Tables and Tea by the Sea
It was the year of tables and tea by the sea. Although we built numerous other kinds of furniture and had picnics in a great many other places.
2022 is old news by now and our minds are firmly set on the months ahead. We are leafing through seed catalogues, eagerly anticipating the first bbq of the year (the last bbq of the year was in November, thanks to Aneta.) So before we head into Spring, we thought we’d give you a round up of the last year.
The harvest was abundant. We were giving away parasol mushrooms like they were runner beans. We ended the year harvesting power from the sun but more on that in a future blog.
Team Langhouse are big National Trust fans. Tea by the sea is a regular Friday night fixture so our membership card sees a lot of action every month. We were stoked when they came to us to ask if we could modify some antique tables. I am not going to spill too many trade secrets, suffice to say that if we need to boil scouring pads in vinegar again, it'll be done outside.
We made doors, custom mouldings for period homes, kitchen units, wine racks, sewing boxes and fixed the doors on the old church. You name it we did it this year but our favourite job came right before Christmas. A kitchen table, with an engineering conundrum built in.
A table is usually built with a solid piece on all four sides called the apron. It’s the bit you bang your knees on if you are tall. It holds the top on, so it’s quite important to the whole thing staying together. It also means that a person using a wheelchair can't rock up and sit where they like.
A small amount of research into accessible furniture gave us the distinct impression that a lot of it was very useful but hardly any was beautiful.
The Brief:
Design and make a kitchen table for a homely country kitchen with clearance for a wheelchair, a natural wood finish on top and gracefully shaped legs to be painted to match the rest of the room. Accessible, useful, beautiful.
The frame came down to a custom welding job, to replace the need for the wooden apron. Then we got to do the fun part, discovering the pattern hidden inside the timber when we milled it down. We spent a very agreeable lunchbreak laying out and rearranging the flamey beech boards. The grain pattern was strikingly reminiscent of a candle flame, licking up the centre of the tabletop.
If dining with your family isn’t as easy as the conversation, send us a note below and tells us what you need to enjoy your dining room to the fullest.