Working from home

The home office is an integral area of the home for our client . A place to be able to work productively with minimal disruptions whilst still remaining an extension of the home .

The brief was simple. Ample desktop space and maximum storage facilites . The overall aesthetic had to be clean elegant and minimal.

Before the home office makeover

More storage required here

The features included a pull out desk caddy on castors for ease of movement if needed.

A fitted bookcase with adjustable shelves, a floating shelf above and painted white with dulux beige royal quarter to blend in with the existing decor.

The overall result is a harmonious workspace offering maximum productivity and storage capabilities .

elegant but functional working area

custom made to clients exact requirments

A myriad of storage solutions

Designing custom made stools

Our lumbar support Bar Stools have brought breakfast to a whole new comfortable level for our clients.
Made from American Ash , Stuart designed these for maximum back support and to blend in with the clients existing dining chairs.
Upholstered in a blonde vinyl to withstand kitchen use these stools were a joy for Stuart to design and make.

Prepping for the shaping of the legs

Fine tuning

The beautiful finished product

Taking pride of place in their new home

Create the things you wish existed ...

There is no question that books, in particular the big glorious hard cover gems are one of life’s abundant joys.

The glossy thick pages filled with wise words and inspirational images can take you places you have never been or re aquaint yourself with long lost senimentality .

You can travel the country, roam the world within minutes and take the ultimate escape journey, there is however only one small caveat , the weight of these glorious books often makes reading or perusing an uncomfortable process, the heaviness coupled with the size can put a dent in anyone’s escapism.

So finding a way for our client to enjoy reading a very special and sentimental book of proportionate size and weight Building Bathurst by Graham Lupp was a challenge Stuart happily accepted .

After deliberation and client conversation, Stuart designed (and made) a unique Mini Lecturn or Book reader which provides a stylish platform for those special books we treasure, giving the reader a vessel to house and read the book with ease.

Elegance meets practicality

Easy to assemble

Fully assembled

Made from Camphor Laurel and Silky Oak, this simple easy to use Lecturn provides the ideal area to read, peruse or display those treasured books that should be gloriously displayed to make the everyday special.

As seen “in action” above the mini lecturn providing a wonderful backdrop for Building Bathurst a discerning Historical 2 Volume exploration into the historical architecture of Bathurst NSW Australia.

The journey of creating this unique piece for one of our clients is a privilege , connecting us to learned artisan Graham Lupp who both inspires and educates with his use of paint and pen .

A Joy to make and we hope will remain a constant source of comfort for our avid readers.

A beautiful Custom Made Bedroom Suite

Being in the airline industry has certainly rubbed off for our lovely inner city clients, a personal request for Stuart when designing their bedroom suite was to have some “runway lights” as a feature .

Nothing too obstuse, but a gentle nod to the love of their career.

Happy to oblige, Stuart encorporated some elegant lighting along the bed panel that highlights the beautiful rich hue of the Cambia (think rich dark chocolate) and the warmth of Euro Beech …

Euro and Cambia Bedroom ensemble … featuring “runway” feature lights on the left

Along with the elegant bedroom ensemble we designed this clean looking sophisticated TV Unit.

With a “pop up” feature that enables the TV Screen to disappear within seconds .

Again we used Cambia and Euro Beech for effortless continuity.

Beautiful classic pieces that are highly functional yet serve as a wonderful canvas for the addition of personal bedroom accessories .

The natural beauty of Timber

Ready for a good nights sleep

Around the workshop in September

September was another fun , productive month in the Bywater Design Workshop. Hard to believe that we are in the last quarter of the year, 2019 now

Our many and varied projects included restoration on some beautiful furniture, including a lovely change of colour to a 1920’s reading chair.

Working on our new surfboard collection ( we are very excited about our new developments ) our September Surfboard class proved once again how lucky we are to share our enthusisam and knowledge with our surfboard students.

Stuart also enjoyed using his beloved hand chisels and hand carved mahogany corbels for a heritage project .

As we emerse ourselves into October we look forward to some more exciting custom made furniture projects , further restoration work and the preparation for our November Surfboard Making Workshop which is always a fun and busy 4 days !

Love what we do

The benefits of white furniture

As we have stated many times, our passion for timber furniture is strong. Over the years we have designed and made so many beautiful heirlooms in timber, including, dining tables, chest of drawers, entertainment units even ladders for home offices, the list goes magically and gratefully on of what we have achieved for our wonderful clients.

Sometimes though, a clear finish/polish is not what is needed or desired.

A white gloss or 2 pack finish can literally be the icing on the cake

There are many benefits of white furniture, not withstanding the visual impact white furniture can have on some beautifully rich timber floors. The gorgeous contrast these two elements provide can just be breathtaking …

White gloss bookcase, providing a wonderful distinction between wall and floor

White Furniture can provide addtional contrasts and textures to a room .

It gives a clean, fresh feel which is perfect all year round.

White furniture provides a wonderful blank canvas, on which you can very simply add your collection of art, sentimental pieces and the white furniture will highlight these in the most subtle yet sophisticated of ways.

With different textures and shapes, white furniture becomes a wonderful addition to the living room

A perfect blank canvas to add art pieces, treasured books, special photos and mementos

Any room of the home can benefit from the additon of white furniture, the only limit is your imagination

Designing Wooden Surfboards

There is nothing like first hand experience, and through many a surf, some good sessions some not so good times we have refined and evolved our Wooden Surfboards.

We have curated our boards to encompass the various surf conditions and to accommodate the individual characteristics of the surfboard rider.

The Dawn is a classic all rounder. (so named after the Legendary Dawn Fraser )

The Dawn will simply handle everything that is thrown at it; from the almost non existent wave to the holy grail of a clean six footer.

A good paddling board makes for easy wave catching, great sharp turning and fast trimming

The Dawn is the ultimate package.

Made from Paulownia and Cambia Ash The Dawn is the ultimate package

The Gould (aptly named after the one and only Shane Gould is a cleaned up older board that takes its origins from the 1970’s.

With a single fin its a point and shoot board that behaves like a dream.

Its a low entry rocker with a flat bottom and chimed rails.

The Gould has a fuller nose outline compared to other boards compared to modern boards, but dont let its retro vibe fool you, this board can take all sorts of conditions and is suited to all types of surfers.

But dont take our word, come down to our Woodworking Gallery and see first hand how these boards are designed and made with the utmost care.

Of course you can alway take yourself on a creative journey and make one of these beautiful boards yourself . Here’s how you can do it .

We love the curious types so dont hesitate to contact us with a question on our Bywater Design Surfboards

Our Dawn. Loving the 70’s is a good thing

Beautiful things for the everyday

One of our goals when we formalated the idea for creating our own gallery was to make beautiful small items for the home, and to have beautiful things in which to entertain.

Simple, classic pieces that are visually appealing and easy to use, things that wont date or age or seem fadish but just beautiful sustainable pieces that you would want to use again and again

Making the everyday an occasion a celebration is what we firmly hold dear, so why not use something beautiful to celebrate a Monday Night Takeaway …

Simply classic entertaining

Easy ambience

Everday Luxury …

Sushi time

Just some of the beautiful home accessories we have, slowly we are uploading items to the online shop, but we invite you to pop down and peruse the wonderful colurful textural Qld Made items we have

Custom making Media Units ...

A wonderful finished product on this custome made TV Cabinet …

Our client required a modest cabinet to accommodate a DVD Player and accessories , and it also had to fit within the room parameters , so as not to overpower the other gorgeous furniture in the room .

Stuart designed this sleek cabinet with ample storage for all components as well as the inclusion of grey speaker mesh to emphasise the quality of sound as well as harmonise with the 2 Pack finish.

We chose Dulux Snow Season a sophisticated white neutral to highlight the gorgeous timber flooring.

The chrystal handles ( a client love) was the final embelishment on this elegant minimal yet functional cabinet.

A fresh new look for the corner of the living room

Classic clean lines with ample storage

The wonderful finished product

Silver Ash coffee tables

Using Silver Ash for a base and featuring Laminex in contemporary shades, these coffee tables are the perfect addition to this beautifully appointed Brisbane home.

Using Laminex in Cosmic Grey and Alto these tables provide an avant garde atmospbere to this wonderful lounge room.

African Teak Outdoor Furniture

Matching existing pieces we made 6 years ago, these African Teak outdoor chairs are made to last.

Just add cushions and a cocktail and the hours will just float by…

African Teak ready to weather naturally

Custom made dining chairs...

Dining chairs have a tough gig, over the years they are put through constant stress and strain.

Used several times a day, they are certainly put through their paces.

A chair has to be strong to be able to carry various weights, and it has to be comfortable to make the owner want to sit in it with ease for hours.

With these aspects in mind, we design and make our dining chairs for durability, for beauty and for comfort.

A place for books

Being avid readers, we know all too well the problem of finding a suitable home for all the books we have collected over the years and do not want to part with.

It is a wonderful thing to pass them on to someone else to read #payitforward but there are numerous times and occasions when you do not want to part with them.

Art books for instance , often heavy and large are a must have for reference and to keep going back to time and again, coffee table books - for when the collection becomes too high to keep on the coffee table and of course well worn much loved fiction books that hold sentimental value.

Our client came to us with this conundrum , so many wonderful books but nowhere to store them and to reflect back on them when needed.

We designed this clean, streamlined bookcase to house such important items. Custom made to encapsulate the assorted heights and weights of different books.

Simple in design and colour so as to let the wonderful assorted colours of the books take precedence and be the show items as they rightly are…

Starting to come together

Ample space for lots of wonderful books

A beautiful complement to stunning art work

A room without books is like a body without soul.

Making a dining table out of recycled timber

There is a lot to be said for using recycled materials, and in particular recycled timber.

Less waste, and more often than not the character and grain of the timber is exceptional.

Age does provide beauty.

For this classic style dining table we sourced blackbutt, red iron bark, grey iron bark and spotted gum, iconic Australian timbers that were once used as timber beams for a house of over 100 years. Now this timber will serve another wonderful purpose and will stand the test of time and will look even better with age.

The beauty of the grain …

Gorgeous Australian timbers feature in this classic style dining table.

The glorious colours of timber. A natural beauty

Custom made furniture for retirement living

Moving into a retirement living complex is a new beginning ; a chance to make some fun new changes.

Furniture that once served a great purpose for a larger family may not be so practical now, and sometimes the spacial features of the new abode do not marry well with the existing furniture.

These are a few of the reasons why our client came to us, seeking custom made furniture that would fit beautifully into their new home.

We designed and made the new dining furniture to blend seamlessly with existing furniture, to have the correct proportions so that it wouldnt overtake or be too large to manoeuvre around .

The richness of Jarrah was an ideal choice for the clean classic lines of this dining room furniture.

The wonderful deep patina of Jarrah makes a striking choice for apartment living/

Sleek and sophisticated

Custom making an obvious choice

The perfect size coffee table

The end result, very happy clients who are thrilled with their new way of life and their new furniture.

The Global Surfer and Making a Hollow Wooden Surfboard

We were thrilled to be able to give a global traveller and avid Surfer 'E' the opportunity to make his own hollow wooden surfboard. During the week, E who in his words, has no woodworking experience apart from sharpening a pencil, learnt basic woodworking skills such as sharpening  a hand plane, shaping, sanding of his board and fin placement.  We then went on to fully glass the board.

But don't just take our word for it ... Have a look at our very first YouTube

Working with Wood Show - Brisbane 2015 -

It was all very hands on at the recent Working with Wood Show at the RNA last weekend...  

We had an overwhelming response and interest in not only our Wooden Surfboard and traditional woodworking classes, but also our custom making and furniture restoration services. Thank you to Carbatec for making this possible. Much appreciation to Michael Hoffman and David Wardrop for their invaluable help and enthusiasm over the weekend.

Maple Hall Cabinet

Providing essential storage for keys, wallets, phones etc... This Hall Cabinet was designed with practical yet design considerations in mind.

Created from Rock Maple Timber and coupled with the warm contrast of American Walnut, this Hall cabinet is of course fitted with dovetailed drawers and accompanied with soft close runners  providing effortless ease of use.

The advantage of custom making provides stylish solutions to practical problems.