Wonderful fairytale cottages made of reclaimed wood

These fairy-tale houses, as if straight out of a storybook, exist thanks to Dan Pauly, a passionate wood builder from Minnesota, USA. Dan is a person with a great respect for his woodworking ancestors, but also for old wood. Being a good craftsman himself, he has combined his love of wood with his love of antiques to develop a business that has proven successful.

Dan Pauly is a 4th generation wood craftsman. His great-grandfather came to America at the end of the 19th century from Switzerland. Being skilled in woodworking he immediately found work, building a lot of barns in Minnesota, some of which are still standing today. His son and then grandson, Dan's father, took over the business, woodworking and erecting all sorts of wooden buildings in the area.

Dan inherited this skill in woodworking, but also a passion for old wood, full of memories. Every time he passed by an old barn and saw a fallen piece of wood, he thought that maybe his great-grandfather worked with that wood. The special beauty of that old wood, its special colour and texture gradually led him to his current business - The Rustic Way.

Pauly recovers wood from over 100-year-old buildings, processes it using traditional methods and builds garden sheds or holiday homes, saunas, playhouses, all in this fairytale cottage shape.

It all starts with prospecting the area to find those old buildings. Once they are identified, the dismantling begins, with the utmost care, to recover as much of the wood as possible and in the best condition. Pauly says that even before he did this he had great respect for the work of past woodworkers. But now, seeing how they have been made, with so much work and attention to detail, that respect is even greater.

After everything is unpacked, the wood is brought to the workshop and processed by hand. Sometimes it is sanded, but rarely stained, trying to preserve as much of its natural appearance as possible. Oil or the lake is only used to enhance that 100-year-old beauty and show it off. Dan says the moment the wood glows after he applies the oil coat is beautiful. The moment reminds him that that wood lived in the 19th century and shows him the beauty that has accumulated over those 100 years.

The first cottage he built was a sauna for his wife. It was her favorite way to unwind and he thought he'd make her a treat.

It never occurred to him that this would be the birth of a thriving business. Now Pauly gets a lot of orders from all over the country and even from other countries.

Once the helmet is finished, he also takes care of transporting it and placing it in position.

He loves reclaimed wood and makes other beautiful things from it - house cladding, beams, bathroom and kitchen furniture and even small furnishings - but still the lovely cottages are the focus. For Pauly this wood is our natural heritage and has a much more beautiful and richer patina, texture and grain than new wood.