Red Alert! Five Unique Sydney Mixed Reds Furniture Pieces
September 2023
We salvage and recycle predominantly Australian hardwoods, but nothing says ‘Australia’ like the deep red tones of our Sydney Mixed Reds.
When we design a custom piece of furniture, it’s always great to see that regardless of any stylistic influences from around the world—such as Japanese archway features, or the clean outlines and geometric shapes of Scandinavian design—specifying the design in mixed reds always brings out the ‘Australianness’ of the piece.
We’ve brought together five pieces of furniture we’ve made out of Sydney Mixed Reds in the past few years that beautifully showcase the unique colour and texture of the mix.
Interested in a piece of bespoke furniture or joinery in our iconic Sydney Mixed Reds?
[Enquire via the button below]
Sydney Mixed Reds: Australian Hardwoods Mix
Before we look at some furniture examples, let’s explain what we mean by ‘Sydney Mixed Reds.’
When we bring salvaged timber in from the demolition yards, we often find between 5 and 15 species in the one load. If we get a large amount of one species we’ll sort and separate, but if we end up with lots of smaller amounts we will sort them into similar colours and densities and then combine for a hardwoods mix.
Our Sydney Mixed Reds hardwoods mix is a mixture of timber salvaged from houses, factories and warehouses in Sydney. They come with a unique history of the city, especially those that came from iconic sites like Luna Park, Darling Harbour Pier 26 wharf, or Pyrmont’s historical wool stores.
Originally, these red timbers came from NSW coastal forests, and include species such as southern mahogany (Eucalyptus botryoides), red mahogany (Eucalyptus resinifera), blue gum (Eucalyptus saligna), and rose gum (Eucalyptus grandis). We also include west coast reds like karri when we get small amounts of them, but it’s less common to find in the east coast timber recycling scene.
The combination of the deep red colour and the hardness of these timbers makes them unique to Australia—furniture or flooring made out of our Sydney Mixed Reds will take a serious effort to make a mark on (we certainly experience this as we are machining it every day and constantly sharpening our knives!).
Internationally there are pink toned timbers like cherry or red oak but they don’t have the deep colour of our Australian red hardwoods. And when it comes to hardness and durability, the truly red species from outside of Australia like western red cedar and redwood are soft as butter when compared to our Aussie coastal hardwoods.
Read on to check out five of our past furniture and joinery projects in Sydney Mixed Reds.
#1—Sibley House Kitchen Benchtops & Shelving
Designed by TT Architecture, this Canberra home features polished concrete floors and rammed earth walls. These neutral finishes really give the recycled Sydney Mixed Reds the opportunity to shine and be the centre of attention in this kitchen space, including its unique custom shelving and kitchen benchtop.
LEARN MORE: Project: Sibley House in Narrabundah – Stunning Showcase of Recycled Reds
#2—Twin Wine Cellar Cabinets
David Scerri from our Design & Sales team designed this set of wine cabinets for our wine-loving customer Daryl, using recycled Sydney Mixed Reds to blend with the cellar’s striking red brick archway wall and textured remilled sawtooth flooring (also in our Sydney Mixed Reds).
LEARN MORE: From the Workshop: Twin Wine Cabinets in Sydney Mixed Reds
#3—Cocktail Cabinet With Sliding Tambour Doors
We designed and built this cocktail cabinet for a Canberra couple with a passion for entertaining, and for cocktails. But with curious teenage sons, it was important to them that it could be easily locked, and that the lockability didn’t have an effect on the aesthetics of the piece. The sliding tambour doors in this design are a versatile feature, providing a stunning mid-century look. This one’s actually made with our dense reds mix, which has similar characteristics to the mixed reds so we couldn’t resist including it!
LEARN MORE: From the Workshop: Cocktail Cabinet With Sliding Tambour Doors
#4—Japanese-style Ornamental Shelving Unit
Rhonda, an avid traveller, came to us wanting an ornamental shelf to match the other pieces of Japanese-style furniture throughout her house, collected over the years on her travels. We created a very light and simple design that subtly nods to Rhonda's style and fits perfectly into her home.
Designed by Rohan from our Design & Sales team, and built by Simon Mckenna from our Joinery team, this bookcase measures 2000x1000x350mm and beautifully features recycled mixed reds.
LEARN MORE: Over on Instagram
#5—NEW Sideboard Design (Sneak Peak!)
Soon we will be releasing this exciting new sideboard design in Sydney Mixed Reds. It’s actually up in our showroom already… have you seen it yet?! Join our email newsletter below to be the first to hear about the new design.
If you have questions or would like to request a furniture design or timber quote, please get in touch, or fill out an enquiry form by clicking the button below.