Did You Design It Yourself?

Yes, I designed it. It is a one of a kind piece. The design process was pretty simple. I had a rough vision for what I wanted. Armed with this vision, I went to a bunch of furniture stores to see similar pieces and take pictures, notes, measurements etc. (Note: the folks at ABC Carpet are not as friendly as the people at Ethan Allen.) I then took all this info and sketched the rough design pictured here . From there I drew similar sketches for the major components (base, drawers, top, etc.), about 12 sketches in all. While not precise architectural drawings, the sketches did provide me a clear picture of all the component pieces I needed. From the sketches, I created a cut list. The cut list included all the parts I would need to make, the material to use for each and their dimensions.

The sketches and the cut list were good enough to guide the building effort. Which brings me to another point of Workshop Wisdom: Don’t make the first cut until the cut list is complete. Hardwoods are expensive and come in big planks. It’s a lot easier to make small pieces from big than big from small. Having the cut list is essential to figuring out what pieces to mill first.

Q. As part of the design question, I often got asked Did you pick the hardware?
A. I did pick the hinges but Susan, my wife, found the door handles and pulls. The handles resemble twigs and the pulls river stones which added a nice "hey I found it in the forest" feel to the piece.