Wood; a renewable building material that tackles climate change. It’s beautiful, sustainable and the only material made from the sun. Make It Wood –
Planet Ark
Scott McKenzie from Innov8 brought this blackbutt timber (as seen in the feature image) back to life by reusing it to make a bookcase for our Baby Girl’s bedroom – and what a job he did!
When Scott sent through this photo he was chuffed with his find and his enthusiasm quickly rubbed off on us. He then set to work finding the perfect timber to complete our bedroom furniture – a queen-sized bed and two bedside tables.
The outline to Scott was that the timber he sourced for each of the pieces was filled with character (recycled would be ideal) and the end result showcased all the knots and grains which occurs in feature grade timber. He took our ideas on board, incorporated his own unique touches and produced beautifully handcrafted and functional pieces for our home.
Up until now the majority of our furniture has been handed down to us from older generations, pieces which are filled with past stories and family history. Designing a piece from scratch gave us an opportunity to have a hand in beginning a new story. Not only could we ensure a perfect fit for our daily use but, we had such a great time coming up with the concepts and designs.
Handcrafted Recycled TimberĀ Bookcase By Innov8
Before our Baby Girl’s Innov8 bookcase arrived she spent all day being busted in her Big Brother’s room playing with all his toys (which are also kept on the shelves of a bookcase). From the first day her shelves arrived and we were able to arrange her things in a much more orderly fashion, where she could clearly see them, so she no longer headed into his room (except when she wanted to stir up trouble).
The Innov8 bookcase has been designed and made in two pieces so it can be arranged into a corner or alternatively be placed side by side along the full length of a wall (you can see that example on the Innov8 Facebook page). This ensures it remains versatile, practical and useful as our life or home layout changes.
There are two removable boxes which fit perfectly as inserts in the larger spaces or, can be placed around the room as single pieces. And no, our Baby Girl didn’t prepare her room for this photoshoot, you can just imagine how this area transforms when every last thing is pulled from those shelves…
The Science Behind Living Clutter-free
The Innov8 bookcase was designed to be an extremely practical feature in our Baby Girl’s bedroom. Friends of mine will confirm, although cleaning is not in my top five activities to dedicate time to, keeping our home organised and clutter-free is. This personality trait has (as you can imagine) put me in the firing line for many a ‘healthy’ debate so, you can understand how thrilled I was to discover the Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University (Jan 2011) has got my back. At a simplistic level the report said, a cluttered space generally leads to a cluttered mind.
When there are multiple amounts of unnecessary stimuli lying around it is a lot easier to be distracted, as all the ‘stuff’ is competing for your visual attention. With that in mind, it was important to us to find a level of balance within her space appropriate for imaginative and creative play, organised and productive thinking as well as encourage quiet and peaceful downtime when appropriate.
NextĀ it was time to concentrate on our space.
Handcrafted Recycled TimberĀ Bed Frame and Bedside Tables by Innov8Ā
Scott hand-picked each piece of the blackbutt timber used for our Innov8 bedroom furniture to ensure it was feature grained. The timber he chose is known as downgraded timber due to the fact that most clients prefer clear timber which doesn’t show any markings – not us! We also learnt that even if the timber was sourced from the same tree, each piece will have different colourings depending on where it was sitting in relation to the sun.
Keeping with the reusing theme, the multicoloured pieces of timber on the head and foot of the bed spent the first part of their days as cattle yards on my husbands family farm. Now they are repurposed as the feature pieces of our bed, complemented with integrated lighting.
The Innov8 bedroom set is finished off with bedside tables with sunken tissue boxes and off-centered floating drawers which we also designed ourselves. it certainly makes us the super proud owners of something we think is pretty unique.
So the new story begins…
The Finished Result Installed by Innov8
In summary, it was a great exercise to design our first new pieces of furniture rather than buy off-the-shelf productions. The next best thing was that all of the items were made by a passionate craftsman, using recycled timber from the bush and pieces from the cattle yards that my husband climbed over as a child.
Each piece with a story behind it!
CWMS is proud to give a huge plug to Innov8, a small Australian owned business, which was launched in 2010 and is run by not only a talented tradesman, but a creative designer.
Scott has had a love of timber and design since his childhood where he remembers spending hours ‘tinkering’ in the shed with his Dad on the family farm. Signing up for an apprenticeship with a local Carpentry and Joinery business straight from school was a natural progression for Scott and although he was always experimenting with his own designs, these early years in the workforce were spent on high-end kitchen fit-outs across the East Coast of Australia.
Starting his own business has given Scott an opportunity to develop his own team, design and produce some of the many ideas which are swimming around in his head and to work on commissioned pieces such as ours. What Innov8 is most passionate about producing resonated with us – coming up with concepts which haven’t been seen before and having the chance to create something new.
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For more information you canĀ contactĀ Scott directly:-
Email – sm-innov8@bigpond.com
Mobile – 0428668220
Or visit theĀ Innov8 Facebook Page.
Has this story inspired you to put yourĀ creative hat on?Ā There is such a huge sense of satisfaction and pride to be enjoyed from watching something grow from a simple design idea through toĀ a practical pieceĀ used every day in your home. It is amazing how things gain momentum once theyĀ begin movingĀ – all you have to do is start…
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