Ultimately practical dining tables

Ey up my faithful blogworms, 

We talk lots about kitchens so, I thought this week I'd share with you a brilliant concept for complementary dining tables that I've made to go with them.

 Still, in kitchens, granite is probably the most durable, effective & heatproof of all worktops but why limit it the just the kitchen.

We carry out many projects where we open up dining rooms into kitchens to create a fantastic through space where it becomes the social hub of the home. As a result, you do need to concentrate on making 2 become 1 when considering the decor.

Many people then spend loads of time trying to find a dining table that works with the kitchen furniture. 

My idea was to make a table that has a central granite panel to allow you to put hot pans and dishes straight onto it, serving your family or guests straight from the pan while hot !! Much more sociable in the sharing of food, much more practical in terms of cutting down on washing up etc. of loads of unecessary serving dishes and it protects your table from annoying scratches without covering the table first.

I've never understood the principle of buying a fabulous new dining table only to cover it up with a cloth so you can't see it because you're scared to death of marking it. Totally  pointless !!

The top picture here shows a table that we specifically made from scratch to go with an Oak and Baltic Brown granite kitchen, so we can save you loads of time and stress by actually making your table to match !!


The second picture shows an Oak dining table that had already been bought for a kitchen so we modified it to take the central Bon Accord granite panel to match the kitchen.

Making, in our minds, the ultimate dining table that ticks all the boxes you want to tick. So whether you already have your table or want one making to match, don't leave out your humble dining table out when thinking about your new kitchen project, we have a couple of ways of getting you the table you really want.

We can also take any timber table you may already have a insert a granite panel into it, if you just love the idea and want one creating to go with the kitchen you've already got. 

After all, you wouldn't spend a small fortune on new hair-do and then spend all day wearing a balaclava ........ WOULD YOU ?

A bit more creative thinking ...... Jules.

Pandoras Box

Ey up my faithful blogworms, this week carrying on the theme of recycling timber, I would like to introduce you all to ...... Pandoras Box !

 More specifically ..... 'Pandoras Camp Box and Table'

Designed by me in my shed as a compact multifunction box to take on our camping trips and days out in Pandora, our campervan.
The very first one, I built from recycling pallets, the theme of last weeks blog but to put into production they are now built from new sustainably sourced softwood.


The concept is to save space and perform more than one task. To that end, Pandoras box carries all your provisions neatly in one place and transforms quickly and easily into a table once you arrive at your destination. Strong and sturdy, Pandoras box is capable of carrying all your cups, plates and cutlery, food & drink or even your camping stove all in 1 tidy place.



Load it up, pack some chairs and you're ready to go ! 

It makes picnic baskets obsolete and is way more versatile !

The legs fasten on very easily and due to their design have a degree of movement to allow small adjustments to level the table and take out any rocking movement, even with 4 legs you won't end up packing the legs with bits of wood to make it stable. The table is equally at home on tarmac, grass or sand as long as it's not too soft.



 We're making Pandoras box in two finishes at the moment: natural and antique black waxed

Ours in use one one of our many holidays or trips out, we don't know how on earth we managed without one !!

Pandoras box lives permanently in the back of our bus, we never go anywhere without it but it does also fit well on the back seat of a car.

Come on ... this is so much better than sitting and eating on wet grass with stones sticking into your bum and certainly a lot more stylish. If you're sitting on a beach on rugs, you don't even need to fit the legs and it's still at a comfy height to eat at.

A perfect addition to your life, turning camping into glamping at a stroke.

For more details and prices, change your life and contact me on : julian@milestone.uk.net or through my facebook page. 

Jules.

Beauty or Beast ?

Ey up my faithful blogworms: Question ?

What's this :

You're wrong ! ... It's fuel for your log burners, kindling to light them, materials for box building, a dining table top, bathroom storage, outdoor furniture, kitchen unit materials, etc. etc. etc.

Where do you buy this fantastic resource: You don't !

Where do you get them then: Pretty much anywhere you drive to or walk to, you'll see these little beauties lying everywhere ! Some say they're a blot on the landscape. Some say they're ugly, unsightly rubbish laying by roadsides and in skips !

You couldn't be more wrong !

This isn't a pallet .... oh no ! ... it's a valuable, recycled timber resource for making many many things. AND IT'S FREE !!

 I particularly like the creative thinker who made the recycling bin, by recycling a pallet to put their recycling in ! That appeals to my sense of humour and performs a useful function.

All you need in many instances are, a saw, a hammer and some nails to turn this roadside wastrel into a thing of beauty, purpose and function !


I know there are many websites and books on the subject available but here in the UK this a still a largely ignored, free resource. Thousands of trees have died to make pallets, let's not allow them to die in vain.

Many books you see advertised and woodworking projects you see on the internet are based in the US, these guys are way ahead of us Brits in a lot of ways related to making stuff from wood. Let's follow their lead and get cracking with a bit more recycled woodwork. 

Who knows, shown the way and taking them on at their own game, if we could create enough wonderful things from pallets, inspired by the Americans, we could ..... maybe..... I only said, maybe, we could eventually forgive them for inflicting McDonalds & KFC on us ???

Pallet: Beauty or Beast ? You decide ?

You could even build your shed to work on your pallets in from ....... Yep ! , ... PALLETS

So, all you sheddists out there ... let's get recycling !!

Jules.

Is it worth it ?

Ey up my faithful blogworms, ....

Refurbishment of existing kitchens !

The word "refurbishment" to some people means taking the whole thing out and starting again !!

Wrong ! .... It means working with what you have and bringing existing furniture up to date, rather than chucking away a basically sound kitchen.

This week I'm focusing on what to look for to see if what you have can be brought back to life with a mix of new components.

Here's a list of Top Tips as to what to look for:

1) Am I happy with the existing layout ? If you are then that's good ! If you're not ... what would you change round ? Bear in mind, at this point, that the more units you want to change round or replace, it starts to maybe make it more viable to change the whole kitchen. There is quite definitely a cost tipping point point where it refurbing becomes uneconomical.

2) Look at the condition of your cabinets. Generally the sink base is the one that suffers but if that's the only one, then replacing a single cabinet is ok. More than that, refer to point 1) above

3) Take a careful look at your worktops. If the front edge has blown and the joints don't look good, this would be the time to change them.

4) Does your sink look tatty or drive you mad ? If changing the worktops then this is the best time to change the sink. Changing your sink when you're keeping the worktops means finding one as near as dammit the same size which really cuts down your choices. Apply the same thinking to your hob !

5) Saggy hinges, knackered drawer boxes, old handles that look dated. If any of these apply then now is the time to do something about those as well. These are all easy to re-new.

6) Old appliances: not working right, rusting, broken knobs, leaking, again consider these when looking to refurb, this is a good time to do it.

A typical viable refurb usually takes the form of a new set of doors, new top, new sink and the odd new appliance. This is very cost effective against the price of a new kitchen and can make a massive difference to an old tired kitchen.

The massive advantage of 'refurbing' your existing kitchen lies in: 

re-using most, if not all, of your existing cabinets

not having the change your tiling (unless you want to),

 leaving the electrics alone (which can be expensive to bring up to date),

 not having to buy new flooring when the footprint of your kitchen changes,

 not having to redecorate (unless you want to), 

much less disruption to your life while the work is being carried out, 

costs significantly less than a whole new kitchen (depending on your product choices)  

it takes less time, so less cost !

IS IT WORTH IT ?, using my top tips, you decide. If you want a second opinion, we'll happily come out and take a look. The lists above are exactly the same as how I would look at it when deciding if a lower cost refurb is the answer to a new kitchen.

Don't automatically think that you are going to have bin your old kitchen ! You'd be amazed at what can often be achieved.

Your kitchen at heart ..... Jules.

Perfectly fitted kitchens for £70

Ey up my faithful blogworms, Just recently completed a tricky little install in a weird shaped kitchen...... The advantages of custom sized units is clear for projects like this.

Our customers choice was a kitchen from our Eco2 range, giving us soft close everything and the ability to make units any size we like.

Remember my earlier blog "Small but perfectly formed for a tenner"..... 1 dimension change costs a tenner !

On this kitchen we're fighting round a pillar and under the staircase to upstairs, big beam in the way and the back door opens very close to the end of the run.

The wall unit under the beam is an odd size to ensure a perfect fit, filling the space and giving continuity to the run.

The last base unit on the left is 660mm long, 320mm deep and 720mm high. 2 dimension changes make the unit tuck in nicely, clear the back door ( to the left ) and maximise the use of that space.

The diagonal corner base going under the stairs is squeezed down to 850mm x 850mm to make sure it goes in and a short false wall panel behind it, blocks the slope off nice and square to give a useable section of worktop and a huge storage cupboard in, what would have been, dead space.

As you can see sneaking in at the top right of the picture, the wall unit to the right of the hood ( visible in the picture above ) has been made shorter in height and wider to provide better storage and brought down to level across the bottom so everything still lines through. There is a useable space above it for jars, pots etc.

All the other units used are pretty much standard sizes, so by just bespoke building certain units the rest fall into place and it only costs the tenner for each dimension change on the ones that need it. 

With the few units we made bespoke only costing £70 in total for modifications, you get a kitchen that is perfectly fitted, no space wasted, storage volume maximised and importantly, it looks right when finished and no stupid, unnecessary filler panels panels banged in everywhere because nothing fits properly !!! You can't tell me that's not worth £70 !!

Bespoke done properly is not expensive, very effective and well worth doing. If only all kitchens were done this way .... the Milestone way ... the world would be full of better fitting kitchens but until then, if you want it doing right, we need to talk !!

Modern traditional thinking.

Ey up my faithful blogworms, subtle indicators in the market are giving us the impression that  'old school' kitchens are on their way back in certain quarters. A bit more traditional style and old fashioned values seem to be gathering momentum, so we're having a punt on using those ideas and bringing them into contemporary kitchen furniture.

A bit like this: 

Our display is very new, as you can see, we've not decided on handles yet ! It's not meant to be 'handleless' we're just thinking about what to use.

It's a simple 'wide stile and rail' Shaker door in two shades, Dakar & Olive for a subtle two tone look rather than use two totally different colours.

Bringing back the good old fashioned Belfast sink, always great for washing large pans in that don't fit in your dishwasher, we've found a quartz worktop that has the appearance of a traditional Carrara marble with out the drawbacks of marble being soft and porous but still keeping that certain look.

For us, though, the thing that really pulls it together is the tiling. We've chosen a really old style, seemingly random, mix. A style more in keeping with Victorian kitchens but brand new and a hand made range from Marlborough Tiles called Harlequin. We absolutely love it ! You buy a box of 28 tiles, all different, and mix them as you fit them. 

It's a look that we feel really works as the kitchen units and tops are quite plain in design allowing the tiles to do the work as the 'Wow' Feature. 

It's only been in the showroom window a few days now but we're staggered at the interest being generated by it. Who knows we may have hit a seam here, you do get one every so often that captures the imagination ..... this may just be it !

What do you think ?

From Milestone, it's available everywhere, if this really floats your boat, we'll travel anywhere to either deliver it or deliver & fit it for you, you only have to ask !

Traditionally. Jules

Recycle More Sunscreen

Ey up my faithful blogworms, 

This week, I was searching through my archives for something else when I found this.

If you remember the "Sunscreen" song by Baz Luhrmann that was released as a single in 1999, I thought it would make a great basis for re-writing it as a recycling anthem. It took me absolutely hours to do as songwriting really isn't my bag but came up with the version you see below. 

Must admit I'm really chuffed with what I achieved, here it is, see what you think.

I would love someone to pick this up and let's have a go a recreating the song only using my words instead. No idea how to go about it but I'm hoping someone out there in the blogosphere will and would be willing to give it a go. 

Music has always held the power to get a message across to a larger audience. Recycling and a green lifestyle is potentially more important now than ever before. It would be fab to have an anthem to bring people together. 

Get in touch if you can help, It would make my year !

Jules

"It's all about the Bays"

Ey up my faithful blogworms, following on from last weeks blog I thought I'd post some more recycled roadstone plaques of beloved campervans and give you a chance to get something for nothing !!



To give you a bit more of an insight into these fab plaques, as I said last week they're made from a recycled mix of tarmac roadstone, welsh slate waste and a sand which is a peculiar geological seam that has no other useful purpose in the construction industry. The whole thing is then glazed with a mix used for lining underground ceramic pipes in mainland Europe making them very hardwearing when used as either a tile or a splashback.

Last week you saw a hob splashback featuring a 60's Splitscreen, this week I thought I'd share some of the other campers we have made plaques of.


The top one is our own bus 'Pandora' dressed up for a wedding, which makes a fantastic and unusual commemorative gift for the lucky couple and certainly a souvenir you won't get anywhere else.





The second one is of a Samba down a leafy lane in deepest Cornwall which we think is, not only a perfect shot but would make a splashback to take pride of place in any kitchen










The third one a lot of you will probably recognise as quite a famous bus formerly owned by one of the hardest working and knowledgeable couples dedicated to the VW world in the UK ........................ but who ?

The last one shown here is a great bus that was a worthy winner of Best in Show at last years CamperJam. 

Their plaque was made and awarded by us for all the effort they put into making the bus the show winner it became.





That brings me to 2 very important offers.

 We are looking to sponsor 2 plaques, Free Of Charge, for Best in Show awards at 2 of the VW shows this year. (that's one each ). Get in touch if you're organising shows this season and let me know why you think your show should be one we choose. Funniest or most apt reasons get the plaque !! We're looking for one in the north and one in the south

AND tell me via our facebook page whose blue & white campervan is featured in pic 3 to win a recycled yoghurt or coffee cup bread board  for your bus this year.

Bread board winner will be posted on Facebook on Friday, 6th Feb

OR generally for info on sizes and prices if you want to immortalise your own ride on a plaque made from the very roadstone you drive it on, again, contact me through our facebook page.

Start your post or message "Show Bus"

As Meghan Trainor said "it's all about the Bays" ( & Splitties & T3's & T4's & T5's ) we love them all !!

Jules.

Recycling meets Art ?

Ey up my faithful blogworms,

 Thought it was time to bring you up to date with the wonderful world of Recycled Roadstone Plaques. I've not mentioned them for a while.

These are the plaques, splashbacks and panels we supply made from recycling roadstone waste mixed with sand and waste particles from Welsh slate cutting.

We have featured these on our own Pinterest site, follow the link below for more pics.
  http://www.pinterest.com/milestone01/recycled-roadstone-plaques-kitchen-splashbacks/

They are such as versatile product that it seems a shame just to use them as splashbacks when they can be used for so much more.

From the top: the first one shows a couples campervan made into a cooker hood splashback as a main feature in their kitchen.
The second one was a panel made to fit into a tile layout for someone who is a fan of 'The Flower Fairies' sequence.

The third one is a plaque made to celebrate a couples wedding featuring the wedding car, appropriate for a plaque made from the very tarmac you drive the car on !.


And the last one shows how adaptable the principle is by making a splashback indentical to the fabric that was being used for the blinds and soft furnishings in a kitchen / dining room. 

The panels can also be used as cladding in a bathroom replacing tiles altogether. 

With the ability to choose your own photographs, landscapes, pattern matches etc there really is very little you can't do with such a versatile product !!


We can even make corporate panels featuring logos and emblems etc as a stunning focal point for offices, boardrooms, car showrooms and the like creating a fantastic talking point to impress your clients on a visit to your offices. Recycling meets Art ??

I suppose the ultimate example of 'closed loop thinking' would be to make a roadstone plaque for the entrance to a roadstone company. How cool would that be ??

Don't just think of tarmac as the boring black stuff you get stuck in traffic on ! Come up with an interesting and unusual idea for a use for this marvellous material and contact us. We are always open to looking at new ideas from creative thinkers. 

As always, lateral thinking. Jules

Leaning Tower of Cheeser

Ey up my faithful blogworms, sometimes my talents are called for in different areas !




A cheese wedding cake ... what the hell is that ??

Apparently it's becoming trendy to have a wedding cake comprised entirely of cheese !

So, being asked if I could make one, I rose to the challenge. The result is what you see here. This may seem a bit random for someone who spends his time building kitchens but it turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you all this week.

Piling rounds of cheese up to form a cake can be risky if one of them's a bit softer and you don't want to end up with the 'Leaning Tower of Cheeser' so, I felt, a structure was needed.

This was made from recycling some old maple floorboards. The ground floor is heart shaped with an oval one for the first floor and a circular one to top it off. 

Using Cheeses from the wonderful Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales, we were able to get 11 different cheeses on board, using rounds, half rounds and wax covered truckles. Over 10 kgs of cheese plus the structure, it was quite heavy to say the least !

The two small bride and groom mice on top are made from felt and looked brilliant .... what else would you put on top of cheese ???

As I said, seemingly a bit random for things I normally talk about but I hope you find this, at least, entertaining and hopefully an inspiration for your own wedding cake. We were at the wedding and I have to say, the compliments were flying in !

If you're getting wed this year, I'll congratulate you now and maybe make it 'a little cheesey !'

As always, yours, Jules.