About the author

Richard Nice, Cabinet Maker and Antique Restorer has over 20 years experience in the Furniture Industry. He has run his own business for the last 17 years working on commissions and restoring antique furniture. He has taught at a number of Colleges as a Furniture Lecturer. He would like to pass on the wealth of knowledge he has acquired over the years. This knowledge covers not just cabinet making skills but all aspects of woodworking including antique restoration, furniture making, furniture design, wood machining, finishing, French polishing, spray polishing, colouring, staining, veneering by hand, vacuum veering, veneering by caul or press, inlay, designing to name a few !

Teak Bureau in the photographs was designed and manufactured to house a Computer by Richard Nice

The design brief was

"If I must have that eyesore in my house I want to be able to hid it away when it's not in use"

the lady of the house stated !

This Bureau was therefore design to accommodate the computer and hide all the wires plugs, gizmos and grommets ! The monitor sits on the very top (the only concession the Lady was going to make) with the keyboard and printer inside the fall section with waste paper storage being fed into the cupboard underneath via a slit in the back ( This printer worked on continues folded paper ). So that when the fall is closed all that is seen is the monitor sat on top, all cables had to be hidden. Therefore the drawer is stopped short of the back to allow for the paper to pass down. There is also a cable run to allow three pin plugs to be passed through to the cupboard where the main supply and Internet connect were situated. There is storage space in the cupboard and drawer for all the ancillary bits that go with a computer !

The bureau is made out of Teak faced MDF and finished with 1 coat of sand and sealer and three coats of pre-cat lacquer with an extra coat on the handles to start off with. Metal drawer runners with nylon wheels where used for the drawers and keyboard pull out this is so that the key board can be pull out on the runners and then locked in position by using the existing drawer stops. The handles were machined into the edge of the MDF and on the fall the handle was raise as in the photographs

This photograph shows the keyboard pull out with recessed handle. On the first photograph note the angle of the fall and the width of the top which was allowed for to take the monitor.