If you've ever had an idea for a gift — something specific, something personal, something you couldn't find anywhere — you know the frustration of searching and coming up empty. That's exactly the gap I exist to fill. Custom orders aren't a side service at Locally Grown Gifts. They're the work I'm most proud of.
It Starts With a Conversation
Every custom piece begins the same way: someone reaches out with an idea. Sometimes it's fully formed — a specific wood species, a particular size, a design they've been sketching in their head for months. Sometimes it's just a feeling: "I want something that feels like home" or "I need a gift that actually means something."
Both are perfect starting points. My job in that first conversation is to listen — really listen — and then start translating. What wood fits the aesthetic they're describing? What joinery makes sense for how it'll be used? What finish will age the way they want it to? These aren't questions we answer alone. We answer them together.
Turning an Idea Into Something Real
There's a moment in every custom project that never gets old: when a customer sees their idea take physical form for the first time. What was once a description — or a rough sketch, or a photo of something they loved — is now an object they can hold. That moment of recognition, of "yes, that's exactly it" — that's why I do this work.
The process between conversation and finished piece involves a lot of decisions, most of them invisible to the customer. Which slab has the right grain for this design? How do I handle the joinery so it's strong enough to last generations? Where does the live edge fall to make the piece feel balanced? These are the details we obsess over so the customer doesn't have to.
No Two Are Ever the Same
This is the nature of working with locally sourced, natural wood: every piece of material is unique. A plum slab from a Willamette Valley orchard has its own color, its own grain pattern, its own character. When I build a custom piece, I'm not just following a spec — I'm having a conversation between the customer's vision and the wood's own personality. The result is something that couldn't have been made for anyone else, in any other place, at any other time.
That's not a limitation. That's the whole point.
The Gifts People Keep Forever
I've made custom pieces for proposals, for memorials, for milestone birthdays, for new homes, for retirements. I've made boxes to hold wedding rings and boxes to hold the ashes of beloved pets. I've made cutting boards engraved with family recipes and jewelry boxes sized to fit a specific collection built over decades.
What these pieces have in common isn't the wood or the joinery or the finish. It's that someone cared enough to ask for something made specifically for someone they love. That intention is built into every cut, every joint, every coat of oil. The people who receive these pieces feel it — and they keep them forever.
How to Start a Custom Order
If you have an idea — even a half-formed one — I want to hear it. Reach out and tell me what you're thinking. I'll ask a few questions, talk through the options, and give you a clear sense of what's possible, what it'll cost, and how long it'll take. No pressure, no commitment until you're ready.
The best custom orders start with the simplest message: "I have an idea."