Radiator Bench

I finished off a bench over a radiator today.

 made out of sapele with storage underneath, it finishes off the porch nicely. It's going to have a dark stain applied to it and a brass socket where I've left the plastic back box.

The end section slides up to allow access to the soil pipe behind and the wire to the socket

Storage at one end, ideal for shoes etc. The other side lifts up to allow access to the radiator

Testing it out. Complete with Cheesy grin!

Quite pleased with this little project. It goes well with the feel of the room (the expensive tiles on the floor and the limestone window sills) and it's one of the first things people will see when they walk into this grand house.

Wood Panelling An Arch

The last couple of days I've been panelling an archway to look like some of the other doorways in this old farm house. When I got given this job I knew I was going to enjoy it and the finished project was going to look good.

The bare arch. Here I've added the first piece of veneered MDF as the backing



The beginnings of the panelling. Sapele strips added to build up the look of panels and bendy ply added to the curve.

A tricky bit of wood here. This Curved piece had to be laminated out of thin strips then glued up in a jig and left over night



Attaching the beading to the inside of the panels

A thin architrave is added around the outside. I used a laminate trimmer in the router to make this flush with the arch. I then routed the moulding on the inside edge

Kerfing out the back of the beading then adding boiling water to get it to bend around the tight curve

The finished arch with another layer of architrave added around the outside

This curved beading was the hardest part of the whole project but it was worth it for how it looks now it's in!

The finished arch

 

At the end of today I was really pleased with how it all looked now it's finished. I'm also looking forward to seeing the customers reaction when they come up next week.

All that's needed now is for the painters to give it a coat of paint and hopefully people will think it's an original feature of the house.

I do love being a carpenter!

Fitted Book Shelves

I fitted this book shelf a couple of weeks ago, fitted into an alcove in one of the bedrooms.

 I made them out of Sapele with brass strips either side, so the height of the shelves can be adjusted to suit the books it's holding.

Painted up they work quite well in the room, although I think I'd have them fitted down to the floor if they were mine.

Vanity Unit

Started to build a vanity unit this week.
A fairly simple design, I just building a desk type unit in an alcove (which I'll later add doors to) and a shelving unit above.
 

Routing the housings to hold the shelves

 For the shelving unit I housed in all the shelves using the little Bosch router. This was the only way of doing it as the unit had to be assembled in it final place, as things like architrave being in the way prevented me from lifting it in as one. Also housing the shelves in makes the unit much stronger than just being screwed.

There will be doors fitted on the bottom section

 This was all made out of sapele again. Still not my favourite wood in the world, but it's a strong hardwood and ideal if it's going to be painted like this is.

A solid set of shelves