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Autumn news from Marc & Rachel in Somerset: handmade mirrors, picture frames & cabinets.

17th November 2020 By Marc Wood

Welcome to our late Autumn news from Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset. We have been busy crafting our handmade wooden furniture, running Click & Collect from the Ilminster Emporium and getting design inspiration from our Somerset farmhouse workshop. This month we feature our bespoke wooden picture frame and bathroom cabinet. With 5 star reviews for our chunky framed wooden wall mirror and our bestseller has been our large mirror with shelf.

Hello from Somerset!

  We hope that you are keeping safe and well under the current C19 restrictions and that you have not been too badly affected by the closures.
  Here in the Southwest we feel fortunate that the November lock down in England has been very different from earlier in the year; all of our local suppliers remain open and we can continue to make our mirrors, picture frames and cabinets.
We can still get ‘take out’ hot chocolate at the beach and our 10 year old son is back in school with his friends.
What next for our high street shop space?
  The Ilminster Emporium has been closed since Bonfire Night along with the other ‘non essential’ shops in our little town, which is difficult as we approach the usual time for Christmas shopping.
  We traders all pulled together to set up a successful Click & Collect service and you can still buy a small range of our handmade mirrors, picture frames and cabinets from the shop.
The Ilminster Emporium has been closed since Bonfire Night along with the other ‘non essential’ shops in our little Somerset town so we traders all pulled together to set up a successful Click & Collect service and you can still buy our handmade wooden picture frames, mirrors and cabinets.
  As the news was coming in about the new English lock down and after working so hard to build up the momentum lost in March, we all wanted to keep the Emporium going, even if we couldn’t open as normal.
  We set up a new Instagram page and pledged to collectively promote every traders items as often as we could on our social pages.
We also have an evolving window display to entice our lovely local customers to keep shopping with us.
  So far the results have been really good and we are very thankful for everyone who has continued to support our little shop.
  You can contact us via the Emporium Facebook page to reserve any items.
Get 10% discount off our Etsy shop prices by buying your handmade wooden furniture, picture frames and mirrors directly from Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset.
10% discount off our Etsy shop prices
As seen on our website, we are happy to offer this discount for all direct sales (not delivery costs) via PayPal or BACS, email us for more information.
Our workshop at Flaxdrayton Farm may be chillier in the Autumn months, but it can also be very beautiful with a frosty morning sparkle or an eerie mist in the afternoon and we have taken some really atmospheric photos over the years.
Autumn in the workshop
As the weather turns colder we have stopped using the extra outdoor space which we hired to help social distancing in our workshop.
We are carefully balancing the staffing hours to continue to keep the team safe and unfortunately that means that our extra long lead times have not yet returned to their pre pandemic low of 2 – 3 weeks.
Our farmhouse workshop may be chillier in the Autumn months, but it can also be very beautiful with a frosty morning sparkle or an eerie mist in the afternoon and we have taken some really atmospheric photos over the years.
You can find more workshop pictures on our Instagram pages.
Our lovely new customer Susan gave us 5 stars on the 9th November and left a review of the extra wide frame wooden mirror which we recently made for her. “ My mirror is beautiful, very well made and stunning in its simplicity! ”
5 star Reviews
We are now into double figures with our reviews on Google and it is really helping our little business to stand out on the web, we want to say a HUGE thanks to all who have taken the time to leave us a comment or two.
Our lovely new customer Susan gave us 5 stars on the 9th November and left a review of the extra wide frame wooden mirror which we recently made for her.
“ My mirror is beautiful, very well made and stunning in its simplicity! ”
If you have the time to support us by leaving a review, please visit our Google My Business Page.
Here is our latest 5 star review on our Etsy.com shop
Rachel was very happy with her custom made ‘dovetail’ mirror with water resistant Danish Oil finish and she left us this great review on 3rd November 2020
“Marc came back to me so quickly with a quote on a bespoke mirror. It fits our bathroom perfectly and looks lovely ”
Marc Wood Bespoke Joinery handmade sustainable natural wooden furniture from South Somerset UK.
Contact us before 23rd November for a pre Christmas delivery Our cabinets and larger pieces remain at 6 weeks (down from 8) but we are able to accommodate pre Christmas deliveries for most of our mirrors and for all of our picture frames if purchased by Monday 23rd November.
Contact us before 23rd November for a pre Christmas delivery
Our cabinets and larger pieces remain at 6 weeks (down from 8) but we are able to accommodate pre Christmas deliveries for most of our mirrors and for all of our picture frames if purchased by Monday 23rd November.
Marc and our team are all working very hard and we and hope to be able to extend this offer with a special limited number of mirrors and picture frames, available for delivery right up until Christmas week, please watch our social pages for updates.
Every November we have a little family celebration to remember when our crazy Jack Russell ‘Marv’ came to live with us, 4 years ago. We are so pleased that we made the decision to collect our bouncy puppy a few weeks before Christmas to give us all time to settle in before the chaos of wrapping paper and shiny decorations added to the daily disarray of lost squeaky toys and a knocked over water bowl. Marv is still very playful and his water bowl sometimes gets knocked over still, but we all love him.
The best Christmas gift (with a waggy tail!)
  Every November we have a little family  to remember when our crazy Jack Russell ‘Marv’ came to live with us, 4 years ago.
  We are so pleased that we made the decision to collect our bouncy puppy a few weeks before Christmas to give us all time to settle in before the chaos of wrapping paper and shiny decorations added to the daily disarray of lost squeaky toys and a knocked over water bowl.
  Marv is still very playful and his water bowl sometimes gets knocked over still, but we all love him.
At Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset we are always very interested to see the photos that you send us of your handmade pieces in their new home. This month we have Hesta’s two large picture frames and Debby’s mirrored bathroom wall cabinet to show off and we think they look great.
 Your photographs
Our kind customers have kept us going these past few months, closing completely in March was very upsetting and like many others we honestly did not know if we would have a business to come back to.
Your understanding of our extra long lead times has been much appreciated and we are always very interested to see the photos that you send us of your handmade pieces in their new home.
This month we have Hesta’s two large picture frames and Debby’s mirrored bathroom wall cabinet to show off and we think they look great.
For more customer photos see our Pinterest pages.
We will be back with another update next month.
If you have any questions or if there is anything which we can create for your home, just ask. 
Best Wishes,
Marc & Rachel Wood

Filed Under: About Us, Blog Tagged With: about us, bespoke bathroom cabinets, custom handmade wooden furniture Somerset UK, designer maker blog, furniture design process, handmade wooden furniture, large mirror with shelf, living in the west country, Marc Wood Joinery UK, near Bristol, near Exeter, Somerset life, wooden picture frame

Latest designs, west-country life & 10% off new orders for July 2020

5th August 2020 By Marc Wood

Marc Wood Joinery handmade sustainable wooden picture frames, mirrors and custom handmade modern rustic farmhouse furniture in Somerset Blog News July 2020
Hello from our handmade furniture workshop in Somerset!
We hope that you are getting a chance to safely get out and about and enjoy some of this wonderful Summer sunshine.
Our brilliant workshop team are now back with us and settling into their new space and distanced working routine. We hope to drop our extra long 8 week lead time very soon, once we have caught up and we really appreciate everyone’s patience and kindness during the long wait.
Get 10% discount off our Etsy shop prices by buying your handmade wooden furniture, picture frames and mirrors directly from Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset.
Marc Wood Bespoke Joinery in Somerset, handmade wooden bathroom cabinet, kitchen cabinets, wall mirrors and picture frames in sustainable natural wood.
10% discount off our Etsy shop handmade furniture prices.
This offer is available for all direct sales (not delivery costs) via PayPal or BACS, email us for more information.
Our picture frames on Instagram
Jess Purrr creates atmospheric woodland paintings, which are available to buy on Etsy.com and via her Instagram.
We recently collaborated by creating different sized wooden picture frames to house these original artworks for her social posts, in exchange she gave us several large prints for our home and we get to use her quirky posts on our channels too (see our Instagram for more)
Jess Purr original woodland artwork is available on Instagram and Etsy.com. Marc Wood Joinery have handcrafted chunky wooden picture frames to display this beautiful art.
Enjoying the west-country
This past month we have squeezed in a family camping weekend at Pleasant Streams in Cornwall, to thank our amazing 10 year old son for being so good while we have both been working long hours and spending warm evenings on our local beach at Lyme Regis, which is only 25 mins or so away, so perfect for an after work break.
Marc Wood Joinery at the Ilminster Emporium shop in Somerset. Visit to buy artisan crafts including wooden picture frames, wall mirrors, furniture and bathroom cabinets.
New Handmade Furniture Designs 
We created a new set of cast iron wall hooks which are great for hallway, bathroom and jewellery storage. You can also see a rustic ‘live edge’ version in the Ilminster Emporium.
July’s Bestseller
Our large dovetail mirror with shelf in the ‘medium-dark’ Danish Oil finish became the month’s bestselling style, this beautiful mirror is also available in a portrait orientation and in the lighter ‘antique’ finish.
5 star Reviews
Our Etsy.com shop has notched up 320 5 star reviews!
“ Absolutely love it! Very well made, goes perfect in my room. Very well packaged. Good communication. Would highly recommend.” Dawn 30th July.
Dawn gave us 5 stars and left a lovely comment about our wall mirror with shelf & 5 iron hooks which she ordered from us online, thanks Dawn!
See excellent 5 star product reviews for our custom handmade bathroom cabinets, wall mirrors and picture frames at Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset UK.
Tips & tricks 
This month’s very simple woodworking tip is for the young at heart. Keep everyone entertained during these long summer weeks with this cute contraption.
See this inspirational family woodworking Blog for instructions on how to make a toy catapult, which will toss a light ball into the air using mainly household materials, including a wooden clothes peg.
Regardless of age, creating a toy that moves and may even cause minor destruction in your living room is a pure joy!
We will be back with another update next month, if you have any questions or if there is anything which we can create for your home, just ask. 
Best Wishes,
Marc & Rachel Wood

Filed Under: About Us, Blog

News from June 2020

17th July 2020 By Marc Wood Leave a Comment

Marc Wood Joinery handmade sustainable wooden picture frames, mirrors and custom handmade modern rustic farmhouse furniture in Somerset Blog News June 2020

Hello from our furniture workshop in Somerset!
We hope that you are staying safe and well as we ease back in to life with the gradual lifting of the full C19 lock-down.
This past month we have been enjoying our birthdays, adding even more new furniture designs to our shop and extending our farmyard workshop to allow our amazing team to come back safely.

Get 10% discount off our Etsy shop prices by buying your handmade wooden furniture, picture frames and mirrors directly from Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset.
We are offering a 10% discount off Etsy shop prices (not on delivery) for all direct sales via PayPal or BACS, contact us via email for more info.
June’s Bestseller
Our large dovetail bathroom cabinet with a single mirror door became the month’s bestselling style, this is one of our earliest cabinet designs and we are very proud of how popular and enduring it has proved to be with our lovely customers.
At Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset our new wooden wall mirror with shelf has 5 'leaf head' metal hooks under the inset chunky shelf and our large wooden dovetail bathroom cabinet with a single mirror door became June's bestselling style.

New Furniture Designs 
We created a new mirror with shelf, featuring 5 of the characterful ‘leaf head’ metal hooks nestled under the inset chunky shelf.  You may remember these new hooks from our chalk and pin board which we covered last month.
Marc is continuing in our furniture workshop with our new ‘home working’ range with wall mounted desks and office storage for small spaces, although completion of this will have to wait until we have caught up with our waiting list (which is now at a lengthy 8 weeks for new orders!)

The Ilminster Emporium shop in Somerset is now open, local press covered the story and Rachel's birthday day out was to Corfe Castle in Dorset.
Our High Street Shop Space
The Ilminster Emporium in the characterful period building at 19 Silver Street TA19 0DH has been open for several weeks and our local newspaper helpfully ran a feature on our new arty traders.
Rachel has been volunteering once a week to help out and has really enjoyed meeting our local customers, chatting and finding out what type of furniture they want to see us create next (we are working on the home working desks, we promise!)
A month of Birthdays
June is usually a month for getting together with our friends and family to celebrate both of our birthdays.
For over 15 years, to mark our June birthdays, we have been meeting up with the same group of friends for a weekend of camping around Marc’s birthday on the Summer Solstice. 
This year we celebrated Marc's birthday at Exmouth beach in Devon so he could use his new paddle board and take a break from the Marc Wood Joinery wooden furniture workshop in Somerset.
more furniture, home-ware, woodworking, picture frames and mirror photos on the Marc Wood Joinery Instagram page.
Unfortunately this year it wasn’t possible, but we had ‘distanced’ fun visiting  the very atmospheric Corfe Castle in Dorset to celebrate Rachel’s birthday with a rather windy picnic and then enjoying another family trip to the beach in nearby Devon on the weekend of the 22nd so that Marc could try out his new paddle board and get out of our furniture workshop for the day!
 (see our
 Instagram for more pics)
After the C 19 lock down has begun to lift in early July 2020 our furniture making team are coming back to work with us at Flaxdrayton Farm in Somerset.
Welcoming Our Team Back
We are very pleased to see our small team return to us at Flaxdrayton Farm and we have really missed them all. Even with all the noise and bustle of our furniture making, it has seemed very quiet around here over the past few months.
Now the break room biscuit barrel has been refilled with treats and last week we finished setting up our new additional work space in the outer barns.
This allows our team members Tave and Rhian to maintain 2 metres distance while they help us to catch up with the new orders generated when Marc was all on his own.
5 star reviews for Marc Wood Joinery handmade picture frames, mirrors and cabinets in natural wood, find us on Google reviews, Etsy reviews and Yell.com
5 star Reviews on Etsy.
Our Etsy.com shop has now hit over 300 5 star reviews!
Juliet gave us
 5 stars and left a lovely comment about our wall mirror with shelf, which she ordered from us online, thanks Juliet!
Handmade wall mirror with shelf in sustainable natural wood by Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset.
Tips & tricks 
This month’s very simple woodworking tip is about accurately measuring your timber before cutting.
If you pencil in a little tick mark on the side to cut on, this will save time remeasuring and helps to account for ‘kerf’ or the thickness of the cutting blade.
Any cutting will result in some of the wood being turned into sawdust and cutting directly on the marked line will cause your cut to be inaccurate.

This month's very simple woodworking tip is about accurately measuring your timber before cutting.
Measure and make a small tick to the side of the measured line you want to cut on and then line your saw blade up to the line with the blade on the ticked side.
The kerf will now be on the other side of the line and not into your measured area see more on this great wood working site instructables.com.
We will be back with another update next month and if you have any questions or if there is anything which we can create for your home, just ask. 

Best Wishes,
Marc & Rachel Wood

Filed Under: About Us, Blog

News from May 2020

4th June 2020 By Marc Wood

Marc Wood Joinery handmade modern rustic furniture in natural sustainable wood May 2020 Blog news update
Hello from Somerset!
We hope that you are staying safe and well during May 2020.

This past month we have been enjoying the opportunity to travel a bit further for our exercise, with a lovely quiet morning on the secluded beach at Charmouth in Dorset, to help celebrate our son Arthur’s 10th Birthday.

New Furniture Designs 
We created a new chalk and pin board with characterful ‘leaf head’ hooks, stylish and useful in a  hallway or kitchen and Marc is focusing on a new ‘home working’ range with wall mounted desks and office storage for small spaces, more on this next month.

We are offering a 10% discount off Etsy shop prices (not on delivery) for all direct sales via PayPal or BACS, contact us via email for more info.

Get 10% discount off our Etsy shop prices by buying your handmade wooden furniture, picture frames and mirrors directly from Marc Wood Joinery in Somerset.

Online Shop Now Open
Our key suppliers re-opened mid month and we switched our Etsy shop back on.
We are not yet ready to welcome back the team and our reduced options and extended lead times allow Marc to complete all new orders by himself.

Our classic dovetail mirror with shelf quickly became the month’s bestselling style, the inbuilt shelf is just the right depth for holding a tea light holder or two. Perfect for a relaxing evening at home.

High Street Shop Reopening
After a successful opening night with a visit from the Mayor and a write up in Somerset Life Magazine, unfortunately we only had a  few weeks of trade in March.

Along with most of the nation’s high street stores, we felt it best to close just a few days before the official ‘lock down’ and we were all sorry to say goodbye to our new shop space.

Now we can announce that the Ilminster Emporium at 19 Silver Street TA19 0DH, is planning to reopen in mid June, which is great news for us and all the other local traders involved.
We are now working on several new pieces to showcase in the characterful period building and will be operating under reduced hours and social distancing guidelines.

Making the most of our space during the C19 quiet time . . .

Now that his drum kit has been set up in the workshop (no one is about to complain!) Marc has been keeping up with his Drum practice at break-times.

We have also spruced up our home office space by repainting our lovely vintage style desk and our wonderful Jack Russell ‘Marv’ certainly approves of the comfy ‘swingy’ chair.

 

Family time has been spent up on the local allotment, teaching our son Arthur how to garden and growing our own fruit and veg, which we have all been getting to enjoy at meal times, yum!
 (see our
 Instagram for more pics)

On Google Reviews
We are gaining more excellent reviews outside of our Etsy shop (which has nearly 300!)

Nick kindly added 5 stars and a lovely comment about the bespoke bathroom cabinet which we made for him a few weeks ago, thanks Nick!

Tips & tricks 
This month’s very simple woodworking tip is how to use a household iron to remove small dents from wooden surfaces with a combination of heat and moisture, using a household clothes iron.

* Dab the dent with water, just enough to cover the dent and a small part of the surrounding wood. The dent should be completely wet and gathering inside the depression in the wood.

* Place a damp paper towel or piece of cloth over the dent, wring out any excess water first and then lay it directly on top of the dent. This extra moisture also creates a buffer to help protect the wood from being damaged by the heat of the iron

* Give the water time to soak into the wood for a few minutes and as the water seeps into the wood, it will cause it to soften so that when you apply heat to the dent, the wood will expand and the dent should lift out.

* Press the iron into the cloth above the dent and move it around using slow circular motions,gradually widening the area. Keep heating the wood until the cloth is dry, then lift a corner to check your progress.

* You can wet the wood again and repeat if required, while a single ironing might be all you need to deal with minor dents, for more severe depressions or areas with multiple marks you can continue to gently apply the iron and them once finished, allow to dry.

We will be back with another update next month and if you have any questions or if there is anything which we can create for your home, just ask. 

Best Wishes,

 

Filed Under: About Us, Blog Tagged With: Bath, bespoke furniture maker, Bristol, custom furniture, custom handmade bathroom cabinet, custom handmade picture frame, Devon, Dorset, Exeter, furniture maker blog, Marc Wood Joinery, mirror with shelf, natural wood furniture, small business blog, Somerset, sustainable furniture, Taunton, UK, Wiltshire

Our latest handmade furniture &’Lock Down’ life in Somerset.

30th April 2020 By Marc Wood

We hope that you are staying safe and well during this health emergency, our online shop is closed and we have put the team on furlough, Marc is single manning the furniture workshop and we are taking on a low volume of orders (lead times have increased by 1 – 2 weeks)

Although we are very grateful for all of the support from the local council, NHS and essential workers helping us through, it has taken quite a bit of adjustment and stress here in the Wood household, as we know that it has for many of us.

We are enjoying spending family time on our daily walks through the Somerset countryside, which is on our doorstep (see our Instagram for more pics) and we can amuse ourselves with classic board-games from the loft, plus the boys got home haircuts last week!
At Marc Wood Bespoke Joinery in Somerset UK we craft furniture, mirrors and picture frames from sustainable natural wood. Our modern rustic wooden furniture designs are custom made to order and we can deliver and install near to Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Dorset and Taunton.
We were very excited to launch our new shop space in the Ilminster Emporium at the end of March, we held a party in the shop with local small businesses and our friends and family, the Mayor even helped out by cutting the ribbon, marking the official opening!
After several great weeks in this very lovely iconic building in the old town centre we all made the decision to close up our shop just before the ‘lock-down’ went into effect across the UK.
Although it was sad to say goodbye to all the other lovely Emporium traders and our new friends on the committee, we all felt that it was irresponsible to encourage visitors into the town as the virus took hold across the country.
We will all be back with great new displays as soon as we can and we hope that you will be able to visit the Emporium on Silver Street on your next visit to South Somerset.
At Marc Wood Bespoke Joinery in Somerset UK we craft furniture, mirrors and picture frames from sustainable natural wood. Our modern rustic wooden furniture designs are custom made to order and we can deliver and install near to Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Dorset and Taunton.
In the days before we made the decision to close the workshop we also completed our latest handmade pieces.  A chunky modern rustic sideboard (seen here in it’s new home!) and our new design of ‘tall boy’ chest of drawers, which is pictured in our studio and is now in Scotland thanks to our dedicated specialist courier Barry Whitcher, who is still working hard ensuring that items get from A to B across the country.
Both of these pieces of furniture make use of our classic ‘cut out’ handle and we will be featuring the ‘tall boy’ and lots of other new handmade items in our online shop once we are open again.
At Marc Wood Bespoke Joinery in Somerset UK we craft furniture, mirrors and picture frames from sustainable natural wood. Our modern rustic wooden furniture designs are custom made to order and we can deliver and install near to Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Dorset and Taunton.
This April we reached the milestone of 100 subscribers to our YouTube channel and we will be adding more videos in the coming weeks, find us under Marc Wood Joinery.
Woodworking tips & tricks:
This month we have an ingenious tip for smooth sanding around a curve.
It can be challenging to sand a curve and you often need your piece of sanding paper to be solid yet supple enough to carefully remove surface layers whilst fitting into the required shape.
Cover a flexible A5 notepad with sandpaper of the necessary grade for your needs and curve the notepad to fit into the curve of your wood then you have a very useful and study sanding pad.
If you place an edge of the sanding paper into the notebook, the pages will secure it as you apply pressure. Find out more about woodworking technique on this great easy to read blog.

We will be back with another update next month and if there is anything which we can create for your home, just ask. 

Best Wishes,
Marc & Rachel Wood



Filed Under: About Us, Blog Tagged With: bespoke furniture, custom furniture, E newsletter, furniture workshop, handmade wooden furniture, joinery near Bath, lock down life, natural materials, near Bristol, near Dorset, near Exeter, near Somerset, near taunton, small business and the UK C 19 lock down, small furniture business, sustainable wooden

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