Nitty Gritty Furniture Design and Restoration

01/12/2019

This lovely customer had us build a beautiful hard Maple extension dining table set a few years ago. More recently they asked for two matching narrow dish cupboards to fit smaller spaces on either side of wide sliding patio doors at the back of the dining room. Simple and elegant, these richly stained cupboards gave much needed storage. Another delighted customer.

01/11/2019

Often times space, function, and design requirements dictate custom needs. This customer had a very specific look he wanted, combined with dimensional constraints and a need for maximum file storage in a rolling file cabinet.
However, the single double depth file drawer wasn't practical as it would tip the cabinet forward when pulled out, so we added a fifth wheel directly to the front of the drawer bottom and notched it into the cabinet floor. That allowed the drawer to pull out 24" without impacting the stability of its cabinet. We also raised the front apron of the desk to provide space on the file cabinet top, as a credenza top, to store files.

Grey washed contemporary Maple desk & 5 wheeled double-depth file cabinet/credenza

01/10/2019

Grey washed contemporary Maple desk & 5 wheeled double-depth file cabinet/credenza

07/20/2016

Three months after starting to take the horse apart, it's finally put back together. It needs to be stripped of the wax on it's body and more of the paint removed in the carved details.

The client will do that before she applies a coat or two of gesso and then repainting the horse to bring it back to it's original glory. A satisfying but massive project well done!

07/20/2016

A good, but small example of the challenges in restoring this horse are shown in it's right ear. It is an original ear, unlike the left one which was a poor replacement along the way.

The right ear as broken in two pieces and was easily moved in it's position. Taking it off caused another break, so there were three pieces that had to be repaired. It was no wonder the difficulty in removing it, as there were four nails holding it in place, including a 4" nail.

Once cleaned up and glue removed, the pieces were individually reglued. As the ear was so fragile due to nail holes and missing wood, we decided that dowelling it back on was the best solution. Three deep dowels were glued into place. Once the excess was cut off, the dowels were carved back flush to the ear and filled as the rest of the horse.

A big job for a small part!

07/20/2016

This particular client researched across Canada for the finest cabinet maker to build a very specific cabinet he desired in 2013. It was to house his collection of wood samples, over 750 different samples. The cabinet design was very specific in terms of the need to maximize storage in a narrow spot, have grace and excellent function. We had to search carefully for all the wood and particularly for the one wide piece of Tiger Maple that was to make up all the drawer fronts in the cabinet.

It also had to have very tight tolerance, undermount slides, be built out of nothing but solid "hard" Maple, and have hand cut dovetails and a hidden compartment above!

While he knew a lot about us, he drove over two hours from his home in Southwestern Ontario to interview us, and decide we were the best and only place he would trust for this work.

We spent seven months in the design phase, not helped by the fact that everything had to be mailed to him, as he didn't have a computer or a fax.

The first cabinet was a huge success, and we talked about building a dish cupboard next, in the same style.

It therefore came as a surprise when he wrote to us and asked us to build a second semanier. Fortunately we had all the plans, but it still took about eight weeks alone to find another Tiger Maple board that would be a perfect fit for his drawer fronts.

With two successes for this client already, we're looking forward to building his massive Chippendale dish cupboard.

07/20/2016

Once the parets were reglued, there was so much missing wood, that auto body filler was used to fill the gaps and create a smooth continuous surface. However, filling many of the gaps required 3 or 4 or even 5 times to create both a smooth surface and a natural flow.
Every coat of filler required lots of time sanding, and or chiselling back to create the natural shape required.

07/20/2016

Rebuilding the horse started with regluing the body frame together. Shrinkage and dried out glue had resulted in gaps all around. Heavy clamps and new glue provided a stabilizing influence to the body.

07/20/2016

Putting everything back together was in some cases straight forward and in others complicated because of extra pieces that had been added along the way which distorted the original design. Once the original pieces were deduced thewre was still the problem of alighment. The wood had shrunk over the years and the natural body lines wewre impacted. The neck is a good example, and it had to be shimmed up by 1/4-3/8" in order that with filler in place, the neck lines would flow properly.

Most elements were glued together, but major pieces were also screwed into place, like the neck, saddles and top of the rump. The forelegs also had some screws to support them.

07/20/2016

This table was clearly showing it's age. Almost all the finish was worn off the top, the top sagged when extended and the small wooden wheels on the pedestal were a problem. We removed the wheels and added oak feet to the pedestal. We removed the small platten on top of the pedestal and added a 1" thick, much longer platten to support the extended top. Then we refinished it with urethane for durability. Next project? The chairs!