A small rustic shelf made from reclaimed pine. It measures 30″ High by 17″ Wide.
Furniture repair and alteration
This a project from 2010 which I have just gotten around to posting about. It’s a 19th century reclaimed pine piece from a chapel somewhere in Nova Scotia. It looks like it’s in a gothic revival style, the carving is impressive and must have taken quite a while to do at the time. The plan was to add a base, install drawers and use the piece as a feature sideboard/buffet. As usual posting some images taken during construction to give you an idea of the process.
One of the first things to do was to take apart, repair and reinforce the structure. Added extra support for the drawer on both sides.
I built a new platform shown above to help support the top sections. Screwed the top sections to the platform so that the drawers opened and closed smoothly.
The photo above shows installed drawers and some furniture repair work in progress. I custom made the drawers out of poplar and attached pine fronts.
Here are the new support bases. Laminated mdf and added inset molding details to give them some character. Mdf is sometimes frowned upon but it is nice to work with, except for the dust.
After installation… turned out really well.
Medicine Cabinet: One more thing off the list.
Made this medicine cabinet for our bathroom. It’s a simple painted cabinet with a slab door with a cross shaped reveal, which gives the door some visual interest.
Allowed extra room at the bottom for large containers and a made a cutout instead of using a knob (bottom left).
Danish furniture refinishing before and after
Here’s a nice danish style coffee table made by Gibbard Craftsmens Est 1935. I wasn’t able to find out too much information on the piece. It must have been part of a line that the Napanee based Gibbard made, or a group of craftsmen that broke away from the original company. The original Gibbard was founded in 1835 and use to make top notch furniture and case goods until they closed recently. Anyway, it’s a nice looking table. It had some black water stains on the top so decided to remove all the finish off. Normally I don’t recommend doing this as it can decrease the value dramatically. In this case the damage was extensive and easier to completely redo. It turned out that hiding under the brown stain and lacquer was some nice book matched cherry veneer on the top. The legs and apron are all solid cherry as well. It’s amazing the difference in quality between a piece that was mass produced 40 years ago and the equivalent new pieces that are sold today.
Hand rubbed a few coats of oil based finish and it turned out really well.
For sale. Send me an email if interested.
Computer Desk
We recently moved and needed a new desk for our pc and accessories. It’s a simple design with no drawers, made from oak. I built a separate box on wheels for the pc tower, it’s easier to pull it out to get access to back when needed rather than pull-out the whole desk. The tower unit is separate as we’ll need a replacement computer soon and will probably get a laptop.
The tower part under construction.
The finished desk and tower cabinet.
Also was working on a small jewellery box. The front after gluing.
The box under construction, clamped up after assembly.
The finished piece before painting.
Receptacles for the respectable
Some new stuff from the workshop, pen holders made from baltic birch and business card holders made from cherry.
$45 for the pen holders.
$25 for the business card holders.
Storage units for small stuff
New storage units made from pine and painted a bright yellow. They’re designed to hold keys and phones. You can move the dowels around and add extra if needed.
Makes life easier to place all the small electronic stuff in one place after work.
Different versions in stock, contact for pricing or check out the shop.
Beaches Art and Crafts June 11th and 12th
Some pictures from the weekend at the beaches art and crafts show.
Some of the merchandise.
Custom drinks cabinet and other things
Presently painting and staining this liquor cabinet. It’s designed to hold spirits as well as wine bottles with a drawer for corkscrews, coasters and other accessories .
It comes in three parts and the middle section is at counter height for mixing drinks. There will be a shelf for glasses in the top section when it’s completed.
I have used this rust red and dark brown colour scheme before. I bought a random can of red in the mis-tint section of the paint store, I liked it and have used it on a lot of pieces since. It goes well with the brown stain to create a pretty masculine look.
Will be finished in a couple of days and will post some photos.
Also working on some smaller items for a couple of craft shows in the summer. The shelves above are for storing small things like keys, sunglasses and phones. Participating in the Beaches (http://beachesartsandcraftsshow NULL.com/information-for-visitors) Art and Craft Show, June 11th and 12th in Toronto at Kew Gardens Park. Making lots of items such as coffee tables, footstools and coat-hooks for the shows.
Feel free to stop by if you’re in the area.
Danish Chair Repair
Recently fixed a teak danish armchair and sofa which were a bit wobbly and needed some attention. They were both good quality pieces from the 60′s, made from solid teak and generally in good shape. The armchair had to be taken apart, the old glue scraped off and re-glued in stages over a few days.
Afterwards I lightly cleaned it up and did some touch-ups to worn areas on the arms as shown above.
The sofa was broken where the rear leg attaches to seat part. It also required gluing and clamping.
Plugged the damaged area with wood after the glue dried and reattached the leg.
And it’s back in action.