Green Ridge Window Cabinets Uncluttering Your Life

Life is sometimes cluttered and messy.  To organize your precious belongings with a sense of history and style, Sisters’ Rob Ralph had an idea. Story by JEFF SPRY

Ralph started Green Ridge Window Cabinets to find a new creative outlet and business venture to add to his prolific retirement agenda. Eight months later, his distinctive bookcases are slowly gaining a foothold in the locally crafted furniture market.

His new-found product and trade is the result of old-fashioned ingenuity and practicality, a quality line of custom-made, freestanding furniture with nostalgic appeal, using recycled or reclaimed wood from various regional sources.  These wooden creations are paired with “green” repurposed hinges, knobs and recycled glass panes from old homes and buildings, instilling in each piece a sense of resurrected history and style.

“I was a mechanical engineer in the HVAC business back in Pleasanton, California and moved up here four years ago to retire and be closer to my family,” said Ralph. “I got tired sitting around and not doing anything constructive and started up this cabinet thing not very long ago, just February of this year.”

Ralph had some cabinets down in California for his kids and himself and brought a few up to Sisters and now he’s building better than ever.

“Craig Mannhalter and Ben Sparrow of Metolius Woodworks came on board to help out. I found these two great guys to help build the wrappers, the outside part of the cases, and damn they do good work.

“What we do is take a plain pine wrapper, we try to buy local sustainable lumber from land they’re reforesting on,” said Ralph. “We go out looking for old recycled wood windows, typically into Aurora where there’s a huge outfit called Aurora Mills where they have thousands of used windows and frames. We find them locally too.  Some guy came up to us the other day and sold us thirty windows out of Powell Buttte.”

After that, Ralph starts shopping for old hinges and antique knobs to finish it off and when it’s all assembled it gets a coat of milk paint, which consists of a tinted, water-based paint with no VOC’s, Volatile Organic Compounds.

“Craig and Ben do all the heavy lifting in the business, so they get top billing,” added Ralph.

“We have a shop here in Sisters and Ben and I focus on custom cabinetry and custom pieces of furniture mostly,” explained Mannhalter. “The best part about Rob’s project is that every piece is truly one-of-a-kind, no standard rectangles and squares so it kinda breaks up the routine a little. They’re all constructed out of solid wood and they’re made to last without a stick of plywood or particle board in it.”

“What’s nice is that they’re kind of organic and it’s a recycled product,” said Sparrow. “Some of the lumber we got is out of the Ochocos and some of it is recycled barn wood. We’re repurposing it and there’s a satisfaction in building something that’s not getting tossed into the burn pile or the woodstove or a landfill.

“We either build them to order or put them together for inventory and take them to local fairs and craft shows,” said Ralph. “We’re still trying to find our niche.  We don’t know whether to take them to furniture stores or art galleries or both. They make great potting benches, china cabinets, wine holders, book shelves or tv stands. We make them for almost any purpose.

“We found the product. Everybody wants storage and they love that ranch style, vintage look that’s popular right now. You’re surrounded by so many creative people here in the Sisters area and it really helps to motivate you.”

Green Ridge Window Cabinets can be found in a variety of locations around town, including Clearwater Gallery, C&C Nursery, The Porch Restaurant and at the Metolius Woodworks shop at 267 West Sisters Park Drive. For prices or question call Ralph at 541-610-5288 or visit them on Facebook.