Study Table

Hubby made a study table for our son and daughter.  The table top is made out of Balau wood and it sits on top of pedestal.  You can check out this site for more information about Balau wood at 

http://www.woodsolutions.com.au/Wood-Species/shorea-albida

For our son's study table, the wood was sanded down, treated and varnished.  For our daughter's study table, she did not want the table top to be varnished, she wanted it natural so we left it as it is, but it was sanded down and treated as well.  

Due to budget constrains, we purchased 2nd hand pedestals from Kedai Kaki Lelong (www.kkltrading.com/) and fixed the table top on top of the pedestal for our son.  Since then, we have made several trips back to the same shop to look for the pedestal for our daughter and were not successful as either the height was not right or the pedestal had some defects.  In the end, we managed to find only one pedestal and substitute the other pedestal by purchasing a metal table leg. 

The study table taking shape, pedestal not high enough,
had to put a piece of plywood to raise it

The metal leg table

A close up of the table top, Balau wood not vanished

This is what it takes to make a study table

Recycled and Reused Dining Bench

The two Dining Benches for our Dining table is another project that Hubby did.  The bench is made out of Kempas Wood and the legs are made out of two single 2ft louver.  The bench itself is about 7ft long and can easily sit 3 adults.  So our Dining table has two chairs on each end and the two dining benches on the left and right.

These louvers are from old colonial bungalows which was built circa 1880s.  It would therefore make these louvers about 100+ years old.  Kudos to Hubby who comes up with these creative and innovative ideas.  Who would have thought of  making louvers as bench legs.

You can read more about the louvers that we made as an air-conditioning compressor cover in my other blog post here

Like all other wood projects, we had to clean, scrape and sand down the wood.  Once all this is done, these woods were given a chemical treatment.  We would normally varnish our woods but for these benches, we have decided to leave it with it's natural wood color.

One of the four 2ft louvers that we bought

A close up of the louver with it's before clean up condition

Another one of the four louvers

Child labour? Nah ... they just love scraping the old paint out!

Left : A 'clean-up' louver
Right : Paint scraped out and waiting to sand down

Fixing the louvers to the bench

A close up of the wood and the louvers

For extra support and for decorative purpose,
we used the Ikea bracket for shelves 

Completed : The dining bench with louvers as it's legs

The Dining Bench in use!

Recycled and Reused Louvers

For this blog post, I will be taking a detour from the House Tour and would like to share with you on some of the wood projects that we have been up to.

Hubby had his eyes set on some louvers that we saw at a lumber yard that recycles old wood items like doors, windows and woods.  These louvers are made out of Chengal wood and is easily about 100 over years old.  Just lifting a 2ft Chengal louver is heavy enough!

What is a louver you ask?  Well, according to Wikipedia, a louver (American English) or louver (British English) is a window blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine and noise.  The angle of the slats may be adjustable, usually in blinds and windows or fixed.

In Malaysia, you can find louvers in old colonial houses like those in Kuala Lumpur, Penang & Ipoh.  However, in newer houses, you'll not find them anymore as modern louvers (if any) will be made out of metal.

So Hubby had this idea of covering the air-conditioning compressor area with the 4ft louver we purchased.  He also had the idea of making the smaller louvers as bench legs which were 2ft each for our dinning bench.

An old colonial house with the louvers above the window shutters

Another picture of the colonial louvers

We were deciding on which louvers to choose.
Initially we thought of the louver lying on the floor with the hold in
middle.  We thought of adding in a Nyonya glass but decided against it
as it would be too much work to do.

So in the end we decided on this louver, 4ft and perfect
for the air-conditioning compressor area.

This is the louver that we bought for the air-conditioning compressor area.

Once we brought it home, we had to take out the planks,
sand each one down as well as the frame.

The planks which had about three or four coats of paints over the years.

After sanding down the frame, hubby varnished the frame
and gave it some chemical treatment.

In the end, this is the varnish color that we choose. 

The planks were also varnished and fitted back.

Here is Hubby fixing the louvers onto the air-conditioning compressor area.

Before : The air-conditioning compressor area is empty and open.

After : The air-conditioning compressor area is now covered up with the
beautiful restored and recycled louver.

After : Another after picture of the facade.