Karel Woodcraft
2025A MASSON H2H2P7 Montreal, QC, Canada

On a besoin de vous :)

Let's go! Les Gaspilleurs now have a page. The repair collective is launched and it's going to be epic! Les Gaspilleurs fix furniture and objects worn by life and that we either don't want anymore or don't know what to do with. Sometimes they are broken, sometimes they are just ugly. Whether they are in your living room, your basement or on the street, we accept them all! And because we are stronger together, we need your help! Here are some ideas:... * Report us any furniture in the street and/or help us pick them up * You have a garage to store furniture? Let us know! * You want to get your hands dirty? Fix a piece of furniture yourself. * Share the project wherever you can! Share this post, like the page... let the world know :)

Here is the last rescue from the street. If you need convincing that you shouldn't trust appearances, let me present you to Romuald. When I met him, he was dirty, stinky and scratched. But for the one who could see through the defects, a golden heart was lying. I especially like the repair I did on the drawer with a patchwork of 3 different wood species, basically grabbing whatever scrap piece I had at hand. Often I try to hide the repairs to make them unnoticeable but the idea to show the scars of the furniture I work on is growing in me. If you see furniture in the street, don't hesitate to let me know! I'll do my best to work my magic.

I forgot to take a picture of Pauline before I started scraping her lacquer finish so you will have to use your imagination to visualize her before the restauration. She had an browny shiny colour and was chipped in many areas. Lise, her owner, wanted to bring back the wood and I tried to but unfortunately it wasn't an option since Pauline's veneers were damaged and would have been too much work to replace. So we settled on giving it a new lighter colour... white. The least I can say is that I was a nice surprise for me, I wasn't expecting the white to turn out that well! What do you think?

Aki is a 4-drawers dresser that Emmanuelle introduced me to as she wanted to give him a new look. I have to say that his red uniform wasn't the best paint job I've seen: you could see the brush stokes, paint drips and it was chipping in many places... Emmanuelle was tired to see this piece of furniture she had bought for a penny and asked me to make it new again and transform its drawers to store shoes. I removed the old paint, sanded it all down to the wood and applied 2 coats of Fusion Mineral Paint paint followed by one coat of water lacquer. I have to say it's amongst my best finishing work, it looks gorgeous. The Fusion pain let the wood grain visible and the lacquer is very subtly more shiny than the totally mat paint. I definitely keep this technique in mind for future projects!

Marguerite and Roland are a couple of chests dressers about 100-years old. Marguerite has 4 drawers and also sereves as a coiffeuse with her mirror. Roland combine 4 drawers with a top section with two doors. They both were in great shape despite their old age. They were what one could qualify of old-fashioned with those useless casters and white knobs. When Pablo contacted me to give them a second youth that have been in his wife's family for 3 generations, it made me reall...y happy. I love to make new things with old ones. He wanted to keep the family furniture but didn't see them fit in their home interior design as-is. I didn't do much: replaced a drawer panel, remove a veneer that was trying to break free, surgically removed the casters, give them an in-depth cleaning and finished with new clothes. Voila, Marguerite and Roland are ready for another century of service. For those of you who are curious, the color is Soap Stone from the Fusion Mineral Paint and the drawers are finished with the LINN natural oil from LIVOS CANADA. Finally I leave you with a little educational note on casters. They might have had a reason to be, namely keeping the water used to clean the floor from touching the wood, but really they are mostly decorative. They barely work on hardwood floors, so don't even think of it on carpets. I don't recommend you actually use them at all as you risk to break the legs more than anything else. If you like the look of them, keep them, but otherwise I would recommend you to remove them!

It's been a long while I haven't posted. I've moved my shop twice in the last year and dedicated the vast majority of my time to Les Gaspilleurs. It feels good to be back with a fun project! What do you think?

J'ai partagé un peu de mon histoire vers l'ébénisterie, la genèse du projet et plein d'autres choses dans le podcast de renard. Ca s'écoute bien en réparant un meuble justement :)

C’est un déchet... si tu le vois comme tel ! Les objets ont une histoire, une valeur, une utilité... faisons leur honneur et donnons leur une deuxième vie plutôt que de nous en séparer dès qu’ils ne sont plus de notre goût. Ce tiroir vient du dernier meuble que j’ai ramassé il y a une semaine et auquel je donnais moi-même peu d’espoir. J’avais tort, j’ai hâte de vous montrer à quoi il va ressembler. Aidez moi à passer le mot autour de vous si vous voyez des meubles abandonnés ou pensez vous départir d’un objet.

Would like some magic into your home for Christmas? I'm about to make a batch of those fairy lamps and thought I would let you know in case you want to order one. They work on batteries so you can really drop it anywhere you like to create an instant cosy mood. Dimensions: 5"x5"x6" Price: 90$

Une fée m'a soufflé à l'oreille qu'un meuble était abandonné dans le froid de ce début d'année. Je m'en vais de ce pas le réconforter. Et j'en profite pour vous souhaiter à tous une merveilleuse année 2019 remplie d'amour, de réparations, de revalorisation et d'appréciation pour ce que nous possédons déjà. 2019 marquera pour moi le lancement d'un collectif de réparateurs et j'ai vraiment très hâte de vous en dire plus !

I built this custom cabinet from scratch with a beautiful cherry butcherblock on top. I had to source a similar laminate to the existing one (which we didn't have a reference for) and the butcherblock is intricately integrated over the marble countertop in order to look like it's perfectly sitting on it. I really love this kind of projects!

Voici le dernier projet que j'ai livré et qui est bien différent de ce que je fais d'habitude. Ma mission était de faire un garde-robe qui aille de mur à mur, du sol au plafond et qui soit parfaitement intégré. Les armoires de bas avec les portes miroir sont des unités Ikea PAX. Les 4 caissons au-dessus sont faits sur mesure à partir de deux unités PAX vieilles de 10 ans que le client avait à disposition. Les portes et la quincaillerie sont faits sur mesure cela dits. Et fina...lement, la section murale en haut est là pour cacher une boîte qui prenait la moitié du plafond. J'adore que ces clients étaient conscients de réutiliser ce qu'ils possédaient déjà. Et L'idée de s'appuyer sur le système Ikea PAX a rendu le projet globalement très abordable. Je ne prévois pas d'en faire une habitude de personnaliser des meubles ikea mais j'ai eu beaucoup de plaisir à le faire. --- Here is the latest project I delivered and it is quite different from what I usually do. My job was to make a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling wardrobe that looks perfectly integrated. The bottom wardrobes with the mirror panels are Ikea PAX units. The 4 cabinets above them are custom made out of two 10 years old PAX units the client had lying around. The doors and hardware are custom made though. And final the wall section up top is here to hide a box that was taking half the ceiling. I love how the clients were cautious to reuse what they already owned to make this project happen. And the idea of relying on the Ikea PAX system made for an overall very affordable project. I don't plan on making it a habit to customize Ikea furniture but it was really fun to do.