You gotta pick a parquet or two

A friend gave me an old parquet floor. It was her office floor when the building was demolished.

It's mahogany and covers a space about 4m x 3m. It was originally laid in bitumen, so the back of the pieces is fairly repulsive.

But when you are offered a mahogany floor, well, you just don;t refuse. I mean, how often does that happen ? So it has been sitting in my shed for a year or so, neatly stacked, taking up space, and waiting for inspiration to hit. To hit me, not the floor.

And then an idea arrived. My daughter lent me a book about furniture made from scrap, and one of the pieces was a cupboard with door made of glowing parquet. I was sold.

Hate cupboards, but I do have a thing about making tables, and this was too good to miss.

Laying the thing out

The table is about 1.7m x 0.9m and needed about 150 pieces or so, all precision-sawn to shape. Who wants parquet that doesn't quite join ?

I was too busy making it to take many photographs, and so excited that I had to stop myself from rushing it. But towards the end it looked like this. Now all I have to do is make some legs for it.

Just varnished (note tasteful dust-sheet !)

Oh yes. And find somewhere for it to live.