Tag Archives for furniture

Kitchen base cabinets in poplar

Initial sketches

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12. December 2022 by admin
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Radiator enclosures – dental office

Enclosures out of 3/4 ply with internal structure of metal studs and track, removable covers attached with magnets to studs, access panels for valves.

Start:

Design was by the architecture firm but there’s always a few things I have to figure out.

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10. June 2023 by admin
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Kitchen cabinet fronts replacement

Client wanted to match the kitchen to an existing mid-century modern credenza.

BEFORE:

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The credenza:

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AFTER:

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09. November 2023 by admin
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Arched bookcases in oak and ikea

The ask was twin arched bookshelves to go on either side of a bed, like the following reference photo. Howevere these were to sit on top of some existing nightstands.

We started with a couple ikea bookshelves. I have mixed feeling about this. While I think it can be an excellent timesaver to start with factory-made furniture and customize as you like, I personally dislike chipboard and laminate, and I try to avoid them if given the option. Each material has it’s own vibration, some more pleasant than others. I picked up a bundle of oak molding, wide enough to give me a few options for creating the “shell.”

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02. June 2024 by admin
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Built-in shelving with LED strip lighting

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11. September 2022 by admin
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Radiator cover with built-in shelving

The radiator was off-center in what looked like a temporary housing, and the ask was storage that looked symmetrical.



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03. June 2022 by admin
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Bathroom refresh

After:

Before:

The most interesting part of this one was the vanity. Based on the square pegs and nails, the thing was easily 100 years old. Stripping off 4 layers of paint revealed a reddish wood that I’m guessing is fir. I built in the shelf and the lip around the top out of poplar, which necessitated a bit of work with stain and polyurethane to get the colors to match.

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10. March 2022 by admin
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Bathroom sink and vanity with laundry

How do you fit a washer-dryer into a tiny Manhattan bathroom? Once piece at a time.

I poured a custom concrete trough sink with the drain in the back corner so as to open up the room for the washer-dryer to fit underneath. Which then necessitated a custom cabinet to match underneath.

Removing the plywood mold. Concrete mix was white Portland cement with white sand. The trickiest part was cutting things on the angle so the sink would drain properly, and then getting all those subtle angles to line up smoothly.

Patching, sanding, sealing.

Now for the cabinet…

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15. December 2021 by admin
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Classroom Cubbies

2019


It was only a passing request from my daughter’s first grade teacher – whether I had any ideas for improving the book storage above the coat cubbies, which was admittedly an eyesore. Upon some examination of the alcove, I told him he should rethink the entire situation, and via my own pushy compulsion, somehow volunteered to rectify the situation. What I peeled away during demolition was an unused legacy cubby system of hooks mounted on a long shelf, which sat unused behind the existing milk crates housing the kids’ stuff. The milk crates rested on top of a couple of unused shelves fashioned out of the doors that once rendered the alcove a large closet. Above all of this nonsense was a shelf, also made of the doors, housing a few hundred pounds of hidden books (yes, above where the kids retrieved their coats), covered with a few pieces of 1/2″ plywood, held vertically in place by small bolted slats that he would turn to remove the wood in order to get access.

Some remnants of what I ripped out:

milk crate cubbies alcove with shelf Read More →

15. March 2019 by admin
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Radiator cover support system

This was more of a repair, but the twist took quite a lot of thought. I didn’t want to rip the whole thing apart and rebuild, but the challenge was to not only fix the alignment and attachment of this incredibly heavy cover (3/4″ ply + 3/4″ cabinet doors + baseboard molding!), but ensure that access for anyone who needed to perform future maintenance on the radiator would be easy and safe.

The tricky part was anticipating the correct tilt that would keep the panel balanced on swivel casters, within the limits of the space behind it (which had pipes and electrical related to the radiator), while being easy to snap into place again.

03. June 2022 by admin
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painting racks


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19. July 2021 by admin
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Wallmount coatrack

1998

Copied this one out of a Pottery Barn catalogue.

29. April 2019 by admin
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garden bench restoration

Replaced rotten boards with weather-treated 2×4’s dadoed with a circular saw to fit and lightly stained. I expect this to last decades longer than the thin polyurethaned slats that typically come with these models. Couldn’t find brass bolts in the right size, so I ended up spray painting some carriage bolts gold.

Before:

After:

18. October 2019 by admin
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Corner Cabinet

2014

Body & shelves made from 1/2 plywood to save on cost and weight. Edges concealed with iron-on veneer. Doors and facing made of solid pine. Chinese cabinet hardware purchased ebay.


Initial sketches, which my toddler decided to comment on

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29. April 2019 by admin
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Vestibule Cubbies

2011

I used slot joints to create this one, but in retrospect, I think dado joints would have been a better choice. Slot joints are great for flexible materials, or in a perfect world where all the pine you get from the lumberyard is flawlessly straight and uniform, but well, yeah.

29. April 2019 by admin
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Floating Bathroom Bench

2015

Angled pieces cut from 2×12’s, which required the creation of paper templates pieced together in the space to get the shapes right. Hidden reinforcement with reclaimed “fasttrack” shelving hardware.

29. April 2019 by admin
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