I started making furniture because I was looking for something useful to do with timber off cuts which were too small to use for building. It seemed a shame to burn all that good timber. One of my first projects was a small stool .The design came from Jack Hill's excellent book Country Chair Making. I still have the stool and it has survived all kinds of abuse. I continue to make these stools although over the years they have evolved, and the more recent stools are a lot more 'organic' than the earlier ones. I followed the stool with the armchair on the right here.

It seems pretty pointless to replicate work which can be done better and more efficiently by machine and so the furniture I make tends to have a deliberate hand made look. I mainly use pine which I think is greatly under rated .It can have beautiful grain, is light and strong, it's durable if properly used and protected and it's inexpensive. I tend to make furniture which is strong and can stand hard use. The wear and tear of everyday use should make it more interesting as it ages. Over time it should acquire personality and eventually like an old friend bring us pleasure just by its presence..

Although we all benefit from the efficiencies of mass production there can be something sterile about machine cut precision. Homes which have nothing but modern mass manufactured furniture and appliances can seem a bit bleak and impersonal. I think we should all have some hand made items. They add personality to our homes and in small but important ways enrich our lives.

The basis of charging for furniture we make is a reasonable hourly rate and the cost of the materials. It's not possible to be competitive for all types of furniture .We can make book cases very reasonably but chests of drawers are very labour intensive and therefore expensive.

One of the nice things about making furniture is that in developing these skills we are able to bring them to bear in the building work we do and it's easy for us to make built in cupboards or kitchen units when we renovate a home. This often allows much more flexibility than using modular manufactured furniture which very often doesn't fit properly especially in small cottages and the like. Having this capability opens up a lot more scope in the design of homes and can create exciting opportunities.

 

Table with Tree Stump Pedestal

I felt the organic nature of the table served as a counterpoint to the mathematical precision and clean lines of the room, and that each complemented the other. I liked the table, but would Colin and Becky feel the same? Their delight when they first saw the table reassured me instantly. The big bonus is that I could never possibly make another one the same.

 

Dining Room Suite

This was the first dining room suite we were commissioned to make. The set is entirely hand crafted from pine and finished with beeswax. The set consists of four chairs, two end carving chairs, and an extremely solid single piece table.

We hand carved the exterior edges of all the finished pieces to give a more rounded and organic look to the furniture. This finishing gives each piece it's own individuality, and the rounded contours of the wood will I'm sure develop a gorgeous patina of polish and wear as it ages.
 

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a honking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Alternatively, choose a jolly little stool...

... or a comfy handmade bed.

 

We can also make up cupboards and cabinets to your specification. Shown below is a bathroom cabinet that houses a sink unit above, and also a cupboard door that lets into a storage area within the upstairs comb space in a cottage.