Among a very few bits and pieces there were two medium-sized old wooden barrels when I bought the house. Surprisingly, they are oil barrels -at least one of them has a faded Esso metal label. I never really gave them much thought until I realised I could just as easily bring stuff back to London to work on in my spare time. This never really became a possibility until we moved to West London and The Mancave came into being. Besides, I had so many other things to do with the house that they would just have to wait.

And wait they did until April of 2015 when I finally brought them back to London with some vague plans to make something of them. But what? Originally I had in mind to make two fireside tub chairs fashioned after a couple I had seen for sale in Chiswick. But I decided I would probably want something altogether more comfortable by the fire when the time came. Then it came to me. I would make a barrel bar: a neat little table and cupboard-in-one wherein some liquor and glasses could be kept within easy reach of a comfy chair.

Here’s how things stand after quite a bit of effort: