April

A project that I have been working on for the past 3 years. This is a fireside chair, finished in worn beige paint, with cream canvas upholstery.

Originally this was a mess, with previous restoration and recovering attempts creating more problems by previous owners. So when I was presented with this chair by my sister, I tried to avoid wasting time on reupholstering it. But now, after stripping the chair back to the frame, I rebuilt it and used new feature foam instead of the spring base and full foamed back. The canvas gives the chair an informal nature and has feature stitching to match the leather lounge suite that it sits next to.

April

This simple, antiquated dining set was given an updated new look. For the past 15 years the old Oak dining table has been in storage awaited the top to be reconstructed. In March I rebuilt the top, and refinished it in a hard wearing and much more contemporary white pearl semi-gloss finish. There are accent beige strips in legs to highlight the colum style carving and provide a transition into the colour of the chairs, which are a stronger beige colour.

The chairs are more of a worn beige finish to provide a false aged look similar to that of chairs available at faux antique stores in Auckland. They have been transformed from the 1980, dark brown finish and are now more lighter looking in appearance to hide the physical weight of each chair. They upholstery is a shiny cream/beige polyester fabric that reflects light like the semi-gloss finish of the table.

The inspiration came from Marie Antoinette and Louis 16 furniture, with the pale painted colours of latter period Petit Triannon chairs and tables showing what can be done with more ornate, old style forms.

April

This is a continuation of the "Retro, Almost 80s, Arts and Crafts, Contemporary" themed furniture. The transition from CAD to realised 3D was easy due to the simple nature of this furniture, like the ottoman.

The hard-edged ubilquitous box frame works well with the hall table/sofa table function of this piece of furniture. The feature chrome legs are cut at a 45 degree angle to provide stability and adjustability, while implying a continuation up through the void space in the sides to the top chrome supports. The basic materials used are easy to convert, with the chrome tubing being recycled from other defunct furniture, and the pine wood can be recut or used again for something new.

March

I have now finished the ottoman, with the newly painted black finished wood. However, I am thinking about new upholstery, as this colour no longer is appealing. The current trends for white or pale colours and bold patterns have changed my opinion in regards to colours.

The black frame blends with other interior items, such as my 'new' black metal dining table, that utilise minimal resources to produce a strong and supportive frame.

February

Wharfedale Diamond 9.

I bought a speaker package in February as the first step in the upgrading of my audio equipment. The speakers are multi award winning, with high-quality sound, and finished in Cherry veneer.

Diamond 9.1 (multi award winning)
Diamond 9.5 (a great pair of floor standing speakers)
Diamond 9 CS (great middle range centre speaker)
Diamond 9 SW150 (2 award winning subwoofers for great bass)

The kevlar and silk dome speakers produce a natural sound that recreate all the small sounds in movie sound tracks, while not over emphasising the vocal tracks or bass tones. I now have 2 subwoofers that fill the room with bass that is both natural and loud. I have become addicted to buying more of these speakers, so I now hunt through websites and stores for more great bargan Wharfedale Diamonds.

November

This is a photo of the Ottoman that I completed. The drawing of the object in a CAD programme helped visualise the end result. The joints are mortise and tennon, and I thought that they would be easier to create than the reality of the situation. However I am happy with the level of effort that I put into it, and it is a good quality ottoman that will last a long time.

November

In the past few days I have been learning to use a new computer aided design program that I down loaded from the internet. It is Google Sketchup, and it is a simple, and easy to use tool that can allow me to visually create a design before it becomes 3D.

This is a picture of what I am currently creating, an ottoman made from pine wood, with an orange upholstered top and chrome metal castors. It is a basic design, but it allows me to work on developing my skills with tools. I have utilised mortise and tennon joints for the construction of the base, hopefully making it strong enough for the weight of two people. It is a good project to fill in time now before the end of the year, when I can think about new projects for 2009.