Author Archives: maggiecowling

The Chippendale style Gainsborough suite, comprising of 2 single chairs and 1 double settee, started out as 3 single chairs. The client required a suitable settee to complement the two chairs, and we found a solution. Having only made single chair frames in this style, I cut one of them up, maintaining 2 side frames.Continue reading “Gainsborough Suite”

Back in 1990, a dealer commissioned me to convert an old burr walnut piano into a davenport desk. Fortunately the piano was already dismantled, having outlived its usefulness as a piano – a task that would have been arduous enough! It was a somewhat challenging job, as a swathe had to be cut through theContinue reading “Piano conversion”

Looking back on this 90s restoration, I was faced with a choice of keeping the item for spare parts or attempting to piece it together. The previous owner had dismantled the French Renaissance revival secretaire bookcase and many of the decorative relief carvings had been planed off. There was also a fair bit of weathering.Continue reading “When is a piece too far gone?”

It was always going to be a bit of a monster! I could only fit it in the workshop between the rafters without the pediment. So out into the vegie patch it went, where there was a large enough space to set it up, and fit the basic pediment. The posts were Australian blackwood andContinue reading “King-size four-poster bed”

I’m probably not alone in having a favourite tool, amongst the many I’ve accumulated over the years. I bought this beech cabinet-maker’s mallet for $3 some 35 years ago from Faram Bros in Port Melbourne, and still regularly use it today. I have others, including a heavier version of the same, a slightly different shapedContinue reading “A FAVOURITE FROM THE TOOLKIT”