In my mind, there is no wood quite like aromatic cedar. I think of that attic closet, warm with the heat of the Delta in my Babas gorgeous historical Arkansas home. Nowadays, my favorite room in my home is trimmed in cedar. Hooper created this space using lumber from a tree that fell at a home down the street on King Avenue. Taking it from tree to trim is really exciting. The casing in the room has a live edge and is “matchbooked”. This means the surfaces mirror each other and look like tree trunks. It feels like you are lying in the trees as the canopy above is visible through a skylight.
Recently, as the the final details for the shop came together, the trim package was up for discussion. Hooper had recently picked up some slabs so the cedar was the obvious choice. The organic casing elevates the entire space. Taking it from a room with holes in the wall to a really fantastic workshop that has a bit of woodland magic. Talking about, photographing, cutting, sanding, and handing made me wonder about that tree.
The aromatic cedar I am discussing is the Eastern red cedar. It is a conifer native to eastern North America. Oddly, it is not actually a cedar. It is in the juniper family and can grow up to 50 feet. As mentioned, there scent is really lovely. The scent is given off by the oils in the wood of the tree. That is why it is a prevalent scent in many of the perfumed items we buy. The oil in the wood gives it great durability and natural resistance to decay. Cedar, unlike other varieties, has a low shrinkage and movement rate making it less prone to warping or splitting. These two facts make cedar an excellent building product.
