Day Three

So I've put some wood in the hole! Should make the hall a touch warmer eh.

New loft access door

and rustic catch

The planks are alternated so that the natural cupping of the boards with cancel each other out over the width of the door. An expedite job!

and winter is coming!

Day two

Awkward bits filled in!

Ok so I cheated and used planks because I ran out of plaster board, but hey I like it. Bistro Chic!

Day one

All this furniture makings and general messing around is all very well, but it doesn't get the baby a new hallway as they say ;) So back to the business in hand for the final pre-Christmas "big push". Oh and please don't go back and look how many times in this blog I've said that eek!

So the hallway as it stands today as of 21h00

Pretty well in hand eh! Well it's this last picture that is of concern. Tricky little blighter above the stair well. This is the bit that is oh sooo easy to think; you know what I'll do the rest and leave that little bit and come back and do it later. I guarantee that most renovations have that one bit, the bit that Laurence Llewelyn Bowen would pin a chic bit of purple velvet over to cover it up!! Problem is if I leave it it will be 10 years before it gets done. So carpe diem! Well not now .... tomorrow its getting done.....or maybe the next day!

Finished chest

Complete with retro handles

And working drawers - woot!

Oh yeah and I made a light fitting while I was at it.

Retro 2

It's a work in progress!

Oh and a little blue sky

Oakland CA

Start out with trees

To make the frame for a 60's style chest of drawers. The frame below, strapped up with blocks on the corners while the glue dries. 

Mitered corners for that super clean look ...nice, if you like that sort of thing!

And some legs

Retro angled legs at that!

Glue dry and ready for some drawers

Mid century with a hint of gothic

I've been making things...again. This time I made this for Sarah, I hope she likes it!

Turns out the floor in my kitchen is the only flat surface in my house where I could test assemble the bed

I made this from some oak I got from the local saw mill. It started life as slices of tree; like a whole tree cut into 27mm slices. The trees are cut from local forests in a sustainable management program so new trees are planted for each one cut down. This one has been air drying for about 5 years so hopefully it wont move or split.

And I couldn't help doing a little machined quatrafoil in the headboard for a hint of gothic

It's quite a lot of work, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result. I still find it amazing when I look at something like this, that you can start with dull rough timber and it comes out like this. The transformation when you plane it and reveal the grain gives it a whole new life.   

Water Lilies

Painting by Rachel.

Composition by Claude Monet. 

Frame in oak with a natural shellac French polish and waxed 

Clamping down!

Here is a small project I've been working on. For the avoidance of doubt, its a bed I'm making in oak. I'm using locally grown and sourced timber from the saw mill down the road. So far I've made and glued up the head and foot boards. If I get some time tomorrow evening I might join it all together.

My table is about that flattest thing I've got and pretty handy for clamping stuff to.

As usual, webbing straps are brilliant for clamping stuff together! When you're not using them for that you can even tie stuff to your roof bars with them :) 

Friday afternoon in August

Prague 2016

As small taste