Maple Nightstands and Bed

We needed new furniture for our guest bedroom, and I really wanted to work with maple to highlight its color and brightness.  I used a natural water based finish from General Finishes on the maple, and I'm really pleased with the result.  

The legs for the nightstands are metal tipped and from TableLegs and the drawer pulls from Schoolhouse Electric.

Radiator Covers

A friend of mine asked me to build him some radiator covers that matched some of his existing furniture in the basement.  The left one was in a tight space due to a storage unit, but fortunately the other one had more room.  

 

The walnut and brass mesh combo turned out well, and the left cover fit perfectly.  The doors

are soft close, of course, and reflective insulation will be installed to direct the heat forward.  Below are the radiators.

Walnut TV Stand - continuous grain sides, top, and fronts.

We were using our our old coffee table as our TV stand, so I built a new one to match the style of the round end table.  The 2 middle drawers and 2 outer doors are push to open, so it doesn't have any pulls to disrupt the grain.  It was designed for the space and the components. 

No end grain is visible on the sides so it shows a continuous grain from side to top to side. (That's my future kayak, in the works, in the background.)

Here are a few pictures of the unfinished version. This is also the first piece with my new logo, which my wife created.  I need to practice with the brand.  Getting a uniform brand can be tricky. 

Walnut Side Table

We needed a small side table between our 2 chairs, so I took a design we saw at Room and Board and modified it a bit.  It was a challenging piece with the angles, curves and routing the curves, but it turned out great.  Google Sketchup really helped with figuring out the angles and being able to print a template for the bottom shelf.

Espresso Stained TV Stand - Commission

My father-in-law and his wife wanted a custom TV stand, so we came up with the following design.

The doors are inset, so flush with the outside edges.  I used red oak, which has such a deep grain, it takes a dark espresso stain very well.

Mom's new Coffee Table

  

To finish off my mom's living room, I made her a coffee table.  Same style, made out of cherry with a linseed oil finish.  

Mom's Christmas Presents - End tables

My mom wanted to replace some of her old This End Up furniture, so I designed her a two custom end tables.  

One end table is for next to her chair, which has a shelf that is open in the front and back, so she can store her laptop and iPad there when not in use.

The other end table is just for next to her couch.  

The finished products

Custom TV Stand

Custom TV stand created for my mom's birthday.  Cherry with a linseed oil finish.  

Cherry Dresser

We needed a new dresser also, so I went with the same mid-century modern design.  It is solid cherry with a linseed oil finish.  Our cat, Simon, approves.

Foyer Sideboard

I took a woodworking class at the Corcoran College of Art & Design in fall of 2010.  It was a great class.  I highly recommend it for anyone looking to get into woodworking.  

I decided to make an asymmetric piece for our foyer to hold our gloves, scarves, mail, etc.  We like the mid-century modern look, so I modeled it after a piece we saw at Room & Board.  It's made out of cherry, with a linseed oil finish.  The pulls are from Anthropologie.  

Bedroom full of handmade furniture

Our room with all hand made furniture, except for the ottoman, courtesy of Target.

Nightstands and Chiffonier

The next pieces I made (with help) were a chiffonier, and 2 nightstands.  They are also red oak with an espresso stain, same as the bed.  The upper right picture shows the number of clamps needed to glue up the piece.  It was a difficult piece, but turned out very nice. Because red oak has such a deep grain, it takes a dark stain very well.

I think I made these while I was unemployed, b/c well, I had lots of spare time, and we wanted some new furniture.

Bed

Jenna and I saw a bed at La Diff in Richmond that we really liked, but was very expensive and made using veneered particle board. I asked my friend to help design me something like it, and we created this. It is made out of red oak, stained espresso black. It is hard to see, but the headboard has a plywood insert that was installed so that the wood grain would point to the bottom middle of the bed.

Shelving Unit

With the help of a good friend, here is one of the first pieces of furniture I made. Its just shelves with a section cut out at the bottom for a subwoofer I had at one point. Most of the piece is made out of MDF, with the doors made out of red oak with frosted glass inserts.   It is stained espresso black.