Well here I am again, sat up late at night, no early in the morning with a strong coffee steaming beside me after a long day in the workshop. This time I'm going to tell you about my biggest order to date, which came at the end of summer. I was on the top of a roof at the time I received the call, over on the east coast, in a landscape dotted with wind farms. Need less to say it was a bit blowy, and I very nearly didn't answer the call. It was a little hard to hear the details, something about a bunk bed and some wardrobes and maybe a chest of drawers, there was also an email address which I had to scribble down on a piece of 4x1. I told the caller that I was leaving on my holiday the next day but would reply by email when I got back. However when I tried I couldn' make out the address I tried every combination I could think of but they all came up with a sending failed message, until finally one got through.
Two weeks passed and I had heard nothing, I thought this very strange as she seemed very keen on the phone. Then the next day she rang again, thank goodness. The order turned out to be a very exciting one for me, a bunkbed with a dinosaur theme , I had just drawn up a draft for one not too long before, and two large wardrobes as well as a bookshelf and a chest of drawers.
The next day as I set about drawing up some designs I noticed a strange email from the email address I had thought to be hers. It read
Dear Dreamcraft I do apologise but it would appear my son has been enquiring about furniture on your website without our permission, for which he will be having his internet privelidges revoked. I am sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. I had an image of a young boy at home desperately pleading to his parents that he hadnt done anything and didnt know anything about any dinosaur furniture, and promptly set the record straight with his parents. Note to self for future referance-ensure that email details are correct and save enquiry phone numbers from now on.
So onto the design, the bed I already had in control and so I moved onto the wardrobes, One of these was to be set into an alcove right beside the bedroom door and I had an idea for a big scary dinosaur bursting through a wall, to be built up in layers on the doors. As with most of my stuff this would have routed detail to add an extra dimension to the design.
I wanted the rest of the furniture apart from the bunk and wardrobe one to be quite neutral in colour, but still full of detail, and so I chose to do this by routing into the panels various popular dinosaur fossils as well as text detailing certain facts and figures about the dinosaurs, giving it a kind of text book feel. the wardrobes would be the same green as the bed on the inside and the customer had specific instructions as to how she wanted them inside. Everything would need to be designed to flat pack so that it could all fit in the van for delivery (which was free). The exact dimensions of each item as well as the room were also provided very acurately by the customer. Once again all items were given two coats of u.v lacquer to ensure a long life.
Two weeks passed and I had heard nothing, I thought this very strange as she seemed very keen on the phone. Then the next day she rang again, thank goodness. The order turned out to be a very exciting one for me, a bunkbed with a dinosaur theme , I had just drawn up a draft for one not too long before, and two large wardrobes as well as a bookshelf and a chest of drawers.
The next day as I set about drawing up some designs I noticed a strange email from the email address I had thought to be hers. It read
Dear Dreamcraft I do apologise but it would appear my son has been enquiring about furniture on your website without our permission, for which he will be having his internet privelidges revoked. I am sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused. I had an image of a young boy at home desperately pleading to his parents that he hadnt done anything and didnt know anything about any dinosaur furniture, and promptly set the record straight with his parents. Note to self for future referance-ensure that email details are correct and save enquiry phone numbers from now on.
So onto the design, the bed I already had in control and so I moved onto the wardrobes, One of these was to be set into an alcove right beside the bedroom door and I had an idea for a big scary dinosaur bursting through a wall, to be built up in layers on the doors. As with most of my stuff this would have routed detail to add an extra dimension to the design.
I wanted the rest of the furniture apart from the bunk and wardrobe one to be quite neutral in colour, but still full of detail, and so I chose to do this by routing into the panels various popular dinosaur fossils as well as text detailing certain facts and figures about the dinosaurs, giving it a kind of text book feel. the wardrobes would be the same green as the bed on the inside and the customer had specific instructions as to how she wanted them inside. Everything would need to be designed to flat pack so that it could all fit in the van for delivery (which was free). The exact dimensions of each item as well as the room were also provided very acurately by the customer. Once again all items were given two coats of u.v lacquer to ensure a long life.
The designs went very much according to plan, with the only issue being the weight of the door on the feature wardrobe, it was so heavy when open it caused the wardrobe to tip forward, but this was easily resolved by fixing the wardrobe to the wall.
I was so excited about this one, each item on it's own looked incredible but as a set the effect was even better. as I only have a small basement workshop and an outdoor workshop in the garage at my premises, storing all this furniture was abit of an issue as the lacquer takes some time to dry completey and the panels cannot be stacked together without sticking. To resolve this I had the furniture assembled in my front room. This also had the advantage of me being able to get some good photographs of it all. It also meant, however that my front room looked like the bedsit room of someone that refused to grow up ( almost right there then ) and once again my daughter had become quite attached to it all. I was glad to see it packed up in the van though that is for sure.
On arriving in Hartlepool to deliver the furniture we were greeted by an over excited mother, that had been panicking that it wouldn't be ready in time for his birthday, All of this for his birthday? wow! The room had just been decorated as I had suggested in a grey paper to match the furniture and had camoflage curtains as well as a dinosaur wall mural ( the last three bedrooms I have fitted beds into have had this, perhaps I should start selling them.) and huge T-Rex cardboard cutout. It really was the ultimate dinosaur bedroom. The birthday boy himself was tactically at the movies and we didnt get to see the excitement on his face, but it is innevitable that all his mates will be jealous of his new bedroom.
More exciting dinosaur furniture designs are of course available to see on my website.
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