Thursday, November 4, 2010

A Coffee Table For My Son's New House

A Coffee Table For My Son's New HouseThe completed table ready to be wrapped and sent to KL.

Azrin with his three children, Irsyad, Ayen and Syakirah

Yanie posing with a friend. The Black Merc belongs to her friend.


It was sometimes in August 2010 that my daughter in law Yanie made a posting in her Facebook that she will be moving into her new home in Subang Alam in Section 27 Shah Alam. I immediately responded by promising to give a coffee table which she could collect when she came back for the last Idulfitri. Unfortunately the table was not ready as the workshop that I commissioned to do was too busy doing other jobs including my own wakaf (gazebo).
It was only today that the final coat of white shellac was sprayed and was ready for collection.
The table top for the coffee table is a special piece of cengal wood measuring 18" x 43" carved with floral motives. This piece of wood is special in that I had purchased it some 20 odd years ago from my uncle in Kuala Lumpur. It was a surplus piece from those used to decorate the walls of the traditional houses in Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam Shah Alam. I remember paying my uncle some RM300 for that piece with a few other items made from wood. The piece had been in my keep without knowing when it will ever be used. So when we moved back from our previous home in Gua Musang, that piece of wood carving came along. Though I have never found a proper use for it, it was never the less safely tucked away in a corner. Our own furniture of mainly Indonesian Jati did not seem to allow for this gem to fit in anywhere.
The beautiful carving with a floral motif.

That was until my son bought his new house that there was space enough for a coffee table which I offered him for via Yanie's facebook posting. There was a snag though. He had ordered his new furniture in white even though they were made of Cengal, the king of Malaysian wood. He wanted furniture made of wood that will last but of white color. To me painting wood is against the spirit of wood especially when they are made of cengal whereby all the grain in the wood will be obscured.

In the case of the coffee table, I had to compromise. The body of the table will be painted with white shellac, while the table top with the floral carving will be stained with wood oil and covered with a piece of 8 mm glass. Thus the carving will remain the color of the wood with the spirit of wood intact.
The table will be delivered to my son's home when I next visit them after Yanie has delivered my ninth grandson in January 2011.
Today is Azrin's birthday. Happy birthday son.

17 comments:

~CovertOperations78~ said...

Wow, what a beautiful and thoughtful gift, Abang Zawi! Definitely not one of your mass-manufactured Ikea medium-density fibreboard tables! This one will be an heirloom.

faraulah said...

Lama menyepi Pak Zawi..
Sihat ke?

Pak Zawi said...

Ee Lynn, it is made of cengal and tembesu, the best wood available in Kelantan. It will definitely last and the carving on the table top can only appreciate in price as it can never be reproduced anymore since cengal wood of this size is rarelt available now.

Pak Zawi said...

faraulah,
pak Zawi sihat cuma tak ada mood nak buat blog walaupun ada banyak bahan yang nak di kongsi. insyaAllah saya akan aktif semula.

glassman said...

lama benar simpan kayu tu yer. syabass, kadang2 kita selalu simpan barang tanpa tahu bila atau apa kita nak buat dengan benda itu, tapi hari nya tetap akan datang juga

Pak Zawi said...

glassman,
Nilai senikayu itu terlalu tinggi. Ia ibarat sebutir permata yang belum digilap dan dijadikan barang perhiasan. Kini ia jelas kelihatan bersinar dan bercahaya. Tak sia sia saya menyimpannya sebegitu lama.

Uncle said...

memang cantik sekali kayu tu bila dah dibaikpulih! Memang lama sungguh PZ diamkan diri....selalu2lah unpadekan blog lagi PZ. Happy blogging again!

Pak Zawi said...

Uncle,
Cuma jauhari jua yang mengenali maanikam.
Ya saya mendiam diri untuk caj bateri. Saya ada banyak bahan untuk dikongsikan. InsyaAllah selepas ini saya akan update dengan lebih kerap lagi.

Temuk said...

Salam Pak Zawi
Catatlah di bawah meja berharga itu tarikh ia diturunkan ke generasi anak. Saya jangka, pada 'cengal & tembusu gagah, berbunga indah' itu akan tercatat juga nanti tarikh ia diturunkan ke generasi cucu, cicit, dan seterusnya. InsyaAllah.

Pak Zawi said...

Temuk,
Cadangan tuan amat dihargai dan akan dilaksanakan. Dengan cara demikian ianya akan lebih dihargai oleh generasi yang menerima khazanah tersebuyt.

JALAN REBUNG said...

salam pak zawi,

memang hebat meja tu ..pak zawi memang kreatif. And a gift from a dad is one of the best gift a son could ever asked for ...tahniah untuk anak pak zawi sebab masuk rumah baru ...

rizal @ jalan rebung

Pak Zawi said...

Rizal.
Jangan salah tanggapan pula meja tu bukan saya buat sendiri, cuma saya kumpul bahagian tertentu dan upah tukang membuatnya untuk mempastikan mutu hasilnya cantik.

coffee tables said...

Wow..., what a nice coffee table I always wanted to have that kind of coffee table..., :-)

Anonymous said...

Salam, coffee table telah selamat sampai ke rumah Yanie pada 04/01/2011. Terima kasih tidak terhingga pada Papa kerana sudi menghadiahkan coffee table yg sangat bernilai itu..matching dgn warna tema rumah Yanie..akan Yanie jaga sebaik yg mungkin dan akan Yanie turunkan kepada anak2 Yanie. Terima kasih Papa.

Yanie & Azrin

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