About

Our husband-and-wife team small business was established in January of 2020 in Zeeland, Michigan as Leisure Time Designs. Tara, wife and mother had purchased 3 whiskey barrels from a garage sale. Ed, husband and father, had fun and enjoyed making Tara’s vision of a half barrel wine rack. From there more and more barrels were purchased and more products were designed. Ed does the majority of the assembling while Tara designs and finishes them.

February 18, 2023: Ed and Tara’s 20th wedding anniversary and also the day we took a leap of faith and pursued this former hobby of ours as a full-time job!  We are overly thankful for all the support from God, family, friends and our customers!  We are excited to see how the business will grow as we travel all over to many events and are able to add many new products to our business all made from barrels.

April 11, 2025: We opened our first retail store The Stave and Barrel!  Being on the road, away from home doing nearly 40 events a year, home shows, art festivals and other events, took a toll on us.  There is a lot of the behind the scenes work that goes on setting up, tearing down and traveling to and from these events.  When we were in the planning stages of our storefront, we decided to take this opportunity to change names and rebrand.  Leisure Time Designs is now The Stave and Barrel.  See all of our products under one roof next time you visit Holland, Michigan!

An Authentic Bourbon Must Be Aged in a New Barrel; Therefore, the Barrels Cannot Be Used More Than Once. Breweries Have Been Purchasing These Used Barrels to Make Their Bourbon Aged Beers. Breweries Use the Barrels Once or Twice but Then the Flavor They Are Looking for is Gone. That is When We Come Into Play! We Purchase the Barrels From Local Breweries and Wineries, and Process Them Into Our Products. We Love Supporting Local and Repurposing the Barrels.