mountain dream creations, LLC

I launched Mountain Dream Creations in 2017 after leaving an amazing 28 year career in Aerospace. As a mechanical engineer, I was blessed with rewarding and meaningful work in rocket engine design, jet engine design and airframe program management. During those years, I nurtured my love of art and working with my hands through jewelry design, carpentry and home renovation. In 2017 I met and married my wonderful husband, Ray, and we moved to Idaho to begin our lives together and to pursue my passion for wood and metal working. MDC was born in the workshop adjacent to our log cabin home on a 44 acre wooded mountain property an hour outside of Boise Idaho.

The challenges and complexities of working with wood are not that different from the challenges I encountered in the years of rocket  and jet engine design.  Each log has its unique material properties that are discovered during cutting either with a chainsaw or our sawmill.  Harvesting the wood must be cautiously planned.  And during the process, those plans are often thrown out and a new plan required to best highlight the woods unique features.  Once the log has been cut, the wood requires 1 to 2 years of drying before it can be considered for a project.  During this drying process, the environmental conditions, wood's internal stresses, and unique branches\voids\distressed areas will determine the end product.  Some pieces will survive the process and others won't.  Fortunately I am able to utilize even the worst failures for smaller projects, limiting waset of these wonderful resources.  I have embarked on a lifetime of learning and amazement of the ever changing properties of wood and I have made a great choice. I have experienced no feeling like the joy of cutting into a log and working with the wood to highlight its natural beauty. Whether it is creating a live edge table, turning a piece on the lathe or making jewelry, highlighting the natural properties and coaxing the beauty from each unique piece of wood is exciting and rewarding.

Wood for my pieces is almost exclusively sourced from Boise Idaho. I focus on trees that have been removed due to disease or population growth and I try to find the most unusual pieces, many that are passed over by other woodworkers. These pieces are more challenging and take much more love and attention, but the unique results are well worth it.

A key feature of my furniture is the custom design of all furniture bases. Having a metal shop affords me the ability to design, weld and finish legs that highlight the wood and table design and provide a sound structural base built to last for generations. Using hairpin legs or other stock designs would limit the focus on the wood and alter the functionality and uniqueness of my designs. I source the metal from local metal distributors and salvage sources in Boise.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoy viewing the work that I so lovingly have created.