The Workshop in Review, 2016 (5).

Always Something Going Down.

Rietveld chairs. suitable for front porches too!

Rietveld chairs were first built in the Netherlands (by Gerrit Rietveld, furniture maker, 1930s), likely from lumber originally used in furniture crates. Clean, straight lines dominate the design, and if the seat and back rest are angled properly, the Rietveld crate chair is one that you will relax in, for hours at a time.

Lots of measuring, cutting, sanding, assembling required. End result, however, is worth the effort.

Ready to take outside to see if the angles are A1. Yup!!

Back to birdhouses.... some models have almost as many pieces as a Rietveld chair. Lots of measuring, cutting, sanding, painting, assembling etc. The workshop is always busy, always something going down.

Old cedar birdhouses made from slats....

Occasionally someone asks, "Can you fix my birdhouses?"

 New roof - all done

The next one was in similar condition.... bad!

 Roof and front porch was destroyed!

Front door and roof look better....

Some damaged birdhouses can enjoy a long second life

More to follow from 2016.

Please link to The Workshop in Review, 2016 (4).

Photos GH

Little Library: Little Repairs (1).

Okay, It's Not a Swing!

 Not a Jungle Jim.

Door repaired, but the custom colour of paint is gone!!

The thick cedar lumber can take just about any kind of abuse.... from the weather. The door is not as thick and robust, and suffered at the hands of a wee girl who wanted to hang and swing on the door. And somebody swiped the custom sign! Ouch!

I have a few repairs to do now, related to the damaged door and twisted hinges. Fresh paint and new signage are also on the agenda.

From 2014....

Poor snake. Is he hiding in the grass?

Please link to Little Library: Final Touches (4).

The Workshop in Review, 2016 (4).

Up, Up, and Away

A second life for a child's airplane.

Tonka Toys builds good airplanes. And I did not want to send one to a recycling centre before I gave some thought to recycling it myself. Last spring an idea bloomed.

 I had several wee birdhouses and one rare birdcage stand

Together they made a winning combination

 Red cedar houses dressed to the nines:

A batch of colourful white pine houses:

2016 was a busy year in the workshop. Paint-filled, I say.

More to follow.

Please link to The Workshop in Review, 2016 (3).

The Workshop in Review, 2016 (3).

A Rescued Chair and Several "Favourites"

 I fell in love with a "tossed away treasure" (Photo - March 27)

This lovely chair now resides at Cranberry Cottage, PEI

While out for a walk in late March, 2016, I spotted four chairs sitting on an Orchard Street boulevard. Unwanted, I suppose.

I sat down upon the well-armed captain's chair and found it was just my size. And it came home with me, balanced upon my head. I painted it, along with my father's four-legged stool (to match), and carried it by car - 2,000 miles east - to its current home in PEI.

Spring time I spent busily and happily inside my workshop, building up inventory for Gathering on the Green in June and other future sales. I made several models "by the batch" and soon had basement shelves full.

 These small ones dot the surrounding area. Only one remains.

 My "bread and butter", small red cedar houses

 Occasionally I turn leftover lumber into log cabins

 Hefty duplexes are manufactured when the mood strikes

White cedar condo is trimmed with old western cedar

More to follow.

Please link to The Workshop in Review, 2016 (2).

Photos GH

The Workshop in Review, 2016 (2).

Gray Barnboards from PEI - Top Rate.

Only enough lumber for three or four models

I remember the day in PEI, visiting my sister Lannie and her hubby Jim, that I spotted a small number of 5-inch wide slats of gray barnboard in Jim's 'burn pile'. They were soon rescued, safely tucked into the back of a truck - and once back in London - carted into my workshop.

I produced a few good-sized 'PEI-style' birdhouses, and they didn't last long. At my next birdhouse sale the rustic, solid, PEI lumber was a big hit.

Gray barnboard and western cedar, a nice combo.

The good-sized model inspired a somewhat smaller one, using the last of my own gray barnboard. I used white pine slats for roofs and painted them up and stacked them up - and they didn't last long as well.

Seven birdhouses waiting for granite counter tops and wifi connections : )

I have one left of each size and will save them for Gathering on The Green (big Old South event and vendors' sale) in June.

Please link to The Workshop in Review, 2016 (1).

Photos GH

The Workshop in Review, 2016 (1).

From Last to First in One Fell Swoop.

I found two chairs on the curb. "Clean us up," they said. 

In December, 2015, while out for a walk, I found two old deck chairs (made of teak and metal) on a curb. I dragged them home with plans to sand and varnish the lumber, clean up and paint the rusted metal, and then reassemble them and sell them for a million dollars.

Sometime early in the New Year, 2016 I felt I had stared at them long enough and returned them to the curb, this time in front of my house. They were soon gone and are now long forgotten.

Instead of cleaning up the chairs at year's end (2015), I tidied up the shop and swept in the New Year with a party. Sun of a Gunderson, that was a much better way to welcome 2016 than stripping two old chairs.

Well-lit Workshop, January 2016

Photo files indicate that my first project for 2016 began in March and consisted of a big batch of cedar and pine birdhouses.

An even dozen?

Please link to The First Batch of the Season

Photos GH