Bike Shed

 

Dining Chairs - restoration

I found these two chairs by a communal bin.  I think they’re made of oak. They were badly broken (someone had tried to do a repair job), upholstered in a funky zebra print material, and the melamine seat panels were rotten as they’d been out in the rain.

I started by taking out the seat panels and using them as a template to cut new seat panels out of some salvaged ½ inch plywood (also found by a bin!)

Ottoman

Ottoman built from salvaged wooden pallet wood donated by a local company, apart from the top which was made from half a scaffold board from Mitchells’ reclamation yard in Norwich.  

Stained in dark teak and finished in Briwax.  Built for personal use.

Two Tables

Found an old dining table top by some bins near a council estate. Someone had cut the side off it and used a varnish on the top which was peeling off pretty badly and for some reason written “Lee” on the bottom of it.  

I decided to make two small square tables out of it, one low coffee table and one higher, side table for my living room.  

I bought some 2 x 2 inch pine for the legs from Thornes DIY shop in Norwich city centre, and used some old pine bed slats that I had in my shed to make the rest of the structures.

Media Unit

Made this TV unit from old floorboards that a neighbour was ripping out of his house, and a friend tipped me off.   Some of the boards were split but nothing a bit of wood glue can’t fix and the wood had bags of character - knocks, bumps and nail holes.  The drawer came from an old seventies plywood bit of furniture that I found near a bin on a council estate.  I made a new front for it to match the rest of the wood and just added the drawer runners (from eBay) and a new handle (from Wilkinsons).  

Large Cat Tree

Cat tree.  Made from a log found at Mousehold Heath in Norwich.  Stripped all the bark off, bleached the wood to kill anything that might have been lurking inside.  Hinges made from scraps of timber.  Shelves made from floorboards found in my loft.  Base made from scaffold boards.  

Stained in dark teak and finished in satin varnish. Made for my best buddy and housemate in the whole world, Dylan the handsome cat.

Later added fairy lights, rope to the bottom to use as a scratching post, and carpeted the second shelf (his favourite).

Memory Box Wedding Gift

Wooden “memory box”.  Build using pallet wood for the sides and wood from the top and bottom were floorboards found in my loft.  

Front clip and hinges were distressed using various acids - bleach and vinegar from my kitchen and steel wool to give them a patina and an antique-ish look!  

A wedding gift for my lovely friends Sean and Hannah

Bird On A Branch

Birds on Branches - I made two of these - another attempt at carving!  

Birds carved from some offcuts, twigs were from a tree, base is pallet wood with a green stain applied.  Both finished in a satin varnish.  

Shabby Chic Bedside Bookcase

Shabby chic bedside bookcase. Made from a mixture of woods - plywood for the trims, reclaimed pallet wood for shelves, wood from Mitchells’ reclamation yard in Norwich for top and sides, purchased architrave for the sides, purchased decorative mouldings from eBay and purchased handle from Looses in Norwich.  Drawer reclaimed from another piece of furniture, I just fitted the runners for it and built the unit around it.  

Back decorative paper is wrapping paper from Jarrolds.  A gift for my lovely girlfriend Ria.

Cromer Pier Coffee Table with shelf

Cromer Pier coffee table.  Made from planks from Cromer Pier in Norfolk, which were being replaced by contractors.  Luckily, Alexandra Bone salvaged 11 planks.  She posted on Twitter asking if anyone knew a carpenter, and a friend of mine saw the post and introduced us.  Wood was beautifully weathered but covered in algae and took some considerable cleaning and sanding, but the aim was to not remove too much character from the wood.  Screw heads were retained in the wood.  

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