Featured Build 10/10/2011
While as of date, this is still a work in progress, I couldn't wait to get a pic or two on the site. I have another in the gallery and more to come by the end of the week, I hope.
The cabinets are crafted from old growth pine reclaimed from other areas of this house during renovation. The drawers and doors are a simple shaker style with minimal detail and are "inset" opposed to the "overlay" style you see in most kitchens. Overlay cabinetry is extremely practical because it not only saves in the labor of tedious alignment and fitting, but also is forgiving when things don't stay as straight and square as they were originally installed. Unfortunately sometimes, poorly, it's used as a crutch for bad workmanship. Cases don't need to be as square and openings can vary slightly because the door or drawer will hide the flaws. With inset work, everything has to be square and precise. Each drawer and door is fitted to it's individual opening to maintain an even gap on all sides, and align with it's neighbors. After mounting each piece, I carefully hand-plane and adjust the fit individually. The drawer boxes on these cases are solid maple, joined with dovetails and waxed. The cabinet boxes are 3/4" birch plywood for strength and stability. Finish is wipe on polyurethane and paste wax. |   |
Featured Build 5/27/2011
| This project was interesting and fun. A client in Slidell requested my services to help finish a project already underway that she and her husband started some months earlier. He's a boat builder and had begun the project himself, building the existing cabinet boxes and face frames, but ran into trouble in finding time to complete the doors and drawer fronts.
I took careful measurements and pictures of the space, and after the client decided on a style I constructed new face frames, as well as all the remaining pieces to complete their kitchen. |
The wood is poplar, which is a hardwood that takes paint well, since that will be the finish of choice here. More pictures are in the gallery with completed photos of the paint and glass soon to come!
Featured Build 4/21/2011
So the current project begins with new kitchen cabinets. Actually, new cabinets made from old wood -reclaimed long leaf pine. Though the plans are drawn up and Tim, the client, and I have been gathering material to begin the process of removing all the cut nails and milling it to size, we had one obstacle. The windows along the wall where the new cabinetry and counter top will go need to be altered. Currently they need to be adjusted 10 5/8" total to accommodate the renovation.
This is an old New Orleans house, and the architectural details here are diamonds in the rough for sure. These windows are over 8 feet high! To maintain the authenticity and charm we decided to replace the sashes with new ones of the needed size, and refit the casings to the new dimensions rather than buy aftermarket ones. I carefully took two of the sashes of one of the old windows, shown to the right, and measured all of the details so I could use them to fabricate the new ones accurately. |  |
Starting with 2" thick rough planks of cypress, I milled all the parts to size, a tedious process that needs to be done carefully to produce straight, tight fitting parts. As the number of parts began to increase, keeping them organized was important. On the bottom left are a few of the freshly milled parts. Once all the parts are prepared, it's time to fit them together. Some areas still need to chiseled and planed for a proper fit. We'll be installing these this weekend. Next, I'll show you the finished, installed windows.
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Featured Build 3/16/2011
Featured to the left is a counter for some friends who are starting their own business. Bayou Hot Wings is taking over what used to be the WingZone on Claiborne Avenue. The place was UGLY when these guys took it over, dirty too. I won't show you the before pictures, they may scar you, but here's a glimpse of a new counter I built on site for them. What you can't quite see in the photo is the pass-through window that's new and the eat-in counter wrapping the walls to the right and left. All the wood was milled from rough stock, cyprus and sapele. Some of the mill, hand plane, and saw marks were left intentionally on the edges of the counters and face trim, as well as unfilled nail holes. Because cyprus is a softer wood, it will gain a nice patina from the abuse the soon-to-be busy wing shop will supply.
Sapele is an African hardwood that I have used in other projects (see the Gallery for examples). I was introduced to it when I built Susan Spicer's bar cabinetry at her restaurant, Mondo, in Lakeview. It is a sturdy material that looks beautiful finished, has an interesting grain that is brilliant and reflective, and can fool most into thinking it's mahogany (one alias is African Mahogany). It provides a nice contrast against the cypress and adds a functional sturdiness as baseboards and focal points. A good excuse to check these materials out is to go to Bayou Hot Wings and see them in person. And eat killer wings.
Sapele is an African hardwood that I have used in other projects (see the Gallery for examples). I was introduced to it when I built Susan Spicer's bar cabinetry at her restaurant, Mondo, in Lakeview. It is a sturdy material that looks beautiful finished, has an interesting grain that is brilliant and reflective, and can fool most into thinking it's mahogany (one alias is African Mahogany). It provides a nice contrast against the cypress and adds a functional sturdiness as baseboards and focal points. A good excuse to check these materials out is to go to Bayou Hot Wings and see them in person. And eat killer wings.