While we have been farming, my friend the cabinet maker has been building the shelves/ cabinets for the Coupe. The Coupe is a Tiny House being built adjoining our Home. Our Johns Mother will live there when she is ready to retire. Until then it will be a divine little guest house. 
Everything is finished except for the dividing wall between the bedroom area and the kitchenette. This is to be a handmade wall unit. The ceiling is 16 foot high at the peak and it will reach right up there. So it is a very high value piece of work.W This floor-to-ceiling wall unit turns the Coupe from a room into a home. Once it is in place my whole design makes sense. It is central to the whole idea. The cabinet fits from the pole ( screen right) straight across to the line (left) where the blue meets the red, and reaches right up past the loft floor to the pitched ceiling.
Next time you see this point of View, it will be a wall of shelves and cubby holes and little doors, creating a bedroom on one side and a small kitchenette on the other There will be access to the cabinet from both side. And the little kitchen bench, which will be right there below the window, runs across and around and joins the wall unit creating the kitchenette.
I visited the cabinet maker in his workshop yesterday. We have broken as many rules as we could think of, using deliciously knotted gnarly wood, seconds, live edges. Off cuts. Combining four different woods in one space. Making stuff up as we go along. The Walnut and Ash timber was found in the yard of a man who is paid by people, who do not know any better, to chop down their trees. He mills the trees, seasons the planks and sells them. Which is wonderful. Most companies who chop down trees just chip them.
Tiger Wood and Walnut for the shelves and cabinets, Blue Ash for the counters in the kitchenette and second grade White Oak on the floor.
This wall unit will create a lot of storage space in The Coupe. The honey will find a home. The curing soap. The Linen and the books. Oh The Books! And then all the bits and pieces that The Matriarch brings with her when she finally moves in. Though that will not be for a few years yet. She says. Her nephew says “What are you waiting for!”
It is impossible to see in its entirety, so you will just have to come and visit. Jeff (the cabinet maker) has added his own voice to my designs, introducing beautiful features and allowing the timber to develop a life and voice of its own. He is a craftsman.
Yesterday was so warm thatI sent the afternoon working in the barn re-organising the waters and a few walls (to stop drafts). Scooping. Cleaning. Getting ready for the next cold snap. It was just wonderful.
Plus we have started work on the little glass house. More on that tomorrow. For now I am so happy to show you more of the lovely wood-work in the workshop.
And as well as that Jeff is part of the Fellowship of the Farmy. (One of the silent ones!) Have a lovely day.
your friend on the farmy
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
69 responses to “Breaking all the Rules of Carpentry”
Great plans!!! We are doing something similar here. One day my in-laws will move in with us. They are 86 and 92!!! Still going strong too! Taking down the wall between the kitchen and living room and making a great room. Wheel chair friendly just in case! We never use the living room anyway! We use the sun parlor during the warmer months and the family room in the basement when it gets cold!!! So the wall is coming down! 😀
Our master bedroom will be made larger. Taking down the wall between our room and the bedroom next to it. Moving the closet to another wall in the second bedroom and it will be a sitting room for now! Another bedroom is now the office.
Downstairs in the basement which has large windows on two sides there is a very very large bedroom with a whole wall closet for our clothes (taken over by me right now! LOL) and we have a bath we just have to install a shower and commode! Sink is already installed!
Phew! So much to think about and want to be prepared too!!!
We are so lucky Celi that we love our in-laws!!! Mine are great as well!!!
Love the photos and use of lovely wood!!!
Have a great day Celi!!! Lots to do!!! Busy busy busy!!! 😀
Hi everyone!!! Hope you all have a great day too!!!
My Stars, is there nothing you can’t do? You are a wonder; it looks glorious
This looks so amazing. I love all of the wood, but possibly even more exciting are the beautiful colors of the walls. What a little gem you are creating.
when the wall of cabinets slides in between those colours then the palette will make sense too, I have never been afraid of colour, but at the moment there is an element of childrens building blocks at play! It needs this wood.. c
This is why rules are made to be broken. It’s going to be gorgeous!
I love how everything is coming together with true creativity using a little of this and a little of that. I especially love the blending of the woods and the very very useful wall unit! Now along comes Viv with the perfect chain. Even the history of it cries out for the Coupe. I am looking forward to seeing pictures of it ASAP! It is so nice that the farmy folk are world wide!
So beautiful! The little house will be very charming. As a quilter, the quilts on the bed jumped out at me. Beautiful!
that is without doubt a work of art. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”… I love the “imperfections”…they make it feel like a living thing. So happy for you. Creating something like that is the best medicine available. Happy-fuel.
Oh…just wanted to add that I also love the use of primary colors in the house. Feels so sure of itself, and emotionally well-rounded. Like a person. Again: a living thing.
The warmth of the wood is comforting–and I just might steal that quilt…and maybe the bed too.
That bed was johns great grandmothers, Cast iron. I need to get it a new mattress though as it needs all the help it can get in the comfort department! c
Just mad for those shelves….what a find is that man…looks fantastic, very envious. I’ve been thinking shelves and those shelves of yours are the ones that I should have been thinking about.
Oh this retreat is really coming together. The woods are beautiful and inthe changing light be quite extraordinary. And WOW, Vivs light chain sounds perfect.
Beautiful wood and fabulous craftsmanship. Jeff, you wouldn’t perhaps like a vacation in sunny, warm South Africa …. once you have completed miss c’s project? 🙂 Laura
Love the smell of worked wood, just love it
Oh Cinders…how extraordinarily beautiful….with your amazing creativity and Jeff’s superb craftsmanship, the space is going to be a work of great art! It truly is gorgeous! What are you going to do with those small pieces shown in the 5th and 6th photo….pulls, handles?? I love their rustic..ness next to the smooth, finished wood….
Yes, Jeff has suggested i use them as handles, they will be stunning when they are finished.. c
What awesome craftsmanship!!!
I’ve begun to consider cabinetry for our future homestead and this is giving me lots of fun ideas.
And how nice that you are building mother-in-law’s quarters at your farm. I’ve often thought it would be nice have a small guest cabin on our farm. Our hope is that we’ll have lots of visitors and the space would be nice to have.
Can’t wait to see pics when it’s finished.