Blue Nightstand
Above: Recycled wood from old stairs. Added brass handles and finished with vintage look.
Lolli bench
Above: The Bench used all recycled woods. Back area was made from oak tree, frame part wood was recycled from stair rail. Legs part came from the same oak tree. We call it Lolli Bench because back area looks like Lollipop candy.
Dining table
Above:4 hours Dinning table: Acacia contour top to be dinning table-top, added 4 x4 pine with whitewash legs.
Sideboard
Above:Construction pine with chalk paint. Make it fancy.
This is 2×12 pine from https://www.homedepot.com, mostly used for construction. We use this lumber a lot for furniture. We make from this very plain pine and after sand smooth. Inside, we chose a wood stain mixed with timber oil which is my favorite stain color. Outside, we used chalk paint from Home Depot. The first coat was chalk white and second coat was chalk blue as you can see. I sanded some part and then used white wax first to cover some blue color. Last, I used dark color wax to finish and give an antique look. Color part is whatever you feel like painting. Brass door handles purchased from https://www.amazon.com.
Plywood Chairs
Above:Construction plywood chairs with canvas cushion. Make it fancy.
Construction plywood $29.67 fromhttps://www.homedepot.com, added oak tree branches for legs. turn to a pair of sofa chairs.
Footstool
Above: A lot of irregular wood left. Could be firewood, or sanded smooth to be a piece of furniture.
Farmhouse Table
Above: Decor for the holiday.
Above: Farmhouse table with “Lollipop stool”.We got just enough for a good size in kitchen corner.
Above: Process: table top wood picked up from street tree cut down by the city. They call it elm wood. My husband cut into slabs and then let them dry for a while. Mostly it would be put into a wood chipper, but we turned into a traditional wood table.Table legs used oak wood we had saved. Whole table handmade and took a long time, tung oil finished.
“Lollipop Stool”
Above: We saved many small pieces wood many of them are natural shape. Since we started making something from wood, we loved all kind wood. Just need spend some time to take care and it can be a masterpiece.
Above: Any shape wood can be used, stool made from live oak, totally natural shape, we like its looks.
Wood plant stand
Above: Made for a plant stand but can be a beautiful coffee table too.
Above: Many times found this is magic after sanded wood smooth all turn to beautiful pieces. Frame made by 2×2 plain pine therefore added more supporting pieces to make more stable.
Above: We had the frame already and we have these oak slabs. Because it was cracking from weather and drying, filled in with wood dust and resin mix.
Modern bench & chairs
Even normal materials but we can make it fancy!
Above: After bench was finished, we continued to make two matching chairs. I am furniture making addict.
Above: Oak plywood and solid white oak combination set. Oak plywood from https://www.homedepot.com. First wanted a simple bench for the bedroom. Used pine for edging of the plywood. The frame under the seat and legs are solid oak. After outlining the shape I wanted to add some natural elements. So we made the arms with oak natural branches, sanded smooth then painted antique gold for decoration.
Natural Wood Butcher Block
First attempt we made with three legs, installed with wood dowel to join together. We brought in and then decided it needed four legs for more function. Round sides and legs we used tung oil finish, butcher block surface of the top we kept natural.
We made few furniture pieces from natural wood, we mostly followed the wood shape to decide what we would make. Wood round is just as good as butcher block top, to support the heavy top we used more thick natural wood branches.
Above:We saved lots of natural woods, first is peeling bark of wood then let it dry for a while until we have idea about what we will do with it.
When city was trimming trees we asked for some free oak trunk pieces. One oak trunk we cut to 4 pieces with a chainsaw and made 2 irregular shape chairs. Use for kitchen dinning area seating for 2 people.
WOOD DIVIDER
Wood divider is finished. Our newest projects all start using the cheapest lumber which we purchasehttps://www.homedepot.com . The hinges are the same. For the hinges I chose antique brass spay paint.
Mostly we use regular pine because the price is not expensive, and it is still solid wood. The frame of this divider still used construction grade pine. You can choose other lumber too. Every time test new tools to make job easy. We used a dado blade in the table saw to cut the joint slots. Once the inner pieces were joined and fitted, we used wood dowels and glue to connect the inner pieces to the frame. This time we stained teak oil instead of regular stain.
PIE SAFE
New pie safe just finished. Our newest projects all start using the cheapest lumber which we purchased fromhttps://www.homedepot.com . The hinges and wire are the same. For the wire I chose antique brass spay paint.
Mostly we use regular pine, because price is not expensive and it is still solid wood. Frame of pie safe is construction grade pine. Using this lumber we spend less but will work more time with sanding to make the lumber surface more smooth. Door we used select pine. I always stained wood with special walnut color (walnut stain but added some gunstock stain).
The outside is painted with cream white and wax finished. We call this a pie safe but it can be used for a bookcase.
HUSBAND WORKS WITH WOOD PROJECT
When every project is finished, it is a shining, beautiful piece of furniture. However, behind each project is the hard work of my husband.
I really admire him for accepting new challenges every time. I am proud of him.
THE WOODEN CHAIRS
Before Christmas we finished one chair. Now second the one is finished, I really appreciated my husband’s work. He is geologist but he spends all his free time making furniture I designed.
I can’t believe it, this pair chairs is done and how fancy they are. Now when I see a tree to be cut and lying on the ground and we always ask the landscaping worker if we can take some wood.
FIREPLACE RENOVATION
We always want to renovate this fireplace, this time before the holiday we are almost done except for my painting.
For the mantle we used 1 x 8 in clear white pine to make a box – lumber from Home Depot as always. For the mantle color I used a teak oil stain usually used for an outdoor deck. Because this color is what I like and already has oil in the color it doesn’t need extra oil finish.
For the corbels, we decided to borrow a Chinese tradition building structure idea. Previously we used this idea to make wall sconce candle holders and this time we wanted to make this again and use for corbel part of this fireplace.
The corbels were made from 2 in thick regular pine from Home Depot. They are joined together with wood dowels. For finish the corbels are stained with same teak oil, but for this lumber, after the stain dried, I add Tung Oil for finish.
THE WOODEN CHAIR
Is this waste wood to be a fancy piece? Recently we are watching TV series ‘Vikings’. I call my chair the Viking Chair. We only finished one so far, but still have another one coming.
One huge live oak tree in our backyard is already more than 100 years old. Every year we must trim some tree branches. Usually we keep all them under the roof leaning on the wall and let them dry by nature.
We have some construction pine left, so we think maybe we could make chairs this time. After that we start peeling tree bark and sanding then pick the correct size to assemble all together.
INDUSTRIAL TV CONSOLE
While doing furniture, try learned how to take professional pictures.
Above: Background made from plywood & painted.
Above: When the table is done, I don’t know how to take pictures.
We built this table a few years ago with no experience. All information we found from internet, at the same time I knew about pinterest.com.(all Ryobi tools and lumbers from Home Depot).
WOODEN BOX III
After we made two styles of wooden boxes with reclaimed fence wood, we like to continue the recycled life style. We had some old car licences from family’s storage and some used industrial wheels.
We decided to make a wooden box again, each time has a little change, depending on what material we have. For the frame part, it is almost same only difference is this time we added old car licence for decoration and recycled wheels for function.
With reclaimed fence wood it is better to bleach clean it first before using.
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FARMHOUSE TABLE
Above:Our friends wanted a rustic farm table for their cabin. We went to their land and cut slabs from fallen oak trees. After drying, milling and treating with wood stabilizer, the legs were cut and mortised, the tabletop planed smooth and sanded and the cross-brace prepared with tenons on each end.(all Ryobi tools from Home Depot).
Above:Some planing, some fitting, additional sanding and then finished with multiple layers of tung oil(from Home Depot), and the beautiful, but rustic, table is now ready for its new home.
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CHINESE DRESSER
Above:Dresser was inspired by the traditional Chinese Apothecary chest. It is handmade from maple and oak plywood, 4 legs used were true 2″x 2″ oak (all lumber materials from Home Depot). Nine drawers with antiqued brass ring drawer pulls (from eBay). Lovely red oak finish .
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VINEYARD MOSAIC TABLE
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COUNTRY HOME PIE SAFE
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Above:Green and white pie safe inspired by a heritage piece from grandparents. Three shelves and screen lined doors to protect but also showcase items. Victorian style door pulls and hinges (from eBay). Solid wood – select pine & furniture grade oak plywood (all lumber materials from Home Depot).
WOODEN BOX I
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Above:Reclaimed cedar fence creates with leather hinges and metal handles(from Home Depot). Can be used for storage or the leather hinge and offset battens allow the lids to fold 270 degrees allowing them to be stacked for shelving. Reclaiming materials to create something new.
WOODEN BOX II
This is customer order wooden boxes. Our customer found we were using reclaimed fence wood to make storage boxes and thought they were a perfect fit for his decor. He came and visited us to ask if we could make them in special sizes. He wanted us to use old fence panel for the boxes, but at that moment we did not have any reclaimed wood. So we got idea to disassemble our old fence panel for the box, and he liked this idea. When you use old fence panels you need to pull the old screws and nails out and need to use bleach to clean the wood first. After the wood dries you can use it.
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HIDDEN BOOKCASE
Above:Customer ordered hidden bookcase using recycled fence panels. Client wanted to use their old fence panel to build the entire bookcase, we designed with a combination of new and recycled for strength and clean lines and reclaimed wood backing inside for decorative accent. Re-purposed boat seat swivels made strong hinges(from Home Depot).
REVOLVING BOOKCASE
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Above:Inspired by a friend’s antique revolving display, we re-created this Barrister’s revolving bookcase in pine, used same boat seat swivels made strong hinges(from Home Depot).
LIVE EDGE DINNING TABLE
CHINESE STYLE DAYBED
Above:Chinese style ‘opium bed’ made from sweetgum and oak harvested from downed trees on a friend’s land. No screws, no nails, no metal. Combined together with interlocking mortise and tenon joints. first treated with a wood stabiliser from Preservations Solutions (Preservation Solutions) and finished with multiple layers of tung oil (from Home Depot).
Above:Harvesting lumber to make furniture. Fallen trees on our friend’s land. We used chainsaw mill to cut slabs, dried, and milled to final form.
WOODEN BENCH
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Above:Wooden bench made from oak harvested from downed trees on a friend’s land. No screws, no nails, no metal. Combined together with interlocking mortise and tenonjoints.