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”
This is beautiful mixed wood. I would love to see it someday. Maybe next summer when I have a little more time, since I won’t be working. I really want MH to bring me sometime.
Your mind is a treasure trove of good ideas, C. And Cabinet Maker Jeff is simply a wood artist. That wall is drool-worthy.
When I first moved in to my old cottage (was built in 1900 so old by American standards) I was horrified to see that the dinning room floor was painted a dark grey! Like you I have the privilege of knowing some great craftsmen and one came round and ever so carefully sanded all the paint off and put a light coating of shellack on it and it looks so lovely! Has all the dings and dents of years gone by. Next project (in the next couple of months) is the guest bedroom which I have discovered under the carpet is another old wood floor. I love wood, it speaks a beautiful language and is very comforting. Just have to come up with the colour scheme for the bedroom, which I want to have a South Western feel to it as pottery that is orange and browns to go in that room. Spent the morning getting paint chips from Lowes today!
What a lovely space !!! I cannot wait to see the shelves installed, such a pretty and cozy home !!!
Such shelves!
There no work of art as beautiful as wood. Very wonderful ( and can’t wait to see the chain)
I love seeing wood being worked with such care & understanding. Wood-workers go way back in my family on both sides: building houses out of kauri on my dad’s side and Yorkshire wood-carvers on my mother’s side. I have the gene too. Just the smell of wood being cut gives me a thrill. And so I am with you 100% in excitement about this project. I love the colours in the Coupe too – so warm and nurturing. The Matriarch is so lucky.
With all that has been going on at the farmy I had not wanted to ask about the coupe – what a lovely Sunday surprise! Actually the coupe looks larger than I had envisaged it and will be a very special abode. The woods are just beautiful, I love, love, love the handles and the possibility of Viv’s wooden chain coming all the way from France is exciting. And since I am a mad gardener shall so look forward to ‘news’ of the glasshouse! Happy weekend to all on the farmy 🙂 !
Oh sugar ~ just got to Viv’s post and saw the said chain! If your ceiling/roof will take the weight, that methinks would be just glorious!!
Just gorgeous… the wood is so satisfying.. and as for the chain – what a glorious work of art !
It all sounds so beautiful XXX
Gorgeous! It’s exactly what I would want in my cottage! Happy New year.
What a lovely space. So well thought out with creativity and functionality and resourcefulness all blended.
OH Miss C that last pic of wood is just beautiful . some wormy chestnut would be outstanding bold reds and whites very pretty. the coupe is coming along nicely .
We are always salvaging bits of wood from around our farm – some of it (red gum railway sleepers, for example) is a pain to work but looks great, as does yours! Good work!
Thank you, red gum railway sleepers, what do you make with those!? that must be a very hard wood..
So far one has been turned into a potting table in the veg garden, and I have another that needs planing to make an outdoor table top- it’s solid stuff, so no delicate projects!
There is nothing like a good solid potting table.. c
I love all those different woods – the coupe will have a lovely feel to it, and I can’t wait to see your pressie from Viv hanging in a place which is perfect for it – wow! Thank you Viv and Jock, you are so kind.
Isn’t the Fellowship of the Farmy just the best thing ever?
That’s some beautiful wood that you’ve selected,Celi. As special as your design of the coupe was, this wood will only add to it, giving the space the feeling of “home.” I’m sure the Matriarch will love it.