683 Custom millwork for a house on Cannon Beach

A fun project for a house on Cannon Beach, Oregon.  Custom guardrail and handrail for this bright second floor "aerie" which sits way above the ocean and looks south toward that picturesque haystack rock.  The floor is roasted white oak.  No stain or dye was added to the floor - this is the natural color of oak when it gets roasted. 

Here's a drawing of the center medallion.  There were quite a few drawings that got presented for this project, and a lot of mental gymnastics that went into the structural parts and tie-ing our work into the house.  This was not my favorite design, but it was approved, because of the nautical look to the center motif.  

Matching handrail securely buckled to the wall using these painted end caps.  The lower rail is fastened to the studs through several bronze tubes, and the fasteners are capped by chiseled square oak pegs.  The top rail is fastened to the lower rail using the same bronze tubing, and this provides a nice smooth graspable rail with no interruptions all the way up.  At the very bottom of this stairway is a French oak interior door we built for the house as well.  

 For our rail cap, the oak was selected to have the most quartersawn figure, since it's up near eye level.  The painted parts below have several good sturdy coats of acrylic paint in a deep charcoal to match the house trim.  The light is a curiosity at the beach - this is a very very deep charcoal, almost black, but the color reads like a much lighter blue grey here.  

672 Hand-Painted Faux Tortoiseshell cabinet back

Antique oak cabinet top to which we added a hand painted faux tortoise shell decorative back.

Showing entire back, unobstructed by shelves.

The plan for this piece is to use it as a liquor cabinet, storing drinks and fancy glassware.  

Close view:  it's a multiple-layer finish which begins with thick layers of yellow and ivory paints which I coax into randomly crackling and cratering

This is followed by layers of glazes and lacquers containing all of the "burbly-wurblies"

Has a medium sheen - some gloss but not garish.  Finished up with a layer of crackle lacquer for plenty of interesting texture.  

Deep and complex and surprisingly neutral in appearance despite the strong egg yolk yellows.  A daily Rorschach test - what do you see in the pattern?  Links coming soon for purchase.  In the meantime, please use the "contact me" button on the top right of this blog for any questions about this.  Many, many potential ideas:   cabinet backs / mirror frames / decorative drawer fronts / door panels / anything that can be worked flat is fair game, and finish samples are available by mail.  Thanks for reading!  

666 Cherry cabinet for Vinyl Record collection storage

Dimensions 57.75 x 20.25 x 49.5 h.   A friend of ours who is a music lover commissioned this cabinet from us to store his vinyl record collection.  He and his sweetheart are setting up their household together and this is their first "significant purchase" as a couple and also their first commissioned piece.  

Built from cherry solids and veneer and given a rich finish that shows off the cherry chatoyance.  There's a lot of color on this piece, but it's mostly dye which will allow the nuances of the grain to show through.  It was meant to be vibrant.  This finish method could easily be applied to any other pristine natural piece such as a round table, or other furniture - and can be done in other colors or other species.  

End view showing grain.    As a clearcoat, this has a non crust, penetrating finish (Waterlox, satin) applied using my own method.

Drawer interior:  divided down the center

Stores two stacks of records, face-out, side by side, record-store fashion.  Drawers are 16.75 in deep.

Heaviest-duty undermount full extension slides were used - as each drawer is expected to hold 90 pounds of weight.  

Couple more photos showing how this drawer setup works in practicality

And it is fastened to the wall for safety so won't tip.  Thanks for reading - Here's a link for PRICING & AVAILABILITY -- and please use the contact button on the top right column here if you have any questions about this piece.