Monday 14 May 2012

For the love of wood

For so many years now I have wanted to learn the craft of woodworking but have just never seemed to have the time to get round to it.  I love wood - the feel of it, the look of it, even the smell of it.  Each piece of wood is so unique and you almost get the feeling it could tell a few stories if it could talk.  A couple of weeks ago I found a tutorial on  countrygirlhome.blogspot.co.uk for a beautiful but very rustic sofa table.  I knew straightaway that this had to be my first project.  We live in an old Victorian house and all our radiators are the genuine deal - big, bulky, cast iron and gun metal grey.  I appreciate their authenticity but they are not pretty to look at and we have a big one right in our entrance.  There is just not a lot I could do to disguise it until country girl home came to my rescue.  I came up with the plan to make my table to fit over the radiator  and while you would still see the radiator underneath it, it would allow me to add some interest to the hallway.  I mentioned in passing to my husband that I was going to make a table and he looked at me strangely but knows better than to say too much.  He watched with mounting doubt as I arrived home with my pieces of wood, screws, brackets, varnish etc.  My 5 year old son, however was over the moon - his Mum was really a builder!!  Hubby went off on a business trip for the week and I set to work - not really thinking through how I was going to manage on my own.  I spent a lot of time sanding each piece down using my mini sander - not too difficult yet.  The time came to start putting the pieces together and I discovered there is a certain knack to using an electric drill/screwdriver.  The main one being that there is a reverse button for taking screws out which I almost always seemed to have the wrong way round.  The first couple of pieces went together and then it got more difficult to hold each piece square and drill at the same time so I had to wait for my 5 year old assistant to come home from school to help hold the pieces.  We got the base finished and the first coat of walnut varnish on for hubby's arrival home. " That looks nice", he said "are you going to put a top on it"?  No comment!!  I bought a beautiful piece of wood for the top, fixed it on, finished off with the walnut stain and ta da .... my first woodwork project.  I have no doubt that a purist would look at the table and find many, many faults but for me it is the feeling of achievement that makes it all worthwhile - and it is straight, square and strong and very, very rustic. 

                                                                         

Now you know why I had to do something!!

2 comments:

  1. OMG that is a wonderful achievement and I love the fact that you included your son as your work mate. Well done you and keep up the good work. Zx

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    1. Thanks so much Zoe for all your comments. It is nice to know that someone other than family is reading my blog.

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