Laminate Radiator Covers

Laminate radiator covers are available in a range of bright colours.

Such as Orange.

Or Lime Green.

Grand Designs Magazine Loves (again!)

Thank you Grand Designs Magazine!

New Additions to the Gallery

White floor standing radiator cover

Very busy today, making crates for covers ready to ship.  However, I could not pass on the opportunity to take a couple of photos of  these floor standing radiator covers. 

 

Sapele floor standing  radiator cover

On the Wall!

A picture of the 'Deco Delight' radiator cover after installation.

It looks stunning! 

If you would like to make a feature of your radiators email me for a chat.

New Photos Old Covers

The first question I am asked about my radiator covers is "Do they warp with the heat?"

"No."

These first two pictures taken today are of radiator covers that were install over 16 months ago.  They are looking as good as the day they left the workshop!

A close up of the oak radiator cover.

Wood & Form is over for another year and the ash (with oak end panels) radiator cover is back on the wall.

Good Design v Bad Design

.........or my award winning covers v traditional radiator covers.

First off lets define what we mean by a traditional style radiator cover, basically a MDF box with a grille of some sort at the front. Still not sure? A Google image search will produce hundreds of examples, every 'man and his dog' seems to make or sell them. The idea is that the box hides the radiator, the warmth radiates out of the grill, you gain a shelf and they are cheap to buy, so far so good.

But is that the whole story? Well, no. Time for some design.

What is good design? In my opinion good design elegantly solves a problem or in other words it works and looks great.

So what is the problem we are trying to solve? In a nutshell, to hide the ugly radiator without seriously effecting the heating performance.

A traditional cover will hide a radiator, it is however debatable if they are visually more appealing that the offending radiator. What about the effect on the heating performance? This is where is gets interesting.

Modern radiators (the standard white ones most people have) despite their name mostly work by convection. Simply put, convection is cold air in at the bottom of the radiator and hot air out of the top, the hot air circulates around the room before cooling, falling to floor level where the cycle starts again. The fixed shelf on top of a traditional cover stops the convection cycle, the performance of your radiator has now been seriously impaired.

So, what about my award winning radiator covers? Firstly my covers are open at the bottom and allow the hot air directly out of the top, the convection cycle is not interrupted and your radiators work as designed. Do they look good? I like to think so, but you be the judge!

Finally the issue of cost.  You can buy a traditional style cover very cheaply, however the associated reduced performance of the radiators will mean running your heating system longer to warm a room.

Good design may not be cheap but bad design can be expensive!

'Ready to Paint' Covers

I recently realised that I did not have a picture of my 'Ready to Paint' radiator cover in it's natural unpainted state.  So here we go!  As you can see it looks exactly the same as the timber covers except it's made from MDF. MDF is the perfect substrate for painting, flat and smooth and takes paint very well (don't forget the priming coat first!).

If you don't fancy painting the cover yourself then I do offer a spraying service. I use a local spray shop and the end result is truly excellent. Look out for posts in the coming weeks featuring painted covers. 

A radiator cover that's a bit special!

Now this radiator cover is a bit special. It is a combination of ash and oak and produces a lovely subtle stripe effect. My radiator cover design is perfect for this mix and match approach and I have just been waiting for the opportunity to try it out.  My clients are great, thank you!

And the client says

'We are delighted'

If you would like something similar just ask!

Can a radiator be transformed with just a cover?

Before and after....

and the customers says...

"It is gorgeous" , "We love it"

Grand Designs Live 2012

Stand E40

If you would like to see my radiator covers up close and personal then Grand Designs Live, London Excel is the exhibition to visit.  This is the only major UK show that I exhibit a range of covers at.  This year the show runs 5 - 13 May 2012. More details at www.granddesignslive.com

The stand is not really large enough for my furniture, although I do usually have a few pictures on the walls of recent pieces.  If you would like to see my furniture then check the news section of my website for up coming exhibitions www.jasonmuteham.com

The painted version of my radiator cover design was launched last year.  This year I am planning something special for the painted covers.

More Customer's Covers

I really look forward to the pictures my customers send of their covers and here is another selection.  As with all my covers these have been installed by the customer, they are really easy to fit!

Wall mounted cover in oak.

Floor standing in oak.

Another floor standing oak cover.

Floor standing again but this time in ash.

As much as I look forward to the pictures it's the customer comments that make my day!

"We found Jason in Grand Designs magazine and found him to be prompt and receptive to our enquiry. We originally ordered two covers and were so pleased with them that we ordered another three and could only wish that we had more radiators that could be graced with these excellent covers. Not only are they beautiful and a tribute to Jason as a craftsman, but the process from ordering through to collection was a pleasure. We cannot give enough praise."

"It fits perfectly and looks stunning. Thank you once again"

"Everyone who's seen them think they are fabulous."

Make Mine A Large One!

I have just finished my longest radiator cover to date. This one is 2300mm long and 38 slats!  In theory the design will work up to 3 metres in length, anyone interested?

Usually I ship via a courier with the cover in a sturdy MDF custom made box.  However this one will receive the special treatment, due to it's size I will deliver this cover personally.

Finished & Finishing!

Most of today was spent pre-finishing components for a big glue up tomorrow.

These panels and frame components make up the base unit for an oak display cabinet that I am currently working on.

However, while I was waiting for the oil to dry before the next coat, I did have time to finish assembling a small radiator cover.

I also decided to open a shop at www.etsy.com, some what annoyingly you can't use "?" or "!" in your product titles. Which is a bit of a problem when your branding is "Cool Radiators? It's Covered!"

A Busy Day!

A busy day driving around Kent. Dropped my desk off at the Langton Green Gallery. Then on to a customer to take some picture of newly installed radiator covers.

Stopped by the workshop to apply oil to some oak panels.

Then home to update my shop at folksy with new images. Finally, I decided to start a blog!