Saturday 14 December 2013

Fairy Merry Christmas

Yuletide felicitations my faithful blogworms, this weeks will be my last until the new year as next week we're off to sunny ? Colchester to do the first of a two stage fit of one of our marvellous eco kitchens, one of the new idea using the sustainable Tulipwood I talked about in an earlier blog.

Our task is to install all the cabinets, worktops and appliances as the first stage to get a working skeleton kitchen ready to be used over Christmas, the second stage will be going back in the new year to complete the kitchen with the doors, panels and handles etc.

When you consider the responsibilty of our success next week standing between us and someones Christmas dinner, it takes a massive leap of faith in us by our client to have the confidence that we'll get it done !!

This does happen on a surprisingly regular basis and we've never let anyone down in our 25 year history and I'm not about to start now !. I always have an immense respect for the trust that people put in us when doing projects like this so close to a major calendar event.

We've got all sorts of goodies lined up for the new year, so stay tuned in 2014.

To give you a snapshot of one of them, I thought I'd sneak this one in at this time ...... Flower Fairies !! Fans of our Roadstone Plaques now have a new line of interest, we understand the popularity of the Flower Fairies genre and were asked recently to create a plaque featuring one, well ... this is it !, what do you think ?? By the way ... the hands aren't part of it ! we just had to hold it up to photograph it.

The Flower Fairy thing seems to have a massive following and there are many, many characters involved in the whole concept so not being one to ignore new ideas, this is our first one, we hope, of many. I would be interested to hear all your opinions

Don't forget that we can start with a standard roadstone plaque of 300mm x 375mm and go right upto large panels of 2400 x 1200 or more, so there are many, many applications to which the plaques can be put. Food for thought for the new year.!

So, eat & drink as much or as little as you want, enjoy yourselves over Christmas and the New Year and I 'll see you all again in 2014.
Stoke up your log burner using all the tips I've given earlier and get yourselves nice and cosy.

 Top Tip: Don't forget Christmas is a time for sharing so if you have an elderly relative or friend see if you can help bring a bit of cheer into their Christmas too, We will be !

All the best. Jules.



Saturday 7 December 2013

My Reclaimed World


 E. U. M. F. B. I'm sure you can figure the initials out if you followed me long enough !
Anyway, this week I thought I'd take a gentler pace and give you a snap shot into my inspiration for our "Reclaimed Madness" kitchen ( see earliers blogs )

The pics I've loaded this week are all items I've made for our home using the same reclaimed timber source as we used for the kitchen.

The top pic is a box frame housing a fabric patchwork we bought in Tenerife many moons ago flanked by 2 candle sconces which were made absolutely donkeys years ago using a template pattern that was given free with Issue 1 of The Router magazine ( that's router pronounced row-ter, row as in argument ! which is a woodworking power tool .... not roo-ter as in the thing that send signals to your computer ! ). Just thought I'd clear that up to begin with.

Any one who's into woodworking may remember that mag coming out and who knows ...... you may have already made one yourself.

The second pic is from my wifes penchant for ducks ! turned into a coat rack in our hall. Couple of boards glued together and the duck freehand sketched onto a pattern, template made, roughly cut out with a jigsaw   ( Oh God! ... this is going to be a long blog .. jigsaw, as in power tool with small saw blades in it, not cardboard picture made up of funny shapes! ), then followed the template with a router ( see above ) and put the detail lines in by hand with the same router, fitted some wrought iron coat hangers and Bob's your mothers brother.




This shows our cloakroom ( or downstairs loo, if you prefer, as we don't hang cloaks in it ) created from scratch, timber frame, mdf doors, black iron hinges and marble tiles.

All topped off with reclaimed factory beam rip cuts as countertops and window cill, simples !






The inspiration for this shape came from an african warriors shield and was the follow on from the fact that I like the idea of a large candle sconce with an imposing shape and prescence. There are two of these hanging in my dining room and provide a wonderful subtle light, reflected into the room by the mirrors behing the candles.

They are nearly 5 feet high ( 1500mm ) and hold large church candles. As you can see, I really need to put new candles in, they do get used a lot !.

As a design idea, I would like to make 2 more, even higher, using a complete mirror in the shield shape and mounting the candle holder straight onto the mirror. The candle holder would look stunning in the blackest piece of solid walnut I can find !

Who knows, one day I might get around to it !

Anyway, welcome to my Reclaimed World, enjoy !

Jules



Saturday 30 November 2013

Help from the planet "Greenstar"

Ey up my faithful "green" blogworms, it would appear that last weeks blog captured a lot of peoples imaginations and aroused some pretty strong feelings.



I realised that last week that with my blog: "Even shopping can be green....." that I'd only just scratched the surface of what I wanted to say.

So this week I'm taking the unusual step of a follow up on the same subject. Wasteful plastic !
Stick with it because there's a ray of hope at the end of the story!


We're all used seeing plastic bag trees where this ugly phenomenon is a blot on our landscape, in the pic to the left 2 of the offenders can clearly be seen in a fishing net. The 2 swans in the next picture aren't playing, they're stuck !! caught in  a discarded plastic bag. 

Waste plastic is killing our wildlife, some of the pictures I found, I felt were too upsetting to put in this blog. I don't know which idiot thought that charging for plastic bags was going to make the problem go away ??? Get rid of them completely, go back to paper, it's biodegradeable and can't do any real harm to our birds and sealife, at least if they try and eat it there's more chance it will pass through with no lasting damage.


I make no apologies for the cartoon I've shown here because it sums up probably how many thousands of responsible people in the UK are feeling !! I thought it was perfect for the point I'm trying to make.

Some of the damage caused by plastic bottles, yoghurt pots and those strong plastic things that hold 6 cans of beer together beggar belief. The deformed wildlife that have suffered at the hands of that stuff is truly appalling. 

We need to recycle all the plastic we can to keep it out of harms way and stop the huge environmental damage it's causing.  

Talking about supermarkets and retail outlets last week, it struck me that, apart from our homes, we probably spend more time in these places than anywhere else.

These major shop chains only seem to pay lip service to environmental issues without embracing them properly ..... so, here's an idea !! Get them to lead the way !!

Next time you go into your local supermarket ask them to start, for an easy example, a yoghurt pot & plastic bottle collection scheme to encourage parents and children to bring back their used yoghurt pots and bottles to be collected and sent to reprocessors to be turned back into something useful and stop them going into landfill.

They're always issues vouchers for school computers or something so let's get our kids involved in helping us clear up an environmental mess !!
The chap in this picture works for a company called Greenstar, based in Redcar, Middlesborough. and they've just won government funding to boost our yoghurt pot and plastic bottle recycling efforts.

I'm absolutely certain that he would be glad of the raw material to reprocess as recycling mixed plastics is certainly one of the weakest areas of the UK's recycling infrastructure

Go on their website : http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/environment/greenstar-wins-wrap-funds-to-boost-yoghurt-pot-recycling/ and have a look at their efforts, pick up the phone and talk to him, set up a deal, become active in making a positive contribution.

In my eyes, this guy is one of the unsung heroes of our world and he needs our help, so come on supermarkets, take note !! get a recycling scheme going and walk the walk instead of just talking the talk. We'll help you reuse the products he makes, back into your shop counters, wall panelling etc and that would then be truly " closing the loop "

The cynics among you, and I'm sure you're out there, will be saying that all this is just a boost for our own products and business but would you rather help us to put recycled plastic back to gainful use or would you rather see it killing wildlife .... you decide !!

I'm knackered now !  see you next week. Jules







Saturday 23 November 2013

Even shopping can be green if we work at it !

Good Morning, my faithful blogworms, today is all about shopping !!

Woo-Hoo, I hear you say, well .. don't get carried away, I'm not taking you all shopping, as much as I'd like to !. 

With all the current emphasis on eating properly, organic food and supermarkets using local suppliers where possible, all of which I strongly support, it strikes me that they are starting to take a green lifestyle a lot more seriously.

One company we feel has a fantastic attitude towards this is H & M Stores and as an environmentally aware company that's spending the green pound wisely, we feel they really do deserve your support in their efforts.

We have been supplying our EcoSelect kitchens with a host of energy and water saving features to H & M for their staff kitchens in all their stores under a current programme of new stores opening and refubishment of older stores for over 2 years now.


They, as you know, are a major clothing retailer and are sourcing a lot of their store furniture ethically and should be seen as an example to all you other retailers out there.

Big supermarket chains ... THIS IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL !

Supermarkets are guilty of creating a lot of waste either through still using plastic bags and plastic packaging that still end up in landfill or simply by throwing away perfectly good food that somebody would be glad of !

We are doing our best to increase awareness that much of that plastic can be recycled and re-used. In the pics above are: Yoghurt Pot, Dapple and Snowflake are three recycled plastic boards that all start their life as food safe products that can be re-used and, as such, diverting tons of plastic waste away from landfill and given another life.

They can be used for: food counters, wall clad, panels for customer toilets, wash basin countertops, even benches for shoppers to rest their weary bones on. They are practically maintenance free once installed, really easy to clean, totally waterproof and food safe and can be re-used many, many times over. This will save you money long term and even that's got to be worth thinking about !!

I'm appealing directly, this week, to you readers of my blog who work for supermarkets, are buyers for supermarkets or even own them !!.... we need to talk ... you should by now, have some sort of environmental conscience and we can help boost your eco street cred by helping you be seen to be being green.

This is important, in this day and age and judging by the amount of time we spend shopping in supermarkets, you are ideally placed to show that you support and encourage recycling efforts. Don't think about following some vague environmental policy which basically only pays lips service to green issues ..... embrace it ... and lead the way, your customers will think better of you for it, I'm sure !!

Call me and let's talk ! 01943 817153, tweet us: @ecokitchens, email me on: julian@milestone.uk.net, fax me 01943 817158, send a carrier pigeon, whatever you like, just do it !!

Jules






Saturday 16 November 2013

If it stands still ... Truncate it !

 Ey up my faithful blogworms, it's not normal for me to endorse or recommend stuff on my blog but twice now I've come across stuff that I think is brilliant and you need to know about.

Last week it was Ecos paints, which, if you haven't checked them out yet, you really should. It will change the way you look at paint forever !!

This week, with winter just around the corner and getting your log burner fuel sorted out, 
I really need to introduce you to the Truncator.

I first saw the Truncator at a show in Cumbria back in the summer and thought it was a good idea then.
Coming home and thinking about it I decided to bite the bullet and buy one.

I am soooo-o-o-o-o glad I did, it's absolutely perfect for logging those smaller branches and boughs that are usually fiddly and you end up spending hours cutting them by hand while thinking" Sod this, it got to be easier just to buy some logs!".

Well fear not, carry on gathering those branches and boughs while you're out walking the dog or whatever. I had a great big pile of tree branch trimmings next to my shed in the garden and couldn't be bothered to cut them all up, it was going to take ages ! Out came the new Truncator and my small chainsaw and whistled through the pile, safely, easily and quickly, I got through probably 4 hours cutting in about 11/2 hours.

It designed and made by a guy who cuts logs for people who cut logs and it's brilliance is in it's simple design, quality components and ease of use. Also the fact it's designed from materials that won't damage your chainsaw if you are a bit too enthusiastic with the cutting.


TRUNCATOR.CO.UK ....go on, treat yourself,  or at least, get it on your xmas list. You won't regret it ! 

Happy cutting, Jules.

Saturday 9 November 2013

An Organic World from carrots to paint

Ey up my faithful blogworms, this week it's all about organic paint. This stuff is absolutely brillliant !! We're used to organic veg. but how many of you knew that organic paint even existed ??


Saturday 2 November 2013

Interest with Pinterest


Ey up my faithful Blogworms, I really do appreciate your enormous interest in our Roadstone Plaques and thought this week you might like to see what we've achieved with them so far, follow the link below to my Pinterest board and you can see the diverse plaques we've made upto now

http://www.pinterest.com/milestone01/recycled-roadstone-plaques-kitchen-splashbacks/

For some reason I don't seem to be able to load individual photo's this week, bloody computers !! I'll get it sorted somehow, so I'm afraid this weeks blog might seem like a bit of a cheat.

While there's a lot of interest from you all, I'm not getting any feedback as to what you really think ??
I'm puzzled, I know you're out there !! 

There's a lot of creative thinkers out there in the Blogosphere and I'd love to hear from you either by leaving me a message or emailing me on : julian@milestone.uk.net and let me know what you think

While we're on the subject on Pinterest, you might like to see the full story of the "Reclaimed Madness" kitchen which has also created a fair bit on enthusiasm among you , my faithful followers, we are still adding finishing touches as the proud new owner of the kitchen keeps thinking of more stuff she needs.

http://www.pinterest.com/milestone01/milestone-reclaimed-madness-kitchen/

Interestingly, she loves the kitchen so much, she's asked us to now do her bathroom in the same style, Yippee, Happy Days are here again. We had a ball last time and really looking forward to doing it again !!

See ya next week when, hopefully, I'll get this bloody computer fixed.



Saturday 26 October 2013

Take your wedding on the road !

Ey up my faithful Blogworms,

Looking at our statistics it seems that Roadstone Plaques are really grabbing your attention so this week sees us taking them into new territory ............

The most unusual way to comemorate your wedding day !!


Comemorating your wedding day in what is probably the most unusual and memorable way has really got to be something special.

Hopefully as special as the day itself !

You can bet your boots that none of your friends will have anything that looks remotely like this in their wedding album




   If you're already married, there's no reason why you can't get a plaque now because all we need is a great picture of your wedding in jpeg form to make one for you. The picture doesn't even have to feature your wedding car, boat, truck, carriage or whatever, ( although a really unusual wedding vehicle would be an amazing thing to create ) you can have your plaque made from any of your wedding pics that you particularly like.

If you're just planning your wedding you can ask your photographer to set up a picture that will look fabulous on a plaque or, these days, your guests usually manage to capture some amazing moments that would look terrific made in this way.


As a special offer for weddings, we going to offer a FREE easel along the lines of those you see here ( worth £30 or more  ) to sit your plaque on in pride of place in your home.

Your standard plaque size is 300mm high ( about 12") x 375mm wide ( about 15") 

but don't forget if you want to make amassive statement with your plaque, we can go ...
 Supersize at 600mm high ( about 24") x 750mm wide ( about 30")

For something this unique, I see absolutely no reason why we could not courier or post these out to you ........ wherever you are in the world !!

Lets take Roadstone Plaques global, we're willing, are you ?

See ya again next week, Jules !






Saturday 19 October 2013

A whole new meaning to "Pandoras Box"




Ey up my faithful blogworms. 

This week it's inventions time ! 




We needed something spacious but compact to carry our supplies in the back of our campervan. It had to do more than 1 job as space in campervans is always at a premium. So the idea of a combined camping box and table was born.

Cue: Pandoras Camp Box & Table


Store all your provisions in it before you set off, all tidy and in one spot, lift it out when you arrive at your destination, fit the legs ( conveniently stored in the box ) and Bingo ! you've got a ready made table with all your stuff to hand and you can seat 4 people around it for enjoying your meal, pop your beer or wine or whatever in the middle and you're fully sorted. OK you've got to take some seats aswell but it can't do everything !


We've used ours to test it and it's absolutely perfect for adding a touch of style and comfort to your camping expeditions.
You could happily use it for days out, picnics, festivals ( it does hold quite a bit of beer and wine if you stack it properly but it does get heavy ). We've designed the legs with an element of self levelling so it's sits perfectly on grass, pebbles, beaches ( just make sure the sand's not too soft though or it'll sink ) and tarmac


You can actually fit certain 2 ring camping gas cookers in it if you want somewhere safe to store one.

In short, it's brilliant and now we never leave home without ours, it's become an important and valuable piece of our camping kit.



As it's such a damn good idea we've made a few and sold a few so don't take my word for it, other people think it's brilliant too !

If you think one would also make a big difference to your camping trips and days out, we're sure it will, they can be yours for only £169.99 plus delivery ( typically around a tenner )

Email me on: julian@milestone.uk.net and place your order, we can get one to you wherever you are !!

And yes, I know it's corny but you really will wonder how you managed without one !








Saturday 12 October 2013

Hardwood Heartache

Ey up my faithful blogworms, did you miss me ?. Been working away and on my jollies so not had chance to spout forth my usual words of wisdom.

It's time for a rant again ! ... Hardwood worktops. I am still hearing tales of woe and horror stories about folk having bad experiences with hardwood worktops  ..  and why  ..  I'll tell you why. It because there are a load of so called joiners out there pretending they know what they're doing with expensive hardwood tops and ruining them by lack of knowledge.




This breaks my heart and does my head in !! It makes me so angry !!


Here's why, there's only one way to fit hardwood tops ...AND THAT'S PROPERLY.

Don't buy rubbish in the first place and make sure your fitter has done this before and successfully.


Here's what to look for:

1. When a fitter is installing these tops for you, make sure that all the sections of worktop are fully machined to shape, any cut-outs put in, any edge profiling done. Sand to 120 grit finish ( and no higher !, I don't care what anyone else says ) to start with

2. All the pieces should them be turned over and given 3 GOOD COATS  of a good quality danish oil. In my opinion there is only one oil in the UK that gives a good finish, good coverage, good durability and lasts for ages and that's Rustins Danish oil. However I'm aware that there are probably oils in other countries that are just as good.

3. Do not skimp on this stage ! Oiling the underside is the start of creating a humidity balance in the timber essential to keeping movement to a minimum during it's life in your kitchen.

4. Once dry, assemble the sections onto the kitchen units and fix together. Do not fit hobs or sinks yet . REPEAT step 2 and give 3 GOOD COATS of oil to the topside aswell. Allow to dry thoroughly between a coats. Only once dry are you ready to put the appliances in and finish off.

Follow this simple procedure and your worktops should last you a lifetime

Right .. that's got the fitting sorted out, now to you looking after them.

Let's state the screamingly obvious.. these worktops are wood ! .. therefore you are going to knock, bump and scrape them but let's face it, if you didn't know that then you shouldn't have bought them in the first place.
If any of the above happens .. don't panic .. you can always sand them up and go again. DO NOT USE OILS WITH WAX IN THEM .. ( see my earlier blog, jam & wax )

Periodically you will need to re-oil your tops, this is essential, don't think you can fit them and forget them, not going to happen ! Also don't believe all the stupid old wives tales about oiling them every week or month. Let you tops tell you when they need feeding.
When water starts to sink in and not bead up on the surface, that's when they need re-doing.
Clean them off, use a little white spirit on a lint free cloth to clean them and then re-oil using a 2" paint brush stroking the oil in with the grain, leave overnight and you're good to go the next morning, and that's all it takes. See, not hard is it but it needs doing promptly and not leaving till they go black when it a hell of a lot more work to sand them back and start again.

Simple top tips:

1. Don't leave greasy pans on the your tops overnight
2. Do give excess water etc a good wipe off when it's spilt
3. Don't put really hot pans straight onto the surface, you'll scorch it !
4. There is no need to use these stupid "antibacterial wipes" that don't work, as hardwood has natural antibacterial enzymes within its structure anyway. Millions of butchers chopping blocks can't be wrong.
4. Don't worry if any of the above cause problems as you can sand your tops back and go again.

Following these simple rules will give you fabulous natural worktops for many many years to come.

Follow your desires on this and don't listen to negative people on the subject of hardwood worktops as they're wrong anyway. !!

Good hunting ! Jules










Saturday 14 September 2013

Hard water but not Hard luck !

 Ey up my faithful blogworms, I have some questions to ask you all today:
Scalemaster inline limescale inhibitors

Do you live in a hard water area ...... ?

Are you spending  a lot of money replacing kettles ..... ?

Do you spend way too much on unnecessary Calgon tablets ...... ?

Are you sick of getting tradesmen out to
repair your Boiler / Dishwasher / Washing
 machine due to limescale damage ..... ?

Are you daft enough to have bought a Brita filter jug when you can have filtered water on draught ..... ?

Do you spend a load of hard earned cash on bottled water ..... ?

Then I've got to ask ...... WHY ? ..... Are you totally bonkers ? There are other, better answers !!

15mm inline isolating lever valve
Water filter kit













The stuff shown in the pics provide you with all the solutions to your problems ...... !

Hard Water ... Not a problem ! Using the the Scalemaster inline inhibitors fitted either local to each of your appliances or on your incoming cold water main, after your stopcock, will break down and change the chemical make up of the limescale and render it harmless to the workings of your machines. That's going save you stress and money and save you using environment damaging chemicals to tackle the symptoms instead of the problem.
OK, you will need someone to fit them first but if the pipework is set up properly, you can change the cartridges as and when necessary yourself, they last for ages and are cheap enough to replace.  Fit the 15mm isolating valves before and after the unit so you can stop the water going through it and change it your self ..... it's easy, trust me !

Bottled water on draught  Once you've fitted the limescale inhibitor to sort that bit out, back it up by fitting a water filter kit to give you water every bit as pure as the stuff you're wasting money on by buying it in bottles. Top your bottles up when ever you want to as you now have your bottled water on draught ... Simples !. The water filter kit I've shown takes about 15 minutes to fit if you're a bit DIY minded and it's easy and it will pay for itself many times over with all the money you're going to save. Fill a bottle with your freshly poured bottled water and give it to your friends to try ..... I bet they can't tell the difference either.

In fact, even if you live in a soft water area like we do, you can still fit a water filter and benefit from not spending shed loads of money on bottled water.

There are many other products out there but I've used these, they work and they're NOT expensive.

I am absolutely staggered that the products I've shown you above are still some of the UK's best kept secrets, so stop wasting money and chucking chemicals at everything. Do yourselves and the environment a favour and look seriously at the stuff I've brought to your attention.

For the cynical amongst you, NO ...  I don't have any connections to Scalemaster and .. NO ... I'm not working on comission ... I just believe in their products any would recommend them to anybody. So I thought I would share this with you and hopefully convert of few of you.

Don't think about it ..... Do it ..... it really is a no-brainer !

Always trying to help ! ... Jules.






















Saturday 31 August 2013

Reclaimed Madness: The Full Story

Ey up, my faithful blogworms, as promised here's the full story of another milestone for Milestone: the fantastic adventure that was our Reclaimed Madness kitchen

Pop over to Pinterest to see all the glorious details  http://pinterest.com/milestone01/milestone-reclaimed-madness-kitchen/

One small snag: It's the first time I've used Pinterest and I've loaded the pictures in the wrong order, so you'll have to start at the bottom of the board and work up to watch the progress, Sorry, I'll know next time !

 ......    but here's a taster to set the mood

Our starting point
Even the floors had to go 





We took a load of this

Added a few  of our lovely Eco cabinets

And turned it all into something like this

That looks absolutely gorgeous and so Eco friendly, it's perfect !
Out there in the bloggoshpere, you all seem reluctant to pass any comments or even contact us at all, this time be a devil, we would really, really like to hear what you think !!

In fact, we would really enjoy the chance to repeat this great Eco Adventure in a house near you sometime soon.

Jules: Logger, Blogger, Wino & Worker of Wood






Thursday 22 August 2013

Roadstone Plaques .. Everyones a winner really !


Ey up my faithful blogworms, here are the results of the Roadstone jury !!, oh dear !, that's sounds a bit like the Eurovision Song Contest, still never mind, welcome to all our readers from all over Europe and the U.S.
These are the lucky recipients of our wonderful free roadstone plaques in response to our appeal for photo's to use in our marketing.


If you're new to seeing these plaques for the first time, have a look back at my earlier blogs for more details.
These guys took possesion of their brand new roadstone plaques at Burley Classic Car Show last Sunday and the response was fantastic !!

The concept of the plaques being made from the very roadstone and tarmac that you drive them on is quite unique and appropriate (and very desirable) but I should point out that this product is way more versatile than just making car plaques, it can be used a various ways around your home with absolutely stunning, original results.

The very same mix can be used to make;

Kitchen feature splashbacks in sizes to suit all cooker / hob configurations in stock images or your own photo of whatever subject you feel would inspire your cooking to new levels.

Sink splashbacks in stock images or you can have your favourite landscape scene featured on it. You could imagine yourself looking out over a stunning mountain landscape or glorious exotic beach while actually stood in front of your sink. That's got to make washing up a more pleasant task ??



Waterproof bathroom wall panels are another use, whether for lining your bathroom walls, framing your bath or even featuring in your shower cubicle itself. Just imagine you're standing in the middle of a fabulous waterfall with water cascading over you, it would almost feel like an fantastic open air shower.

If you wanted a stunning, focal centrepoint for your garden featuring exotic plants that there's no way you could grow, have them displayed on an outdoor plaque in your garden with other planting nestling up to it, a gardeners dream !


There are many, many unique and inspiring ways in which these plaques can be used and in many different sizes to suit all sorts of different applications.

If you can see the potential for bringing something rather special into your life and have an idea, give us a ring, email, send us a sketch idea and we'd be extremely glad to have a look at it for you.

Car Plaques, while something quite special, are only the tip of the iceberg !!

Until next time . Jules.












Saturday 17 August 2013

A Great Reclaimed Adventure

Ey up my faithful blogworms, the project that was "reclaimed madness" turned into  "A Great Reclaimed Adventure"

We knew we were just the right side of bonkers to take on building a kitchen using reclaimed timber completely from scratch in a clients home but, do you know,

It was absolutely brilliant !!, Here are some quick pics of some parts of the kitchen to whet your appetite.

We are going to get the full story in picture form from the pics taken by our client on her I pad and post them somewhere for you to have a look at, starting from a random pile of timber offloaded from our van to the results you see here.

I kid you not, the whole thing was built using the entire (portable) contents of my workshop transported to site and all the individual pieces of timber selected and cut to make each door and panel by our client herself !!

She had a ball !

The kitchen was made from the Victorian factory beam timber and the salvaged Engine shed floor became the new kitchen floor, with the whole lot being treated to three good coats of tree resin based oils to really bring the wood to life.

And for you following my blogs, there wasn't a trace of wax anywhere near the oils we used !!

I have one admission to make ...... the only part of the tick list from my earlier blog that we didn't achieve was to make the kitchen "handleless". However, we ticked all the other boxes, so I don't think we did too badly.






In conclusion for this blog, I must say that for pure gorgeousness and creative satisfaction, this project is up there with the best of 'em.

To be fair, we all had a ball !!

Keep watching for the full story as soon as I can get it sorted.

Jules: Logger, Blogger and worker of Wood





Saturday 3 August 2013

If this was a curry, it would be a Vindaloo !

Ey up, blogworms,  we're experiencing some technical probs with our website that I don't even begin to understand, so at the moment, I hoping you still manage to find this weeks blog.  


'Cos you don't want miss this one !

Introducing a Scorching Summer Deal on EcoKitchens 

"EcoKitchens" is a new range priced at an equivalent to a massive 30% less than current prices on our existing entry level EcoSelect kitchens !


Stone Grey & Oak kitchen  
    A Kitchen Starter Kit 
    only £499 inc.vat.
   
    Free delivery to the local 
    area.

    Delivery absolutely 
    anywhere in the UK can 
    be arranged

    Free upgrade to soft close 
    doors


Coco Bolo woodgrain kitchen
                   
        10 Stylish Contemporary finishes

         Comprehensive unit list to build 
         your starter pack into your dream 
         kitchen

         Delivered to install yourself or we 
         can give you a cost for us to install

         A great variety of Eco laminate 
         worktops to complement your units

All the units are top spec with quality German Blum hinges and soft close drawer boxes, 18mm flat pack carcases, adjustable legs and continuous plinths. 

To help you further, we can also supply at competitive prices: sinks, taps, appliances & tiles to make it truly a "one stop shop" and cut out all the stress of buying loads of individual parts from loads of other companies and then spending the next few weeks wondering if it will all turn up on time, complete and the right colour.

You have our "cast iron" guarantee is that everything you order will arrive complete, intact and in one load ready to rock 'n' roll !

Don't delay, contact us today for more details on this fantastic offer, there's never been a better time to plan your new Eco kitchen. These prices cannot last forever !!