This sleek-looking concrete coffee table that doubles as a fireplace required a little junkyard ingenuity by its creator to figure out h
The Cubby Hole
This sleek-looking concrete coffee table that doubles as a fireplace required a little junkyard ingenuity by its creator to figure out how to properly cast its complex formView the Cubby Hole Video
For Justin Brown, designing the CubbyHole was a brain-numbing experience. “It took a lot of wall-staring time to figure it out,” says Brown. “At some points, I had to take a timeout and go and just be alone so I could thoroughly think it through and get it done.”
As owner of 2Stone Designer Concrete, Brown is used to casting custom-made concrete countertops, vanities and fireplaces. But with the CubbyHole, a coffee table that also serves as a fireplace, he was presented with a new set of challenges.
A cubby hole that runs through the centre of the coffee table, which can be used to store books, magazines and other items, required Brown to rethink his casting methods. He had to call on his “junkyard ingenuity” and invent a smaller set of tools to get into some hard-to-reach spaces so he could spray the fibre-reinforced cement used to build the table.
“This really is one of those things that is almost impossible to make,” he says. “I have e-mails from people in the United States who want to see moulds, just to see how it’s built.”
The table also features a hidden flame tray, which is concealed by a lid that slides along the top of the table. Once exposed, the tray can be filled with ethanol and lit with a barbecue lighter to create a fireplace that easily packs away when it’s no longer needed. Yet, probably the coolest thing, says Brown, is the entire table is portable and can be used indoors and out as a mobile fireplace. “It’s so diverse,” he says. “You can really put it anywhere.”
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