Posts

Happy Bungalow's wooden toy warranty

Super Official Toy Warranty

Happy Bungalow's wooden toy warranty

Happy Bungalow’s Super Official Toy Warranty:

For a period of 10 years Happy Bungalow will repair, replace, or refund materials (exclusive of shipping) that prove defective, upon inspection (or emailed photo) by us, during normal residential use.
This Warranty does not cover:

Scratches, dings, and dents that may occur through typical use.  Damages caused by abuse such as, but not limited to, smashing, kicking, throwing, hammering, tantrumming, Evel Knievel stunt reenactments, attempted sub-orbital space flights, etc. etc. This is an indoor product – left outdoors for a period of years it will do what natural wood naturally does and turn into dirt. We will accept no returns on products that have been allowed to turn to dirt.

Of course, you may have other rights based on the state you live in.

*Yes, we’re being silly,
but if you have a
problem call or write:
(+1) 513-442-6924
don@happybungalow.com

Craft Show Post Show

Happy-Bungalow-art-craft-show-setup-2013-09-08-alt002-570

I’ve embraced the idea of being a toy-maker.  Initially I was hesitant for a two reasons.

One:  I thought I was excluding too much potential customers.  Ha!  It turns out there’s loads of adults out there who still want to have fun.  Also, developing a new product line is time consuming; perfecting the craft even more so.  It’s better to focus on what I know best and build upon it.

Two:  I wasn’t comfortable with being labeled a toy-maker, but I’m cool with it now.  It makes people happy.  What I do makes other people happy!  And I make a few bucks doing it.  It’s hard to beat that.  Though I still make business card holders, the occasional clock, and the coolest cabinet hardware you’ve seen.  And that gray area of toys:  miniature furniture.

So I’ve been growing the toy lines.  Adding more robots, many more animals, and unicorns.  I’ve also added completely new lines of cars/trucks, pirates/sea life, and aliens/monsters.  There’s plans on the horizon to create a line of boats and airplanes.  Just about something for everyone, and all within the toy umbrella.

So with all this new stuff I’ve been tweaking the show setup lately.  It’s no longer a matter of filling space, but trying to keep the space organized so people can find everything.

Happy-Bungalow-art-craft-show-setup-2013-09-08-alt001-570

This is my setup from the past week.  I’ve added another shelf to hold animals and I could use more space with all the animal requests coming in (just when I thought I had them all).  A revamped circus is back on display along with the play trees.  Gone is the very tall tree stand, though I’d love to get it back into the mix somehow, perhaps on a back table.

The robots, cars, and monsters are getting along well with each other.  I have a magnetic board that’s super-handy for switching around displays.  I’m planning on adding another shelf there for the old railroad town buildings and expanded dollhouse furniture display.

Beyond product I also want to add more fun to the booth. For the website, I’m working on a story that links all the different toy worlds together that I want to bring to the physical. You can see a piece of it in the air. To the left of the sign post is a kids floating away holding onto a bunch of balloons.  He couldn’t afford a hot-air balloon ride at the circus, but he could buy helium balloons on the cheap (in the story this sends him to fairy land).  So I’ll be working with the Kids to build more props.  Stay tuned everyone.

Miniature Kitchen Cabinets

Miniature furniture is perfect for my small shop.  Transitioning from woodworking as a hobby into a business the new tools, more wood, and project storage space has severely cut into the shop free space.  So full size furniture building is a trickier proposition.Happy-Bungalow-miniature-furniture-custom-cabinetry-kitchen-alt002-570

This is a kitchen I modeled on my own full size kitchen.  Except in real life I don’t have room for an island.  And I don’t have the nice walnut furniture piece you see on the left (though I do have an herb garden in a window box – not a bad trade).

Happy-Bungalow-miniature-furniture-custom-cabinetry-kitchen-alt002a-570

The little brass knobs I bought, but the dark walnut knobs I made.  Tiny little suckers.  A bit more than 1/16th inch square.  I don’t have any dedicated miniature tools, but I’ve learned to cut accurate scale lumber on full size saws.Happy-Bungalow-miniature-furniture-custom-cabinetry-kitchen-alt001a-570

It was a real chore to come up with the counter-tops and have them look something like stone.  Real stone doesn’t come in 1/8 sheets (too brittle I suppose) and laminate isn’t at the right scale.  In ended up painting thin pieces of oak in multiple layers while the paint was still wet.  It has sort of a marbled look – I’ll keep working.

Happy-Bungalow-miniature-furniture-custom-cabinetry-kitchen-alt003-570

Wood Hardware Finished with Fire

Before there were The Kids, the only residents in this Happy Bungalow were Liz and myself.  We were alone in a house in need of major renovation:

Happy-Bungalow-kitchen-detail-03-570

Let me tell you, fixer-uppers are a lot funner when you’re watching someone else do the work on television.  Though, no one at the Bungalow is shy about working hard, so out came the tools, and something like nine months later there’s this:

Happy-Bungalow-kitchen-detail-02-570

But before there were these:

 

Happy-Bungalow-kitchen-detail-01-570

the cabinets were devoid of hardware.  The kitchen renovation was done as frugally as possible.  Buying nice cabinet hardware would have cost more than the cabinets did.  But I figured if I could make the cabinets, I could make the hardware.  Originally I was going to make sand molds, melt aluminum cans in a cast-iron pots, and pour the molten metal into the molds.  Violla!  Rough-hewn, hand-crafted, custom-hardware.  (triple hyphenated-word threat)

Then I did a little aluminum research.  It melts at something like 1200 degrees.  I’m pretty sure my skin melts at a lower temperature.  Hmm.

So I ended up with this:

Happy-Bungalow-cabinet-hardware-wood-knob-unique-poplar-FIRE-alt001-300Which is the basic shape I had in mind for the aluminum hardware, just made from wood.  Though I did keep fire involved.  The dark color isn’t stain – it’s scorch marks.  With a torch, each knob was burned and quickly dunked into a water bath.

Happy-Bungalow-cabinet-hardware-wood-knob-unique-poplar-FIRE-alt004-570The color of each piece is different; sort of like a snowflake.  Love these knobs so much you need them in your house?  Head over to the Bungalow’s shop and pick some up today. Happy-Bungalow-cabinet-hardware-wood-knob-unique-poplar-FIRE-alt006-570

New Cabinet Hardware

 I just finished up a custom set of cabinet hardware for a client.  All wood – the knobs are cherry with square walnut inlays and the pulls have walnut posts with cherry handles.Happy-Bungalow-custom-wood-cabinet-hardware-knob-pull-cherry-walnut-alt001-570t