Last weekend, Brian and I built the new Nightingale bar out of the wood we reclaimed from the attic floors upstairs.
Together, we painstakingly removed the crude iron spikes that passed for nails one hundred years ago, planed, trimmed, and selected the wood for placement, one piece at a time. We carved and leveled and chiseled. Brian honed the skill of making perfect 45 degree cuts on a compound miter saw – some cuts took as long as twenty minutes to get right (chalk that up to a blend of inexperience, questionable tools, and a floor that is far from level), while I selected the boards and ensured that we had enough of each width to get us around our turns (math is hard).
Now I understand why reclaimed wood costs a fortune to buy.
Considering that all of these skills were completely new to us, we’re pretty pleased with the results. We couldn’t have done it without Glenn, who provided mentorship and tools to get the job done. I can’t wait to see our guests belly up here this spring!

Some of the boards were painted white. We left a touch of the white paint in the deep groves, but whiskered off large patches with a wire brush.

A white, resin-coated countertop will complement the rustic wood look. (this is a sample that we made using white colored epoxy resin)
We have held off on making our reservations at Phill’s as we wanted to see if anyone had reopened what was the Gawker. Good luck and thanks for the website. john