furniture - some examples

This ten-seat Maple table is in the showroom and ready for sale right now. It measures 8 feet (2.4 metres) long and 3 feet (90 cm) wide. It is inlaid with two curved pieces of Birch wood to stunning effect - though it is not easy to see that detail from the photograph on the left - so there’s a close up of the centre below.   The draw is dovetailed and features a hand finished moulded edge. Even the foot rail is sculptured. £1950

This trunk is made from Scottish Bur Elm and antique Greenheart (the darker wood here). Greenheart is an incredibly hard wood, and so dense it doesn’t float. The straps, too, are made from Greenheart which has been first steamed, and then laminated into shape resulting in a nice spring action on closing, and a satisfying ‘clunk’ as the straps locate themselves over their securing pins. This trunk is sold...but I could make you something similar. The Greenheart used here was felled in the 1800’s. More available

This solid Oak Mullioned Trunk is so heavy it takes two people to lift it. Oak makes me think of Medieval Oak Framed Halls with their mullioned windows, like the Halls this box will still be around in 400 years!. The side panels of this trunk are very nearly two inches (50 mm) thick. The lid is inlaid with strips of Oak and a Bur Oak lifting plate; it is lovely to look at and offers daily use as an ‘occasional’ table. The wood has been oiled then waxed to a nut-brown lustre. £940

This ‘Sea’ Trunk is built from Oak and Elm - Oak in thin strips, Elm wider. It features a curved wood-hinged lid, and straps made to look like leather, but actually laminated wood which locates over a couple of pins into its closed position. It is large enough to store loads of bedding, etc. Its unusual shape and style of build would make it an interesting feature in any bedroom or large bathroom - I imagine it would look stunning at the foot of a double bed. £840

Another Elm chair with a Tudor appearance nears completion in the workshop.  Later it was oiled and waxed; the oil instantly turns Elm a delicious nut-brown colour. It is very quirky and didn’t spend many days in the showroom until it sold...furniture like this gets people talking. If you’d like something similar - let me know.

This solid Oak three-seater garden bench with its stylish end boards is really comfortable. The owners requested that the bench incorporates ‘somewhere to put glasses of gin and tonic’ whilst admiring for hours the view from their garden; and accordingly the tenon of the front seat board, you might notice, continues through the end board to offer a clever little shelf at perfect table height! The mortice and tenon joints feature a clever wedge to make absolutely certain that they stay in place no matter what the climate. The wood has been left bare.

This bench was built for a Boutique Hotel here on Islay called An Taigh-osda which has quickly built up a great reputation for food. A great deal of thought has gone into design in the hotel, and accordingly the proprietors, Paul and Joan Graham, wanted an interesting bench for the front garden. Because the hotel is right on the beach, the style of this bench seems appropriate. The solid oak boards have been treated with garden furniture oil which leaves a glossy finish and is UV resitant. I have also painted resin on the ‘shoes’ of the piece so that it is not prone to drawing up moisture from the ground, and discolouring. It is much admired by all who sit on it gazing out to sea.