Chris' media room unit



In cabinets housing equipment accessed by remotes I usually use sliding doors covered with speaker cloth. This insures easy remote use. Any open textured fabric works for this, allowing for stylish solutions to these cabinets.

This unit is made from Queensland Maple.







Queensland walnut and white cedar blanket box



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This is a large (1300 x 600 x 500high) blanket box that I completed in December 2016. Queensland Walnut only occurs near the Atherton Tableland. There seem to be quite a few varieties of it, and this stripey one is very rare.

White Cedar (melia azedarach) on the other hand occurs in many parts of Australia. On the Atherton Tableland it is a pioneer species, springing up in open areas in an attempt to reforest them. Because of the abundance of prime furniture species in earlier days, White Cedar was overlooked for furniture, but its strong grain and beautiful colours make it one of my favourites. This box is for sale for $4,500. (kim@woodsongfinefurniture.com.au)





Timber shelving display wall for Salina and Fiachra



Wanting a house that fitted into a steep boulder-strewn hillside, the Kearneys settled on 5 connected buildings that all had curved walls and were plastered to look like adobe. The central display wall in the dining room needed shelving units that surrounded a central large mirror. Overlapping rectangles seemed like the answer so I designed two units and made them from Queensland Maple. Wait until you see the 8 metre curved kitchen made from stainless steel and wattle slabs......





Red Cedar chest



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Queensland Red Cedar has the reputation of being the mahogany of the tropics, and in fact for many years it was exported to England to serve as a less costly substiute for mahogany from the Caribbean. It is fairly hard to get these days and when I come across really wide planks, it is hard not to show them off in something like this large chest. I'm going to put lift out trays in the top of the next one and use some wrought iron handles. The dovetail inserts in the corners are Queensland Walnut. Our walnut is very local - it only grows in about a hundred mile range from here. While it looks like European walnut, it is totally unrelated, and is about my favourite timber for small tabletops. I just acquired a large walnut log that had been slabbed 10 years ago, so watch out!







red cedar Writing desk



A farmer mate rang me - "There's a cedar tree leaning over the driveway after the last big blow. Do you want it?" Of course I wanted it! Australian red cedar timber varies a lot in appearance. This one is quite dark and has a pronounced darker grain marking, making it look like an old cuban mahogany. I have closed a crack in one end of the top with an ebony "butterfly" and the drawer handles are also ebony. Our ebony (from about 5 hours drive west of here) is very black and makes dramatic highlights to dark timbers. This delicate looking design is actually quite sturdy. This desk is for sale for AU $3,800.





red silkwood table



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Red Silkwood is such a little know timber that in all my years of working wood I had never seen it until I bought a pack from a retired woodcutter/woodworker. Now it is my all time favourite timber for its silky beauty, rich lustre and unbelievable workability. I could work it with a hand plane all day. Hall tables are a delight - they're usually the first thing you see when walking into a house, so what better way to make a good greeting than a handsome hall table?





Display case for Chris



The architect designed this shallow alcove into the wall of the long hallway to the dining room/kitchen area specifically to house the owner's polished stone collection. The shelving is heavy 300mm x 45mm Queensland Maple with half-lapped joints where the shelves intersect. The LED downlight wiring is chased along the backs of the shelves to the end walls where it is connected.





John Lakey's Desk



John has just finished building a very special new house just behind the beach at Palm Cove near Cairns. He wanted a really solid desk, so I designed this one. The top is 70mm thick, as are the legs, all built from Wattle. Four of us carried it into the house. The overall dimensions are 1800 x 800 x 750 high.







Craigh and Rita's sofa tables



Okay, you may have guessed - These are not really made by me. I made the tops and mounted them on antique wagon wheel hubs (?). The one in the top photo is Calophyllum, a local rainforest hardwood, and the one in the bottom photo is Queensland Maple. It is from what is called a "paddock maple" - it was grown in a clearing and, because it had room, it spread out into a large tree with a huge crown and beautiful figuring in the grain. This particular tree has a long story - don't get me started.....









Mel and Luke's entertainment unit



We made some pieces for Mel and Luke's new house last year. They thought long and hard about what they needed for their entertainment unit and what would keep the room looking light and simple. Together we came up with this built-in wall unit. The doors are gloss white with push-catches and the timber is local Hoop Pine with a 10% gloss lacquer finish. It measures 5 metres by 3.6 metres (yes, it is enormous). The shelves are 350mm deep.







Heather's chair



Heather needed a high backed chair to match their Danish dining chairs. We discussed it and then I made a mock-up from pine which I used to fit to her. After the changes had been made so the chair really was comfortable, I made her this chair from Black Wattle, one of the local acacias from the rainforest. It is identical to the southern Blackwood that is used so much in New South Wales and Victoria for furniture, and has long been one of my favourites. Not only is it exceptionally handsome, but it springs up in cleared areas, grows quickly and then dies young to make way for other rainforest species, making it especially eco-friendly.