Hardwood Bicycles

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

We’re always looking out for cool wooden things – and Luke from our sales team  came across these fantastic bikes with their glossy hardwood frames which we just love!

driftwood cruiser

One of Luke’s friends has just started work for the company in Arizona – and given our joint interests in wood and bikes it sounds like a great job!  Here’s a close up of the hardwood frame – you can choose from walnut, mahogany, cherry, oak or maple.

driftwood cruiser closeup

Being huge fans of oak flooring I know which we would choose, but which would you prefer?

For more details please see the Driftwood Cruisers website

Posted in Chauncey's, Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Alnwick Tree House

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

James and I have just come back from a tour ‘up north’ where we stayed in Alnwick, Holy Island and Whitby.

Alnwick treehouse

This majestic tree house is just part of the stunning gardens at Alnwick Castle and we were the first people on it that morning.  It’s built from sustainably sourced Canadian cedar, Scandinavian redwood and English and Scots pine and sits high in the treetops in a copse of mature lime trees.  Shame it’s not made of oak, but then we need the oak for our superb oak flooring…

Bonasai Tree HouseIt put me in mind of this stunning photo of a miniature house in a Bonsai tree – exquisite!

Mary xx

Posted in Chauncey's, Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cycles Maximus and Chauncey’s

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

James, who established Chauncey’s over 24 years ago, is now the wearer of many hats – he has a Chauncey’s hat, a Temwa hat, a Deki hat – and finally a Cycles Maximus hat.

Cycles Maximus Ltd is an exciting new venture that builds on the design success of the original (and famous) CM cargo/pedicab tricycle. Cycles Maximus intend to be at the forefront of a quiet revolution that is taking place to implement low impact transport and freight solutions in congested cities.

You may recognise the trike from the closing ceremony of the London Olympics carrying the Pet Shop Boys.

cycles maximus olympicscrop

New versions are currently prototyping and will be in production soon.

Here are Steve and James discussing the new improvements and the revolutionary new gearing system:

James Steve Cycles Max

And here is Steve trialing the electric assist version of the cargo trike:

Cycles Max

For more info have a look at the new Cycles Maximus website (newly built by James too!).

Posted in Chauncey's | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bike in a Tree

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

bike treecrop

Being providers of hardwood flooring we’re interested in trees and I came across this great photo the other day.
Apparently a young lad leant his bike against this tree many years ago and never went back to collect it.  The result was that the tree gradually grew up around the bike – and the strength of wood is such that it the tree has just carried on and now the bike is suspended in mid-air.  No wonder wood has the strength to make such durable flooring and furniture.

I also found the following picture of a tree absorbing a bench…

 

tree bench

Anyone found any other photos like this?

Mary xx

Posted in Chauncey's, Oak Floors | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Tremors at Chauncey’s

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

Well the earth was certainly moving for us here at Chauncey’s earlier this week!

The digger excavating our old warehouse kept dropping large lumps of concrete  – presumably to break up the foundations – which created a Jurassic Park-like tremor to our building – making the tea in our Chauncey’s mugs ripple…

Click on the picture below to see a short bit of film – taken on a very cold, wet, miserable day…

digger

Posted in Chauncey's, Oak Floors | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Feeder Road Demolition

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

It is rather sad to see a big pile of rubble where our showroom and office used to be…

A lot of Chauncey’s history happened there – as well as the machining of hundreds and hundreds of square metres of reclaimed oak and reclaimed pine roof boards.

In all fairness the building has been largely left to rot for the last 6 years since we moved out and so would’ve needed a lot of work.  The original purchase was made through SWRDA (now no longer existing) who intended to change the road junction – let’s hope that now goes ahead.

Feeder road demolish

Above is a photo taken through the rubble and showing the current Chauncey’s Offices and showrooms in the distance in our lovely old Chapel building (with the green window frames).

Mary xx

Posted in Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ecobuild 2013

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

James and I had an interesting day at the Ecobuild exhibition – featuring sustainable design, construction and innovation.

We arrived by cable car having decided to experience the ‘flight’ over the Thames courtesy of the Emirates Airline.

EmiratesCablecar

Here’s their photo – sadly it was misty and gloomy when we went on it – but it was still fun…

Cablecar

Ecobuild was packed with  interesting stands including several innovations including wood treated through acetylation (which makes it resistant to water damage) and a prototype composite floorboard made of a recycled rag and cement base with a top oak layer.

trada 2

RIBA

Also there were TRADA (the Timber Research & Development)  and RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects), who were both delivering interesting seminars, and we stopped by the FSC and the PEFC stands to support their good work in promoting sustainable forestry.

Mary xx

 

Posted in Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Babies on Oak Flooring

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

We had a visit today from the gorgeous Clara.

Here she is – looking so cute in her big colourful doughnut on our lovely FSC engineered oak flooring.

Clarafloor

CharlotteClara

The good news for us is that it’s finally time to have Charlotte back in the office – yay!  Charlotte starts back as sales supervisor on 12th March, so she will be organising  our sales team and helping them to keep on top of all the tenders, quotes and sales calls that have been flooding in recently…

We’re all really looking forward to March 12th.

Mary xx

Posted in Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Warehouse progress

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

Work is moving on apace in the new Chauncey’s warehouse.

Our three current warehouses are stuffed to overflowing and we’re keen to get our overflow of stock of Chauncey’s finest FSC engineered oak flooring into the new warehouse.

However, as any good entrepreneur knows, there are times when you just have to do the work yourself – and here are the photos of James dismantling the mezzanine level to make more storage space.

Mezzanine 3

Mezzanine 2

James was also busy removing the old ceiling panels prior to the new roof lights and the solar panels being fitted, plus making lots of mess grinding the floor level and then painting it!

Busy, busy!

Mary xx

Posted in Hardwood Flooring | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ian’s starring role in Pink Lady Apples

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Mary at Chauncey's

As it’s Valentine’s day we thought we would ‘share the love’…

…and also mention that Chauncey’s very own sales director, Ian, features in the new Pink Lady apples film on their website!

Click on this link or the apple above to play the film.

Ian is in the film at 1m 20 and again at 1m 45 – but don’t blink or you’ll miss him!  Still he had the morning off work and some lovely apple tart to eat, so not too hard to do…

Mary xx

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment