A demonstration of a fictional business, built by Harrison Crema. Nothing you enter here is stored or sent anywhere.
Kitchens · Built-ins · Furniture · Doors and stairs
Millwork made slowly, by two people, on an island.
We are a two-person workshop in Fulford Harbour. Since 2011 we have taken on about six commissions a year: kitchens, libraries, tables, and the occasional front door. Each one is drawn, priced, and built by the same hands.
Now booking for spring 2027.
- Founded
- 2011
- Commissions a year
- Six
- Pairs of hands
- Two
Selected work
Twelve pieces, twelve houses.
Commissions from the last eight years, set down in words rather than photographs. Every one is still in the house it was made for; ask, and we will put you in touch with the people who live with it.
Filter the selected work
Showing 12 of 12
Nº 01Kitchen
The Ganges Kitchen
Rift-sawn fronts, a soapstone island, and a plate rack that runs the full wall.
- Room
- Kitchen
- Species
- White oak
- Year
- 2025
Nº 02Built-in
Fulford Harbour Library
Floor-to-ceiling shelving with a rolling ladder and a hidden door to the stair.
- Room
- Study
- Species
- Black walnut
- Year
- 2024
Nº 03Furniture
Vesuvius Bay Table
Three metres of island-felled maple on a trestle base, seats twelve at Christmas.
- Room
- Dining room
- Species
- Western maple
- Year
- 2024
Nº 04Doors & stairs
Beddis Beach Entry Door
Vertical-grain fir, a single lite of reeded glass, bronze hardware from Victoria.
- Room
- Entry
- Species
- Douglas fir
- Year
- 2023
Nº 05Built-in
Long Harbour Pantry
A walk-in pantry with tambour doors and a marble baking shelf at the right height.
- Room
- Pantry
- Species
- Ash
- Year
- 2023
Nº 06Doors & stairs
Mount Maxwell Stair
Open-riser stair with a continuous handrail steamed and bent in the workshop.
- Room
- Hall
- Species
- Douglas fir
- Year
- 2022
Nº 07Furniture
Cusheon Lake Sideboard
Bookmatched doors from one flitch, brass pulls, and a cutlery drawer lined in cork.
- Room
- Dining room
- Species
- Black walnut
- Year
- 2022
Nº 08Kitchen
Ruckle Farm Kitchen
A farmhouse kitchen with inset doors, exposed hinges, and a scrubbed fir countertop.
- Room
- Kitchen
- Species
- Douglas fir
- Year
- 2021
Nº 09Built-in
Walker Hook Wardrobe
A wall of wardrobes that reads as panelling until you press a door.
- Room
- Bedroom
- Species
- White oak
- Year
- 2021
Nº 10Furniture
St. Mary Lake Bed
A low platform bed with a floating headboard and two cantilevered night tables.
- Room
- Bedroom
- Species
- Ash
- Year
- 2020
Nº 11Kitchen
Southey Point Kitchen
Walnut lowers under a pale quartz top, with a bar that folds down over the view.
- Room
- Kitchen
- Species
- Black walnut
- Year
- 2019
Nº 12Doors & stairs
Musgrave Landing Dutch Door
A split stable door for a house with a dog, a toddler, and a view of the sheep.
- Room
- Mudroom
- Species
- Western maple
- Year
- 2018
Materials
Five species. We know each one by hand.
We work in a short list of woods we can source well and finish properly. Choose one to see how it behaves, what it suits, and what it does to the calendar.
- Lead time from deposit
- 14–18 weeks
- From, per linear foot
- $1,150
Grain and figure
Straight, tight grain with silvery ray fleck when quarter-sawn. Takes a hardwax oil beautifully and wears in rather than out.
Where it comes from
Quarter-sawn and rift-sawn stock from Ontario mills; kiln-dried, then rested here for a season.
Best for
White oak selected. Lead time 14–18 weeks; from $1,150 per linear foot.
Process
Five steps, one fixed price, no surprises.
This is how every commission has run since 2011. Open a step to read what happens and how long it takes.
It starts with the enquiry form below, or a phone call if you prefer. We ask about the room, what it needs to do, and roughly when you would like it. We will tell you honestly whether it is the kind of work we do and when we could start.
There is no charge for this, and no obligation on either side.
One of us comes to the house with a tape, a laser, and a notebook. We measure everything twice, photograph the room, and talk through how you actually use it. Off-island visits within the Gulf Islands and Greater Victoria are part of the service.
You receive scaled drawings, a species and finish schedule, and one number. The price is fixed once you approve the drawings; it does not drift. A 40% deposit books your place in the calendar and buys the timber.
Timber is dimensioned and left to settle for two weeks before any joinery is cut. Carcasses, doors, and drawers are made here in the workshop; finishes are hand-applied hardwax oil unless we agree otherwise. You are welcome to visit while the work is on the bench.
We deliver and fit everything ourselves, usually over two to four days, and scribe each piece to the walls and floors it lives against. We come back once, a season later, to adjust doors and touch up anything the house has moved.
Every price we quote is fixed at the drawings stage. If the timber costs more than we thought, that is our problem rather than yours.
Workshop
A converted boat shed at the head of Fulford Harbour.
Visits are welcome on Saturdays by appointment, or whenever the door is open and the planer is quiet.
The shop from the road: a wide sliding door, a row of clerestory panes, and next year’s timber under the eaves.
Tidewater Joinery was started in 2011 by Mara Lindqvist and Owen Harrop, who met on a timber-framing crew in the Cowichan Valley and decided they would rather build the insides of houses than the outsides. They rented a leaking boat shed on the Fulford-Ganges Road, fixed the roof, and have been there since.
We keep the work deliberately small. Six commissions a year means each one gets both of us for as long as it needs, and it means we can still take the boat out on a Friday afternoon. The showroom is one wall of the shop: a run of sample doors, a drawer you can open, and a kettle.
Find us
Tidewater Joinery3140 Fulford-Ganges Road
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 1Z1
250-555-0142
From Swartz Bay, take the Fulford Harbour ferry (35 minutes). We are the grey shed with the brass numbers, a five-minute walk up the road from the ferry dock.
Hours this week
| Day | Hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 14 Sep Today | 8:00 – 4:30 | Bench day |
| Tuesday 15 Sep | 8:00 – 4:30 | Bench day |
| Wednesday 16 Sep | 8:00 – 4:30 | Site visits, by arrangement |
| Thursday 17 Sep | 8:00 – 4:30 | Bench day |
| Friday 18 Sep | 8:00 – 3:00 | Deliveries and the 3:50 ferry |
| Saturday 19 Sep | 10:00 – 2:00 | Showroom, by appointment |
| Sunday 20 Sep | Closed | Out on the water |
Commission enquiry
Tell us about the piece.
Four short steps. It takes about three minutes, and it gives us enough to reply with a straight answer about timing and a rough range before we meet.
Step 1 of 4