Spot The Difference

Can you spot the difference between the two images?

We recently completed a large project for a period farmhouse in Kent. As an add-on to the project, we were also asked to make and fit some simple fireside shelving in painted birch plywood for another space within the same property. Here’s how it looked -

Fireside shelving in painted birch plywood, 2019

The whole project was completed to our client’s full satisfaction and our bill was duly paid and with a kind word from them – but along with it came a small query too. Not framed as a gripe, but simply presented as a question regarding the spacing around the battens supporting the shelves. We had a look at it. The battens running along the back wall were intentionally cut slightly undersize to ensure they could be fitted easily and so help speed the installation but, on reflection, I felt that perhaps this had been overcompensated for on the actual tolerance required.

Remember, we’d already been paid and the clients were otherwise delighted with our work. It would have been only too easy to fob them off with a ‘creative’ explanation to answer their query. But we weren’t going to trawl out some meaningless excuse. We knew we could have done better. And so we did.

Within a few days we were back at the property with a fresh set of painted wall battens, recut to close down any gapping. We refitted them, re-touched the paintwork and left our clients that bit happier with our workmanship than they already were. Happiness is in the detail. Milkwood are in the detail. It’s what we do best.

And here’s how the main part of the project looked -

Kent farmhouse

Sitting room furniture in painted birch plywood

Check out more pictures of the project, here -

(scroll down the page to see the Kent farmhouse).