Ibo Reclaimed Wood Sideboard - Natural

The Ibo is a sideboard built from reclaimed wood, 140cm wide, 90cm tall and 45cm deep. Two drawers run across the top, each with a slim brass bail handle on a shaped backplate. Below them are two cupboards, and each one closes as a pair of doors meeting in the middle, where two brass drop handles hang side by side on quatrefoil plates. Iron strap hinges are set at the outer edge of every door. The whole carcass stands on four square legs cut from the same timber, and the boards are split, grooved and grey with age, with old peg holes still running through several of them.

At 140cm it takes the length of a wall in a hall or the run under a window in a dining room, and 90cm is high enough to work at standing up, which a lower cabinet is not. The 45cm depth holds dinner plates flat and serving dishes stacked, and the inside is shelved, so the cupboards divide rather than becoming one deep hole. The drawers take the things that get reached for daily and the cupboards take what does not. It weighs 111.4kg, so it is positioned once and then left.

The wood is salvaged from decommissioned Indian transport trucks, and every panel is picked for its grain and its patina before being cut and assembled. Light sanding and a natural finish are all that go over it, so nothing is filled or levelled out. The handles are brass. Because each board arrives with its own history, no two sideboards carry the same marks, and the colour runs from a silver grey to a warm brown across a single door.

How big is it?

140cm wide, 90cm tall and 45cm deep, and it weighs 111.4kg.

What storage does it have?

Two drawers across the top and two cupboards below, each closing as a pair of doors. The cupboards are shelved inside.

What is the wood?

Reclaimed timber salvaged from decommissioned Indian transport trucks, cut and assembled by hand.

Will every sideboard look the same?

Not exactly. Every panel is salvaged, so the splits, the peg holes and the run of grey to brown are different on each sideboard.

How do I look after it?

The wood is sealed, but it still wants regular attention. Wipe it down with a soft dry cloth, use mild soap and water sparingly and always work along the grain, and use coasters and mats. Mop up spills immediately, keep harsh chemicals and abrasives away, and keep it out of strong direct sunlight and away from extremes of heat and humidity, which crack and split timber.