicago.

In addition to how-to books and novels, I also write short, semi-digestible pieces on a range of topics (see at right).

I am currently working on a new book, Handmade Purpose: How to Thrive in the Digital Age Through the Power of Workmanship. You can learn more about the original idea here on my blog, and listen to my podcast researching the topic.

How-To Books

• Doormaking: Materials, Techniques, and Projects for Building Your First Door, 2017. My second how-to book — useful and clear, with anecdotes and digressions on the role of hand-made things in our lives. Useful and Fun.

• Traditional Box Projects, 2010. My first how-to book, with the Taunton Press. Very visual and straightforward. Useful but Yawn.

Other Writing

• Mondaugen’s Miscellany offers over a hundred travel stories, essays on design, architecture, and whatever else seemed interesting enough to say at the time.

• That Precious Ghost in Glass. My first novel, long, annoying, and curious.