Ben Robinson

This is an wooden outdoor sectional couch that I designed and build. The main couch has an 8-foot seating area and the side couch has a 4-foot seating area. My favorite view is the one posted above, where the two couch sections join. Let me know what you think.

Rustam Turgunov

Hi! I’m from Moscow, Russia. This is project for my friend.

Hey all! I want to thank you for your submissions and comments, they have been exactly what I was hoping they would be. It has become obvious to me,  however, that this format is not the best for growing a community of furniture design fans. For this reason I have begun work on a new site. It will hopefully be up and running by mid February (2010 in case you weren’t sure). Until it is ready you can continue to post designs here or you can hold on to them until the new site is ready. I will be announcing the site opening via Twitter as well as posting a message here.

Thanks again and all the best to you,

Jamon

Steve Taylor

This is a two-toned bookcase (maple plywood and walnut trim, likely) with a lattice structure for the shelf backing. It is an improved design of the first piece I ever built.

The walnut trim on the side boards would be cove/hollow edged, blending into the maple. I would also chamfer the front trim on each of the top shelves, to match the bevel of the sideboards.

CHRIS WONG

Butternut Headboard:  I am posting this in response to Jamon’s statement he made yesterday that headboards and footboards are uninteresting to him.  Maybe this will sway him.  Or maybe not.

To me, the headboard is a large canvas, a blank wall on which to do whatever they please.  I laid out the design on the panel in about an hour.  The carving is roughly based on acanthus - my hand ultimately dictated what the vines and leaves looked like in the end.  There are more curve that my work typically has - it appears more elegant than my other work.  The bottom rail has a live edge along the bottom.

I finished it with orange shellac rubbed out with 400x and 600x wet/dry paper and mineral oil, then applied a coat of paste wax with 0000 steel wool.

The mattress sits on a boxspring on a steel frame which the headboard will be bolted to.  The mattress is 24” above the ground and sits just above the top of the lower rail.

Critique and comments welcome and appreciated!

Scott Zrubek, a recent subscriber.

This is a Mission style entertainment center.  The shelves will hold the equipment, the top the TV.  There are cord pass throughs at the end of the drawer bank.  There is also a space there to mount a power strip.  I’ve not decided if there will be plywood backing on the power strip space.

I’m thinking about using some quartersawn oak for some of it.

I’m also planning on mounting it on wheels.  It will mar the look of it, but will enable us to get behind/around a piece with a 34” CRT TV on it.

Nigel Whitton

Hi all, Here is a dining table. Lots of curves and and shape.  The legs would be from solid stock but the braces would be laminated and then joined together. The sub frame would all so be laminated in the same curve as the table top with standard mortise and tenon joinery.  Solid top with a under cut to give it a visual lightness.

Any ideas let me know.

Lets keep this site rolling it is awesome to see other peoples ideas and to get feed back on your own.

Steve Taylor

This is a design for a buffet, but I think you could adjust the height and make it a sofa table. Believe it or not, I got the inspiration for this piece driving by a Springhill Suites hotel at night.  The architecture featured a red brick construction with concrete columns that divided the length of the building.

Not completely evident in the perspective drawing is that the width of all of the legs taper 2:1. The pattern on the front legs would be routed with a small cove bit. On the side legs, I’m not sure if I want the pattern to be recessed or proud of the leg. I really don’t know what drove me to create the recess in the center of the table, so I could see the table without it. If I kept it, I would blacken that area – probably with a flat paint.

As for materials, I could go two ways.  Originally I thought the table top would be a darker wood, with a medium hued wood for the legs.  Thinking about it again, I could see the table being all knotty pine with wrought iron hardware and straps across the top – like a steamer trunk.

CHRIS WONG

Shell Box:  Made from one solid piece of Western maple.  The lid is sawn off and hand-carved; the bottom is routed out and hinged on pin hinges.  The inside is flocked and the outside is finished with three coats of lacquer and a coat of wax. The box is 7” x 3-3/8” x 1-1/2”

Jessica Nayowith

So, when J got the assignment for an hanging entertainment unit, I thought of this design right away.

The bar and cables are metal. The wood could be whatever. I was thinking it would look pretty cool in walnut rather than the common minimalist light wood with metal. Maybe even a different wood for the uprights. The shelves would be held in place on the cables by washers or some other holder-in-place-thingy (so technical, I know).

When I was done, J said “Ken wanted CD storage”. So I added some on the bottom shelf. Could really be anywhere though. That’s what I like about the design. I think it could be customized pretty easily.

There you have it, the first submission by “The Wife”

Steve Taylor

This bureau brings several discrete drawers together into one open-air assembly.

When thinking about what woods to use, I originally thought this piece would have a darker wood like wenge or walnut for the frame and a lighter, figured wood for the drawer cases.  Looking at it more, I can’t help but wonder how it would look with that darker wood as the drawers and something with a medium color (honduran mahogany?) for the frame.  Another possible change would be to extend the drawers past the front of the frame; they are flush as drawn above.

One thing I really like about the cabinet is how it came seem boxy and weighty while remaining airy. I’m also pleased that I was able to draw it by hand in three dimensions. I suppose that there is a bit of my day job (I work in IT) in this design, as it greatly resembles a server rack.

So, this was the concept of a recycling cabinet in my head that finally made it to paper. Then when our host offered to take ideas for sketches for his 365 day journey I submitted this idea to see what a professional would come up with.

Since I drew this I had a couple of thoughts. I’d no longer say to use pocket screws for the garage version. Instead I’d plow a 3/8” groove down the center of the rails/styles and use an MDF panel instead. This means less disruption to your workflow if you build the garage version (which I presume means pine/poplar/MDF and painted) rather than the in-the-house version which would use raised panels and rail/style cutters.

My design here used 30 gallon trash bags in the back for the misc stuff but trash cans would work as well. At least where we recycle you’d be able to reuse the trash bags.

The version (http://the-drawing-boards.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-22-recycling-cabinet-reader-idea.html) that Jamon designed had a feature that I’m thinking about adding - the split top. In mine it’s just an open hole towards the back. You’d probably not go with the split top option if you decided on granite or corian for the top of the cabinet, but for a pure wood incarnation it could work out well.

Sorry about the scale of the side view. Those doors obviously will not close correctly - I’m new to both furniture and sketching, something that should appear obvious :)

So, my original idea for the recycling cabinet. It’s just interesting how different people view the same requirements.

Matt Kenney, cabinet on stand. I designed this piece after seeing an art deco etagere (Click the drawing to see the a photo of the original). I like the original, but find it a bit too fussy. So, I simply stripped away what I didn’t like. I’ve built the stand, but have yet to start on the cabinet. Work just seems to always get in the way. Sadly, I’ve built several other pieces since I finished the stand. I’ll return to it soon.

Scott Meek

This is another box concept I’m currently working on. It will require a lot of shaping with rasps, spokeshaves, and planes, which I’m VERY excited about. I had a tough time trying to draw other proportional sketches of this box, so the above sketches really don’t show whats fully in my head.

I had an idea for the corner joints, a splined miter that would show up when the wood is shaped into the gentle curves. Since I couldn’t get it drawn, I just decided to do a test piece:

I am thrilled with how it turned out! Can’t wait to get started on this one. The wood in the test joint is Maple and the spline is Bubinga, as those are what I had in the shop. Not sure what the final box will be made of, but it will have to be something where the grain will be an integral part of the design.

Matt Kenney, bow front cabinet. This is where the cabinet is right now. I have only just begun the inside gallery of drawers, but had to put a finish on the outside so that it could be photographed for and appear in the next issue of Fine Woodworking. The pulls are temporary and won’t be what’s on there in the end. I made the door in a vacuum press. The core is made from bendable plywood (aka, wiggle wood). Everything else is solid lumber. A lot of work left to do, but so far it looks exactly like I saw it in my head back when I did the original 2D drawings.